Today's Notmilk Parade

Parade Magazine has a circulation of nearly 36
million, with over 78 million readers. This
magazine is found as an insert in 330 Sunday
newspapers throughout America.

The full-page, page 9 color ad in today's
December 1, 2002 issue cost the Hershey's company
$767,500. That's quite a bit of money Hershey
invests to sell their milk chocolate, America's
number-one most addictive food. See:

http://notmilk.com/kissofdeath.html
http://www.hershey.html

On page 18 of the same issue, Parade posts their
"Intelligence Report." Here is what Parade
writes about diabetes:

"Type-1 strikes without warning, usually before age
21. It's caused by antibodies attacking the pancreas,
and its costs are high-up to $60,000 per year to
treat the disease and its complications. But new
studies in Finland suggest that babies who are 100%
breastfed are less likely to get the disease."

Parade reports the news in their Intelligence Report
but does not invest further intelligence in the
analyses of their own profound statement.

If babies who are 100% breastfed are less likely
to get a disease caused by an antibody, why not
examine the food that non-breastfed babies are
drinking. A population of Type-1 diabetics can
be traced to milk proteins, the food antigens
which cause antibody production.

More than ten years ago (7/30/92), the New England
Journal of Medicine reported that bovine serum albumin
is the milk protein responsible for the onset of diabetes.

That same month, the American Academy of Pediatrics
suggested that cow's milk protein may be implicated in
the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus and advised USDA's
Committee on Nutrition to clarify whether cow's milk is
ever appropriate for children and whether or not infant
formulas that are based on cow's milk protein are
appropriate alternatives to breast milk.

Three months after news broke about the milk-diabetes
link, Scientific American wrote:

"The National Dairy Board's Slogan, 'Milk. It does a
body good,' sounds a little hollow these days."

What has kept American consumers and practicing
physicians from universally accepting the same truth
reached by scientists and their journals?

Millions of advertising dollars, that's what. Television,
newspapers, magazines, all participate in the feeding
frenzy nurtured by cleverly invested dairy dollars.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The Best Citrus Fruit Direct from the Farm

I like buying fresh organically grown fruits and
veggies directly from growers. I love knowing the
farmer's name and location of his/her farm. I adore
when that box of wholesome home-grown offerings is
delivered to my front door, and I cannot control my
salivation response, which begins while tearing apart
the shipping crate. Buying this way gives me the most
incredible tasting experiences, and usually represents
a substantial savings over retail supermarket prices,
even after factoring in the cost of direct shipping.

In today's column, I would like for you to meet an
ex-NBA basketball player by the name of Dave Fedor.
Dave (6'6" forward) played ball with Wilt Chamberlain
on the San Francsico Warriors against some of history's
great superstars including Bill Russell and Bob Cousy.
After retiring from professional basketball, Dave
became a high school physical education instructor.
Midway through his educational career, Dave bought a
small orange and grapefruit farm in Florida which he
named Hickory Tree Grove. They could make a movie about
this guy -- Robin Williams on stilts!

Beginning today, the harvest is in! You can buy the
most incredible Satsumas, Hamlins, Navels, and
pink grapefruit.

Last year, I lived on Dave's oranges from
early December through mid-January.
Dave's farm should become your source for the best
oranges grown on this planet. Trouble is, it's an
extremely tiny farm in the heart of Florida's citrus
growing area, and within hours of posting this column,
the fruit will be sold out, so please, let's keep this
secret between our own tiny notmilk community and your
closest friends and relatives.

When you purchase oranges from your supermarkets,
you're getting under-ripe fruit that's often been
gassed to give them an artificially ripe appearance.
All of Dave's fruit naturally ripens on his trees,
and the fruit is shipped directly to you soon after
it's picked.

Dave uses no pesticides, herbicides, or chemical
fertilizers on his crops. To him, that would be the
worst kind of offensive foul. Dave uses just certified
organic methods.

Nutrition-wise, Dave's Florida oranges are loaded with
calcium, magnesium, and Vitamin C. Let's compare 100
gram portions of Florida oranges to nature's perfect food
for humans, breast milk. Breast milk contains 32 milligrams
of calcium, 3 milligrams of magnesium, and 5 milligrams
of vitamin C. Dave's oranges contain 43 milligrams of
calcium, 10 milligrams of magnesium, and 45 milligrams
of vitamin C!
To order online througn Pay Pal, go to:
http://www.flnaturalcitrus.com

or call Dave's farm at 386-985-1654.
I should be getting my first box of oranges this
Thursday or Friday! The first thing I plan on doing
is making a quart of fresh juice. Next? This dish:

I made a special cranberry sauce for my Thanksgiving
meal, and it was a hit. I'll be making more of the
following recipe upon receiving Dave's first shipment.

Here is the simple recipe:

Ingredients:

1 bag cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2-3 tablespoons zest cut from an orange
(peel orange skin with potato peeler, slice
extremely thin julienne strips of orange peel)

Method

Mix sugar and orange juice well in a medium-sized pot
and bring the syrup to a rolling boil, stirring as it
heats. Add cranberries and orange-peel zest, and continue
to boil for about ten minutes, or until most of the
cranberries have swelled, and some have burst, merging
their magnificent tartness with the reduced orange
essence. Immediately pour into a mold or dish.
Refrigerate. Enjoy!

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals could very well apply the PETA
acronym to their new Florida milk-bashing
campaign:

Pus-Engorged-Teats-in-Animals

PETA will be targeting the Florida dairy
industry, as their cows produce milk
with more pus cells than any other state
in America.

The Sunshine State, Florida, home to the Magic
Kingdom, wins bragging rights to America's putrid
pus in milk award. An average liter of milk in
Florida contains 504 million pus cells.

The average liter of milk sold in the United
States in 2001 contained 322 million pus cells.
Milk cannot legally be sold in Canada or Europe
if the pus cell count exceeds 400 million per
liter.
Why is Florida's milk so disgusting?
Combine heat and humidity with stressed and
diseased animals being injected with Monsanto's
genetically engineered growth hormones, and
you've got the recipe for pus.
It's that simple.

What must farmers do to combat bovine udder disease?
Inject cows with antibiotics, which brings
us to an Okeechobee farmer, Louis "Red" Larson.
Why is Louis red? He's been caught by the Food and
Drug Administration selling antibiotic-laden cows
and calves to a slaughterhouse. Red's comment:

"Due to human error, carelessness on our part and
lack of total control by management, these things
happened. When you ship a large number of cattle,
you become more vulnerable to making a mistake."

Red has been in the dairy businees for more than
50 years, and antibiotics in cows, milk, and meat
is standard operating procedure for this dairyman.
His factory farm operation, the largest in Florida,
ships between 15 and 20 cows each day to slaughterhouses.
Many of these animals are "burned out," disease-filled
creatures, not fit for human consumption.

Red's dairy will produce over 40 million quarts of
milk this year.

Pus with antibiotics. Pus with antibiotics. Repeat
that phrase over and over again with your next glass
of milk.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

I routinely review dozens of scientific journals
for milk-related stories. This month's edition
of New Scientist reveals that polar ice caps will be
gone by the year 2100, California's big quake is
overdue, and that a genetically modified crop resulted
in a toxic hybrid. All terrifying articles, to be
sure. No news of milk or dairy products. However,
there was one study that really stunned me.

I have previously pledged not to promote animal
research, but I've finally found a study in the
December 2002 issue of New Scientist making perfect
sense to me.

Humankind can learn much from a group of
Japanese scientists.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993135

These researchers have been decapitating the heads
of 12-day-old rats, and implanting them onto the
thighs of adult rodents.

Think of the possibilities for humans! If we perform
this technique on American males and females, in the
event of future nuclear terrorist attacks we shall
all be able to kiss our own asses goodbye.

One scientist, Nobufumi Kawai, at the Jichi Medical
School in Tochigi, claims that the grafted heads could
become "excellent models" for investigating brain
function in human infants.

Think how well the offensively shrill sound of babies
crying could be muffled within their own poopy diapers!

One wonders whether the decapitated headless baby rat
body is rolled with sushi rice and nori into ratsashimi.

The new two-headed kamikaze rat creatures could be bred to
defend Japan against possible future attacks from Godzilla.
In addition, scientists speculate that these rats can munch
twice as much of Monsanto's genetically engineered corn as
traditional rats, so will serve to protect the homeland's
untarnished supply of non-GMO crops.

Let New Scientist magazine know how much you appreciate
their sharing important breakthrough research with us:

onlinenews@...

Thank them for the, er, head's-up.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

What Are You Doing Tonight?

I will be meeting my friend, Bruce.

Bruce has courage, passion, and conviction.
Last spring, Bruce was given a VIP tour of the
inside of a British jail cell after streaking
naked before the Queen of England. A vegan
website was temporarily applied to his back
with magic marker, and the world got the
message through front-page photographs. If I
looked as good as Bruce, I would streak naked
too! In any event, Bruce good-naturedly became
the butt of all jokes.

If you have no plans, why not join the two of us
for dinner? We will be eating pakoras and samosas,
aloo gobi and vegetable biryani at New Jersey's
celebrated Indian restaurant, Chand Palace.

Date: Friday, December 6, 2002
Time: 7:00 P.M. TO 11:00 PM
Location: 257 Littleton Road, Parsippany, NJ
Cost: $30.00 Per Person
(For directions, please call the
restaurant at 973-334-5444)

Vegetarian Vision is hosting a cocktail party
and buffet dinner, and over 200 people are expected
to brave the aftermath of New Jersey's first winter
storm.

Bruce Friedrich and I will be lecturing.
There will also be dancing after dinner.

You may remember that I wrote about Bruce
a few weeks ago. He's recorded the most
incredible CD called Veganism in a Nutshell:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1093

Hope to see you tonight! For last minute reservations,
please contact my dear friend Harshad:

908-369-6300
secretary@...

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Milk Prices Crash, and America Runs Out of Patients

Wisconsin dairy farmers received just 11.8 cents per
pound of milk produced during November of 2002, a
dramatic decrease from October's near-bankrupting
price of 12.5 cents. One year ago, these hard-working
farmers were getting 15.8 cents per pound for their
milk. Over the past ten years their average price
has been 14 cents per pound.

In California, things are even worse for dairymen.
They average just 10.2 cents per pound.

Consumers are drinking less milk.
Faced with decreased consumption, supply and demand
theory-challenged dairy farmers are injecting their
cows with genetically engineered growth hormones to
produce more milk. As supply increases and consumption
decreases, the price must go down.
Dairy processors are importing milk protein concentrates
to produce more cheese with less American milk. American
milk gets dried into powder, then donated to Third World
nations at the expense of American taxpayers who bail
out dairy farmers with billions in subsidies.

As more and more American consumers come to terms with
the truth that milk does not do one's body any good,
the price of milk will fall further, and more and more
dairy farms will close.

Who began this vicious cycle?

Monsanto genetically engineered the bovine growth
hormone and received approval in 1994 to introduce
the new milk into America's food supply.

At that time, who knew the truth about milk? Not I.
In 1994, the Notmilkman was drinking a gallon of milk
each week and his freezer was filled with ice cream.
A day without cheese was a day without sunshine, and
dozens of fine cheeses filled my refrigerator.

Monsanto taught me to look for a "healthy" organic
supply of milk and dairy products. One Pandora's
box led to another, and one day it hit me: "It's
milk, stupid." That was the end of pizza with cheese
for me. No more cream cheese on my bagels, nor
cream of mushroom soup.

That was also the beginning of America's Notmilk movement.

This will be the coldest financial winter in history
for America's dairy industry. Despite unprecedented
subsidies, more farms will fail. Dairying is no longer
fun to farmers with 40 cows, unable to compete with
factory farms with 5,000 or more hormone monsters.

The milk has changed. The system is bankrupt. If not
for government welfare, the entire industry would
collapse, which would be a good thing for the health
of all Americans.

Where would the children get calcium? Dark green leafy
vegetables, but that should not be our most important
question.

Where would the physicians get patients?

We could import them from Denmark, Norway, Holland,
and Sweden, the nations eating the most cheese and
drinking the most milk. The nations with the highest
rates of osteoporosis and breast cancer.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

EMERGENCY NOTICE FOR NY STATE

On December 7th, 1941, Japanese planes
attacked Pearl Harbor killing more than
2,300 servicemen.

On December 7th, 2002, the dairy industry
has launched its own sneak attack on the
children of Syracuse, NY.

On this day, upper New York State may be
plagued by...the Plague?

If you live in or near Onandaga County, New
York (people of Syracuse beware!), your
milk may be infected by the yersinia
bacteria. One lethal strain of yersinia is
otherwise known as the Bubonic Plague.

Nine children (no adults) have been identified
as having caught this disease by either drinking
cow's milk or by eating infected pork.

One thing about pork. Families eat pork, and
they cook it first. Cooking kills yersinia.
On the other hand, moms and dads do not join
school-age kids and drink infected white foaming
cow pus in school cafeterias.

So...if you live in the area, and would like to see
your child come home from school with explosive bloody
rectal discharges accompanied by abdominal pain and cramps,
have your child continue to drink that milk.

Oh, yes. Appendicitis. There will probably be more than
one appendix removed from the abdomens of misdiagnosed
children this week in New York State. Call your attorney
if your kid is one of the unlucky ones to be so affected
and misdiagnosed. That needless operation is the greatest
risk for most people who become infected with yersinia
by drinking tainted milk from body fluids of diseased
bovines.

The children who became infected all were sent to University
and Crouse Hospitals in Syracuse from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2.

Health officials are incorrectly telling people that
it is safe to drink pasteurized milk from cows infected
with yersinia. That, unfortunately, is not true.

In 1982, a large interstate outbreak of yersinia, traced
to pasteurized milk occurred in Arkansas, Tennessee, and
Mississippi. Many thousands of kids were identified as
having been infected by yersinia.

The Food and Drug Administration identified pasteurized
milk as the vehicle of transmission of yersinia. If present
in large enough numbers, this bacteria "can survive
pasteruization." (Francis DW, Spaulding PL, Lovett J.
Enterotoxin production and thermal resistance of Yersinia
enterocolitica in milk. Environ Microbiol 1980; 40:174-6.)

Once pasteruized, the yersinia can grow well while
refrigerated, doubling every thirty hours. Milk
distributed in school cafeterias often sits in the hallway
for hours before being distributed to kids. At room
temperature, levels of yersinia in milk doubles every
twenty minutes.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Detox From Milk: Seven Days

Most Americans are less than four weeks away
from breaking their first New Year's pledge.
Can you keep the most important resolution
of your life for just seven days?

I've just gotten used to writing "2002."
There was some harmony to those 4 digits.
There is discordance in the number "2003."
We look for balance, and today's suggestion
will bring balance to your health.

Here is a resolution that all humans should
make: No More Milk From Other Mammals.

Detox From Milk in Just Seven Days

That is your challenge and goal, for during that
seven day period of abstaining from all milk and dairy,
one gallon of mucus will be expelled from your
kidneys, spleen, pancreas, and other internal organs.
If you still eat cheese, ice cream, milk chocolate,
and yogurt, your one-week experience will be as if
an internal fog has been dispersed from inside of you.

Most people successfully weaning themselves from all
milk and dairy products immediately observe dramatic
physical and emotional changes. Better sleep, more
energy, fewer mood swings, more sexual energy. Just
seven days to a new you.

Take the challenge. Your body will thank you. So will
those who care most about you.

If you are daring enough, or doubting enough to
think that your new feelings are mere coincidence,
plan a pizza party with ice cream for dessert after
your seven day milk-fast. Remember the good and
bad feelings, for in 15 hours after your dairy feast,
the famine of bad feelings returns.

During 2003, say "Notmilk!" to every "Got Milk?" ad.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The dairy industry has written some very
interesting things about me in the past:

http://www.notmilk.com/q.html

The following list of anti-you-know-who jokes
was sent to me by a dairy farmer. I was told
that it's been circulating in moo-cyberspace.
Some were pretty funny. Others tiptoed a step
or two over the line of good taste. Here,
uncut and uncensored:
__________________________________________________
Q. What do you get when you cross a vegetarian
with a demon from hell?

A. The Notmilkman.

Q.What should you do if you see the Notmilkman
rolling around in pain on the ground?

A. Shoot him again.

Q. How can you tell when the Notmilkman is lying?

A. His lips are moving

Q. How many followers of the Notmilkman does it
take to screw in a light bulb?

A. None, just the Notmilkman. He just holds it up
there and waits for the world to revolve round him.

Q. Why do vegetarians whine?

A. Because they're practicing to be vegans.

Q. How can you tell if the Notmilkman is well-hung?

A. When you can just barely slip your finger
in between his neck and the noose.

The Notmilkman and the Mad Cowboy were out walking
in the woods when they came upon a couple of tracks.
After close examination, the Notmilkman declared
them to be cow tracks. The Mad Cowboy insisted that
they must be deer tracks. They were still arguing when
the train hit them.

Q. How can you tell the difference between a dead milk
snake on Route 94 in Wisconsin and the Notmilkman lying
on the same highway?
A. There are skid marks in front of the snake.

The Notmilkman was walking through a cow pasture when
he heard a booming voice from above say, "You are
going to live to be 100."

That must be God speaking, the Notmilkman thought.

Immediately he began doing good deeds, figuring out
that he now had ample time to make amends in order
to enter Heaven. He drove to a nearby farm. He put
out hay. He shoveled manure. But as he left the dairy
farm where he had just volunteered an hour of his
services, he was hit by a bus and killed. Coming face
to face with God, the Notmilkman protested, "You
promised me I was going to live to be 100. Instead,
the very first day I did a good deed by helping a
dairy farmer, I got hit by a bus and here I am. Why?"
"I didn't recognize you," replied God.

What does it mean when the Notmilkman is in your
bed gasping for breath and calling your name?

A. You didn't hold the pillow down long enough.

Two tigers were walking single file along a jungle
path. The rearmost tiger wandered off the trail for
a few minutes, then reappeared. A few moments later,
the front tiger felt what seemed to be the other
tiger's tongue, applied just below his tail. The tiger
disapproved of this action, but didn't want to start
anything by bringing it up. Then the tiger felt the
tongue again, and in the same place. He decided to
confront the tiger behind him, and asked, "Did you just
lick me twice in the butt?" That tiger replied, "Yes,
sorry about that. I just ate the Notmilkman and was
trying to get the taste out of my mouth."

* * * * *

OK, they had their turn, so now, one of my own:

The Notmilkman was walking on the beach and came across
a very old, odd-looking bottle. Unable to contain his
curiosity, he rubbed it, and a genie appeared.

"For releasing me from the bottle, I will grant you
three wishes, but there's a catch" said the genie.
"For each of your wishes, every dairy farmer in the
United States will receive double what you ask for."

First, the Notmilkman wished for a Ferrari. POOF!
A Ferrari appeared in front of him. "Now, every
dairyman in America has been given two Ferraris,"
said the genie. "What is your next wish?"

"I could really use a million dollars," replied the
Notmilkman, and POOF! One million dollars appeared at
his feet.

"Now, every dairy farmer in America is two million dollars
richer," the genie reminded the Notmilkman, and then asked
him for his third and final wish.

The Notmilkman thought for a minute and said, "Well,
I've always wanted to donate one of my testicles."

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

President Bush Will One Day Support Soymilk In Schools

It's as simple as Abbot and Costello's famed
baseball monologue, "Who's on First?"

In this case, the question begins with:

"Who's on Furst?"

Furst, as in, Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst, a
Texas investment firm that is well connected
to people at the highest levels of state and
federal government.

This will a-Muse you. Muse, as in John Muse.
Muse is a principal in the investment firm.

John Muse is also a member of the Board of Directors of
Dean Foods, America's largest dairy processor. Before
joining Dean Foods, he was a member of the board
of directors of the folks who own Hershey's chocolate
milk, Morningstar Group Inc. Pure dairy, right to
his soul.

These guys are big players, not hicks, as in Tom Hicks.

Tom Hicks is the billionaire head of this new investment
company that has purchased hundreds of millions of dollars
worth of professional sports teams, television stations,
newspapers...get the picture? Not yet? Hicks, et. al.,
control the seed market for wheat in Argentina and
hybrid seeds in India.

The initial capitalization of Hicks, Muse, Tate and
Furst of $80 million represents the largest banking
start-up in U.S. history.

What will $80 million get you? Since its formation in 1989,
Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst has taken over more than 350
companies with a combined value of over $43 billion.

In 1998, Tom Hicks bought the Texas Rangers baseball
team from a group of investors headed by George Bush, the
then future President of our United States.

At the time, the purchase price for the Rangers included
a bonus of nearly $12 million to George Bush. Now,
that was a home run! A grand slam. The $12 million payment
was a small investment for Mr. Hicks, who heads the firm
that has strong connections to the dairy industry.

Hicks also maintains a close friendship with the White House.
America's largest chain of radio stations, AMFM, is owned by
Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. AMFM contributed $80,250 to
Bush's presidential campaign.
As previously stated, Dean Foods is the largest milk
processor in America, recently passing Kraft as
a result of their merger with Suiza.

Dean Foods and Suiza have been purchasing soymilk
companies. Their 2002 acquisition of White Wave,
manufacturer of SILK soymilk, gives them a 95%
share of all soymilk sold in American supermarkets.

Wonder why soymilk is becoming so popular? It's
delicious, nutritious, and will produce billions
of dollars in additional profits to an industry
that is phasing out cow's milk products. No need to
wonder why soymilk is placed right next to cow's
milk in grocery store refrigerated cases.

One bushel of soybeans weighs about 60 pounds.
There are 32 quarts in a bushel. One-half cup of
soybeans produces two quarts of soymilk. That bushel
will produce 512 quarts of soymilk. Yesterday
(December 10, 2002), soybeans traded for $5.62 per
bushel. The cost of making soymilk works out to be
less than 1.1 cent per quart.

Dairy farmers earn about 11 cents per pound for their
cow's milk. That makes the cost of milk over 23 cents
per quart.
Assuming that cow's milk and soymilk sell for the same price,
the soymilk represents an additional profit of 22 cents
per quart to a company like Dean Foods. Funny thing. Soymilk
sells for more money than does cow's milk.

It will not be long before Dean Foods knocks upon an
Oval Office door. Trickle-down economics will send a
strong message to the President's appointed friends
at USDA. The more soymilk that is sold in USDA's
school-lunch program, the greater will be the profits
made by all the President's men.

Aside to dairy farmers:
Pogo Possum should replace Elsie the Cow as your new
mascot. Thirty-one years ago, it was Pogo who said:

"We have met the enemy, and he is us."

So...President Bush will one Day support soymilk in
schools. My prediction is that he will do so during
his second term in office, assuming that he defeats
his Democratic opponent in 2004. No sitting President
in his right mind would antagonize the million or so
people employed by America's dairy industry before an
election and give them the opportunity to vote for a
Democratic opponent. During his second term, Bush will
use all of the power and resources of his office to
reward his friends. Soy will be king. Dean Foods will
reap the profits.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Happy Holidays!

Whether the special occasion you observe is Christmas,
Chaunkah, Kwanza, or Ramadan, have a very happy
and healthy celebration, and a happy and healthy
New Year too!

Looking For Santa Claus

As a young boy growing up in Bronx, New York,
some four decades ago, I remember listening to
Walter Cronkite in his most serious and inimitable
voice reveal that radar had picked up the blip
of a sleigh with eight reindeer in the sky, and
then wishing his evening news television audience
goodnight. Twas, of course, the night before
Christmas.

I gazed out our living room window, searching the
sky for some sign, and I've continued to do so year
after year, never abandoning hope that there really
is a Santa Claus. Although I am Jewish and celebrate
Chanukah, my family has traditionally exchanged gifts
on that most American of holidays, Christmas Eve.

Whatever your religion, a great philosopher-song
writer once wrote: "Tis the season to be jolly."
This means that gifts are exchanged, and I'm
offering a few to you at bargain prices. It's time
for stocking stuffers. I am making affordable my
book MILK A-Z and book on tape MILK-The Deadly
Poison for you to purchase and distribute to
friends, colleagues, teachers, physicians, and
anybody and everybody for whom you care.

Here is the deal. Buy ten or more of either the book
or tape or both and pay only $5 each. Surely, you have
between ten and 100 people who could benefit from
the Notmilk message!

Call Lisa today at our toll-free number:

888-NOT-MILK (888-668-6455). Order today (December
12, 2002) and you should have UPS deliver your
package at least one week before Christmas.

Sorry...no discounts on the SoyToy, but you can take
advantage of wholesale SoyToy buying power by purchasing
five or more machines. You'll pay the same price as
retail stores pay. Do you have five very special
people on your gift list? Do you have a few friends
who would like to get together and share this offer?
Would you simply like to join over 150 people who
now call themselves SoyToy distributors?

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

A Stroke of Bad Luck

Fifty years ago, a young medical student performed
an autopsy on a 9-year-old girl with golden-blonde
hair and a slender athletic body.

As the attending physician during her illness (he was
a second-year medical student at the time), Charles
Attwood was also required to perform a careful dissection
of the internal organs upon his patient's death. A few
years ago, he described to me, firsthand, the pain of holding
her heart in his hands.

What Dr. Attwood found in her coronary artery affected
him greatly, and shaped his future medical career. Bright
yellow thickening of the arterial wall indicated heart
disease. Her artery was clogged with atherosclerotic
placquing from cholesterol.

On Wednesday morning, my dearest friend suffered
a stroke. I spent part of the day with him in the
emergency room at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey
while a CAT scan and other tests were performed.

The Tuesday night before his stroke, he ate the
"steak-special" at Charlie Brown's Restaurant. This was
the 24-ounce New York cut that came from a cow and
was finely marbled with delicious saturated animal fat.
The meal was so good, that he splurged a bit and had
cheesecake for dessert. When indigestion and reflux
threatened to rob him of a good night's sleep, he took
that one reliable medicine which always works to buffer
the acid in his stomach, vanilla ice cream.

During dinner, his stomach immediately went to
work digesting that steak. After dinner, the cheesecake
neutralized the acid in his stomach, preventing that
organ from performing the task it was designed to do.
During his pained act of indigestion, the vanilla ice
cream neutralized the stomach acid once more, and the
contents of his stomach sac emptied into his large
intestine where the remaining food containing three
extra-large doses of saturated fat were absorbed into
his bloodstream.

I have heard Caldwell Esselstyn, a cardiologist at America's
premiere heart hospital, the Cleveland Clinic, describe
a pint of blood taken from a man who had previously ingested
a similar saturated-fat lunch. An hour after the blood was
drawn from the man's vein, a thick coating of fat had risen
to the top of that pint, and had to be skimmed before the
donor's life fluid could be infused into a recipient. Much
like fatty cream rises to the top of a container of milk
(before homogenization), so too did the saturated animal
fat from the foods he ate coagulate into the arteries and
brain of my friend, the man who suffered his stroke.

He is a warrior, this friend. He lives by that three-pronged
sword otherwise known as a fork. Live by the sword, die by
that sword. The stroke subtracted from the efficiency of many
of those normal daily functions that we take for granted.
His speech is now slurred. His vision is impaired. His gait is
not as lively today as it was on Monday. The doctors do expect
a full recovery. The stroke was a signal from a body under
siege. A body fashioned by the most intelligent of forces,
designed to send a series of signals, first subtle and then
powerful, when things go wrong. Indigestion, discomfort,
strokes, heart attacks. Some signals are soft, and some are
like the crashing of symbols at the conclusion of
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Each of life's warning
signs are designed to alert the mind of the body to
alter an inefficient or improper behavior.

We as a society eat meat and dairy products because they
taste so good. Because they are so-called comfort foods.
Because the saturated animal fat creates wonderful taste
sensations upon our taste buds. Two out of three of us
who eat such food as our body's fuel will die of a
cardiovascular event such as a stroke or heart attack.

It is never too late to reverse heart disease. Day one
begins with a recognition of gastronomy's cruelest
joke. That which tastes the best, pizza, barbecued
ribs, ice cream, hamburgers, does the most damage.
The choice is to either live a life free of heart
disease, and not spend ten to twenty years dying like
the average American does, or give up those most
delicious hard-to-digest foods, and live a longer,
healthier, and more active, pain-free life in which the
body and mind remain true to the initial design plan.

My friend will improve. He may or may not return to
that same diet which causes strokes to occur. The quality-
of-life decision for him to continue eating delicious
fat-filled foods may result in shortening his life. Some
people say that a meal consisting of steak with ice cream
for dessert is "to die for." In the end, it is up to him
to come to terms with his future.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

There is a nation-wide recall of thousands of
1/2 gallon containers of soymilk from Stop & Shop
and Safeway supermarkets. The soymilk is sold under
the brand names: Stop & Shop, Western Family, Safeway
Select and Full Circle.

The recall involves Stop & Shop Original Soymilk lot code
2280P1F1A; Stop & Shop Vanilla Soymilk, 2280P1F1A; Western
Family Vanilla Soymilk, 2280P1F1A; Safeway Select Vanilla
Soymilk, 2280P1F1A and 2280P1F2A; Full Circle Original
Soymilk, 2280P1F1A, and Full Circle Vanilla Soymilk, 2280P1F2A.

The soymilk was processed by using dairy equipment,
and the soy has been tainted by dairy proteins,
which can cause many problems. See LEFT COLUMN:

http://www.notmilk.com

One is never completely safe in knowing whether
store-bought soy has been contaminated with
cow's milk. The dairy industry (Dean Foods) owns
and controls 95% of the market share of soymilk.

Look closely at a package of SILK soymilk,
America's number-one selling brand. You will
see the "k" for Kosher sign in small letters.
Right next to that, in even smaller letters,
will be "de." Those two letters stands for "Dairy
Equipment."

In the past, SILK has experienced instances of
improper packaging, and has recalled their soymilk
for the same error.

Of course, there are also dangerous additives
that some manufacturers put into their soymilks
to make them unnaturally smooth for the American
tastebuds. If you wanted to produce a creamier
beverage, you might add two tablespoons of Vaseline
to your drink, or you could obtain a similar effect
produced by a dangerous emulsifier such as carrageenan.
See:

http://www.carageenan.html

Many soymilk users experience gastric distress after
drinking soymilk with carrageenan (Vaseline-like
emulsifier), and incorrectly blame their inability
to digest that chemical on the soy itself.

The only way to guarantee that your soymilk is pure,
is to make it at home. Here are two foolproof methods:

METHOD #1

Soak soybeans overnight.
Boil soybeans for four hours.
Strain liquid through cheesecloth.

METHOD #2

Add unsoaked soybeans and water to a soymilk maker.
Push button and wait 25 minutes for soymilk.

See: http://www.SoyToy.com

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The negative power behind one thought made
me cry. Sixteen words comprise the sentence
reflecting man's worst example of inhumanity.

One small paragraph within a column on page
816 of the December, 2002 issue of Hoard's
Dairyman (the national dairy farm magazine)
struck me by its sense of business-like cruelty.
One sentence, one concept, one standard practice
kept me from sleeping last night.

TITLE:
Prevent The Spread of Johne's In Your Herd

AUTHOR:
Laura Moser

FIRST PARAGRAPH (column theme)

"Understanding how Johne's is transmitted from
one animal to the next is critical. Research
has found that calves under 6 months of age
are the most susceptible. Most infections are
assumed to occur at this time."

Background:

I have written a number of columns about
Johne's Disease. Johne's in a cow is caused
by a strain of bacteria called mycobacterium
paratuberculosis. Once a dairy cow is diagnosed
with Johne's, she is sent to slaughter. People
catch Johne's from cows. In humans, the disease
becomes irritable bowel syndrome and can often
progress to Crohn's Disease. See:

http://www.notmilk.com/c.html

Johne's is of great concern to dairymen. Not only
can the disease devastate a herd, but publicity
from this condition can potentially cause the
public to become aware that the practice of milk
consumption is nothing more than the absurd act
of drinking body fluids from diseased animals.

I have forever been impressed by the compassionate
side of human females. Examine the animal rights
or environmental movements represented by organizations
such as Greenpeace or PETA, and you will find groups
dominated by females with passion and understanding to
change things for the better.

The author of the Hoard's article, a female, writes
in her column:

"Calves should be born in a clean environment, and
separated from their mothers within six hours."

I consider the indignity of separation for the infant
of any species of mammal from his or her mother to
be more than a crime against two victims. This is
an act that negates the human potential to understand
and appreciate the nature and meaning of life itself.
This contradiction of nature's basic law prevents
man from expressing the true meaning of humanity.

I recall famous cases of surrogate moms who
cannot deal with the pain of separation, and
change their minds, negating business contracts
to reclaim their birth-children.

I recall the memory of a nursing Labrador and her
puppies who lived in my off-campus college home, how
she cried each time one of her puppies was given away
to a new companion human.

The baby calf grows within the mother cow for nine
months. The gestation period is similar to that of the
human mother. Behavior of both mother and child are
affected by the internal secretion of hormones. The
need to "mother" and nurture the child is one of
nature's most beautiful and magnificent creations.

The harsh and cruel advice in the Hoard's column to
separate mother and child in a time no less than six
hours, brings equal anguish to both mother and child,
and to me, the reader, a sense of moral indignation.

The dairy industry is responsible for a pain unequaled
by any other farm practice. Death's knife at slaughter
is a painful end to life, but the act comes with little
or no warning to the sentient creature, just a momentary
sting and then oblivion. To the tormented mother and child,
the trauma of separation defies every aspect of nature's
plan, and no human can witness such an act and be unaffected
by the cries and protests from the victims.

It was just one sentence within one article for me,
but it affected me so, for such is the fate of
nine million baby male and female cows in America each
year. To prevent Johne's disease, separation of mother
and child becomes a mandatory and brutal reality of
doing business on the farm.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) have begun a lawsuit against the California
Milk Processors and their "Happy Cow" advertising
campaign. Television ads fool America's children
into believing that compassionate treatment is
extended to happy cows on California dairy farms.

Separation of mother and child is not a happy time,
it is an unnatural nightmare created by humans. This
action is a crime against defenseless creatures unable
to launch a defense against their torturers.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Where The Cow is Queen

The Maasai of Tanzania adore their cows.
Wealth is measured by the number of bovines
in one's herd, and the daily diet of the
Maasai consists primarily of milk and blood
from these animals fermented with feces.
(They store their milk in gourds. They have
no  electricity. Therefore, no refrigerators.
During the fermentation process, bacteria
digests and breaks down milk sugar into
glucose and galactose. Ergo, no lactose
intolerance.)

The per-capita income of Tanzania is a mere
$140. That's hard to imagine for the average
American, who takes for granted such luxuries
like $140 water bills to turn on faucets for an
instantaneous source of dysentery-free water.
A small pocket filled with change (38 cents)
each day X 365 equals a year's earnings for a
Maasai tribesman.

I received the December, 2002 issue of
Hoard's Dairyman, the national dairy farm
magazine. On page 798 is a list of the
top 50 dairy processors in America. Number
one is Dean Foods. In 2001, Dean enjoyed
$5.9 billion in sales. Number two, Kraft was
a distant second at $4.2 billion.

Land 0'Lakes was third at $3.6 billion, while
the Kroger company was number four, enjoying dairy
sales of $2.8 billion. Rounding out the top five
was National Dairy Holdings of Dallas, Texas at $2.3
billion.

Cumulatively, the top five dairy companies in
America generated $18.8 billion.

The top 50 dairy processors combine for an
astounding $60 billion in retail sales. That
adds up to the average American spending
$214 on milk and dairy products, 50% more
money than the average Maasai earns in 12
months. That seems obscene to me.

The Maasai and the American have very little
in common, but there is one thing that we share.

In Africa, there are 250,000 people with bone
disease. Most of them belong to the Maasai tribe.
In America, there are 30 million people with bone
disease. Most of them belong to our milk-drinking/
ice cream slurping tribe and wear funny looking
cheesehead hats.

Two primitive societies drinking body fluids
from mammals. Neither has yet weaned itself
off of milk. Both tribes pay the price of poor
health. For more on osteoporosis:

http://www.notmilk.com/o.html

Robert Cohen
http://www.ntomilk.com

This is the story of Steve and Cheryl Kaatz, who
moved into a lovely retirement home seven
years ago near the Snake River in Magic Valley,
Idaho. The only magic is that after occupying
their new home, 35,000 cows also moved into
the neighborhood.

Yesterday (December 16, 2002), the United States
Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) issued
new rules regarding manure disposal.

Fifteen thousand factory farms are now in
deep shit, and the stink is offensive. These
farms have been given four years to comply with the
new standards which were created to clean up America's
waterways.

For the next 48 months, don't drink the water and
don't breathe the air.

Besides Steve and Cheryl Kaatz, who else is affected
by the new EPA rules?

Livestock confinement operations with at least 1,000
head of cattle, 700 dairy cows, 2,500 hogs, 10,000 sheep,
125,000 chickens, 82,000 laying hens and 55,000 turkeys.

My prediction: America will soon witness the creation
of thousands of new dairy farms milking 699 cows.

Ironically, breast cancer survivor Christie Whitman,
the current EPA director, will soon retire from her
post. Her legacy is that she created a horrendous
stench in Washington by ignoring EPA'S putrifying
never-to-be released dioxin report. Levels of
dioxins in milk and dairy products are so high that
the dairy industry would cease to exist upon release
of EPA documents.

One man who cannot hold his breath for four years is
Stephen Kaatz of Buhl, Idaho. I spoke to Steve
and Cheryl, his wife, on Monday morning.

Each day, Steve and Cheryl wake up to the bouquet
of bovine urine and excrement.

The body wastes of 70,000 cows taint their environment,
and nobody will protect Mr. and Mrs. Kaatz's health.

These two courageous people have learned the hard
way that activism does not pay. You cannot beat
city hall, not when the dairy industry rules your county
politics. The Kaatz home on Clear Lakes Lane is
for sale. Nose plugs are free.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The scent of Jasmine and the rising crescendo
of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, the
taste of maple syrup, and the tender touch of
a nurse's fingers, all reduced to an electrical
energy generated during the beta state of brain
consciousness operating at 15 cycles per second.

Memories coded within impulses travel from one
waystation to another as they journey up axons
and down dendrites through nerve fibers. Muscles
are stimulated to move, or not, in this case. The
mind remains sharp. The muscles do not respond.
Packets of neural transmitting substances are
sprayed across cellular synapses. Messages sent.
Messages lost.

The neurologist asks him to identify the day of
the week, and with great effort, he tells her that
it is "Tuesday." It has been a long couple of days
for me. In my mind, it was Wednesday or Thursday,
having lost track of more than just the day and date.

Dr. Bershears then asks him to identify the
President of the United States.

He slurs the name, "Chay-neee."

She laughs. His sense of humor is intact,
and he laughs along, and then cannot stop
laughing. Is there a laughter center of
the brain, I wonder? His uncontrolled laughter
leads to shortness of breath, a coughing fit, then
choking. The right side of his pons had suffered
an acute infarction. His brainstem will never be
the same. Before 9-11, Chaney might have been the
appropriate response. Before his heart attack,
Vice President Dick Chaney had assembled a
carefully thought out cabinet, making one
executive decision after another. After his
post-election cardiovascular event, a heart attack,
Mr. Cheney's doctors ordered their patient
to give up his favorite food group, pizza.

The stroke demands an enormous toll from my
friend. The bridge cannot be crossed. Not now.

She asks him to spell a word backwards.

He responds, and she looks quizzically
at him, wondering how he got so lost in
the fog of whatever dimension he now resides
in. "L," very slowly, then "R" and "I"
and on to "H". I look at her sad eyes. She
had asked him to spell the word, "World."
I laugh to myself, for I understand the error.

He heard something differently, my friend.
A rare form of tinnitus in which female
voices are diffracted. For the past 20 years
of his life, the man has not been able to listen
to a female sportscaster or disk jockey on the radio.

She asked him to spell "world," and he spelled
"whirl." Try spelling "whirl" backwards without
looking at the letters. Challenge a friend to do
the same.

The frustration within an alert mind, challenged by
a body whose motor now runs out of sync. Whose
gears go into reverse, when the command is to
drive, and whose muscles remain idling in neutral.

The breakfast meal is brought to the room. Skim
milk, vanilla yogurt, and cottage cheese.

Oh, what irony. The world is indeed swirled.
They serve to my stroke-victim friend exactly the
foods that delivered him to this strange new land
of immobility in the first place. Two stroke penalty
for landing in the rough.

The doctors and nutritionists pay little
heed to the science:

Milk fat has been identified as a (cholesterol-elevating)
fat because it contains cholesterol and is primarily
saturated.
-Journal of Dairy Science 1991:74(11):4002-4012.

Two glasses of whole milk contain about the same amount
of cholesterol as one 3-ounce beef steak.

Greenland Eskimos, who have a very low incidence of
ischemic heart disease, have a high-fat, high-protein diet,
but a very low intake of milk.
-British J. of Preventive  and Social Medicine
1977;31:81-85

"Six times more heart attacks in milk drinkers"
-Briggs, R. "Myocardial Infarction in Patients
Treated with Sippy and other high Milk Diets,",
Circulation, 21:538, 1960

-Hartroft, W. "The Incidence of Coronary Heart Disease
in Patients Treated with the Sippy Diet" American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 15:205, 1964

-Muscari A, Puddu GM, et al. Serum IgA antibodies to
apoproteins and milk-proteins in severe atherosclerosis.
Ann Ital Med Int 1992 Jan-Mar;7(1):7-12

-Annand JC Denatured bovine immunoglobulin pathogenic in
atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis 1986 Mar;59(3):347-51

Johnny got his gun.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The Food and Drug Administration continues
to lie to America. FDA's official position is
that pasteurization destroys a bacteria in
milk that I've been claiming (for five years)
is the causative factor in Crohn's Disease
and irritable bowel Syndrome:

http://www.notmilk.com/c.html

A Canadian study published in the current issue
of the journal Dairy Science (2002 J. Dairy Sci.
85:3198-3205) supports my conclusion, and
exposes FDA's deceit.

Can you imagine the pain, discomfort,
and indignity of suffering diarrhea
day in and day out, seven days per week,
365 days per year...forever until death
do you part from your life?

One out of every five hundred Americans has
Crohn's Disease. One out of every seven
Americans has Irritable Bowel Disease.
Constant flu-like diarrhea. The best Crime
Scene Investigators (CSI-etiologists) have
identified the criminal:

America's Dairy Industry and Elsie, the cow.

One hundred percent of people with Crohn's
Disease test positive for the same bacterium
that infects one out of every two of America's
dairy herds. These bacteria are not destroyed
during pasteurization, and sometimes survive
to grow in the human gut, becoming the cause
of Irritable Bowel Disease and Crohn's.

On Sunday morning (12/8/02), I listened as Bob
Salter of WFAN radio in New York (50,000 Watt
station) interviewed the director of the Crohn's
and Colitis Foundation of America (CCRA), Roger
DeRose.

http://ccfa.org

I was amazed to hear DeRose adamantly state that
Crohn's Disease is not caused by food.

A recent Crohn's disease conference was attended by
gastroenterologists, microbiologists, veterinarians,
representatives from CCFA, and two major dairy
industry players, the National Dairy Foods Association
and the National Milk Producers Federation. That
makes me wonder what kind of mutually beneficial
relationship CCFA and the dairy industry enjoys.

I spoke to Roger DeRose, and was told that CCFA
accepts no funding from the dairy industry. Still,
with all of the evidence about milk and Crohn's
due to mycobacterium paratuberculosis, I cannot
understand the motivation for Mr. DeRose's continuing
rejection of enormous scientific evidence of the dairy
link.

Here is additional information, confirming the
dairy/Crohn's connection.

The December issue of the Journal Dairy Science
contains a conclusive study demonstrating that
mycobacterium paratuberculosis is not effectively
destroyed by pasteurization.

University of Guelph dairy scientists (Gao, et. al.)
conducted a total of 18 separate experiments, analyzing
710 retail store and dairy plants in Southwest Ontario.
One hundred and ten samples (15%) tested positive for
mycobacterium paratuberculosis.

In what way does this translate to milk drinkers? For
every seven glasses of milk, one will contain the bacterium
responsible for irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The Food and Drug Administration continues
to lie to America. FDA's official position is
that pasteurization destroys a bacteria in
milk that I've been claiming (for five years)
is the causative factor in Crohn's Disease
and Irritable Bowel Syndrome:

http://www.notmilk.com/c.html

A Canadian study published in the current issue
of the journal Dairy Science (2002 J. Dairy Sci.
85:3198-3205) supports my conclusion, and
exposes FDA's deceit.

Can you imagine the pain, discomfort,
and indignity of suffering diarrhea
day in and day out, seven days per week,
365 days per year...forever until death
do you part from your life?

One out of every five hundred Americans has
Crohn's Disease. One out of every seven
Americans has Irritable Bowel Disease.
Constant flu-like diarrhea. The best Crime
Scene Investigators (CSI-etiologists) have
identified the criminal:

America's Dairy Industry and Elsie, the cow.

One hundred percent of people with Crohn's
Disease test positive for the same bacterium
that infects one out of every two of America's
dairy herds. These bacteria are not destroyed
during pasteurization, and sometimes survive
to grow in the human gut, becoming the cause
of Irritable Bowel Disease and Crohn's.

On Sunday morning (12/8/02), I listened as Bob
Salter of WFAN radio in New York (50,000 watt
station) interviewed the director of the Crohn's
and Colitis Foundation of America (CCRA), Roger
DeRose.

http://ccfa.org

I was amazed to hear DeRose adamantly state that
Crohn's Disease is not caused by food.

A recent Crohn's Disease conference was attended by
gastroenterologists, microbiologists, veterinarians,
representatives from CCFA, and two major dairy
industry players, the National Dairy Foods Association
and the National Milk Producers Federation. That
makes me wonder what kind of mutually beneficial
relationship CCFA and the dairy industry enjoys.

I spoke to Roger DeRose, and was told that CCFA
accepts no funding from the dairy industry. Still,
with all of the evidence about milk and Crohn's
due to mycobacterium paratuberculosis, I cannot
understand the motivation for Mr. DeRose's continuing
rejection of enormous scientific evidence of the dairy
link.

Here is additional information, confirming the
dairy/Crohn's connection.

The December issue of the Journal Dairy Science
contains a conclusive study demonstrating that
mycobacterium paratuberculosis is not effectively
destroyed by pasteurization.

University of Guelph dairy scientists (Gao, et. al.)
conducted a total of 18 separate experiments, analyzing
710 retail store and dairy plants in Southwest Ontario.
One hundred and ten samples (15%) tested positive for
mycobacterium paratuberculosis.

In what way does this translate to milk drinkers? For
every seven glasses of milk, one will contain the bacterium
responsible for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Crohn's Disease.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

'Twas the night before Christmas,
If you are just like yours truly,
You're still due to brave crowds,
Acting rude and unruly.

Yet to shop for my friends,
And burdened each year,
Buying useless returnables,
For folks I hold dear.

But this season is different,
I've invented the SoyToys,
Which makes perfect sense,
For adult girls and boys.

Is it too late to order,
This gift under your tree?
Of course not, call right now-
Delivery, guaranteed!

Phone toll-free this number,
Yes, this call I shall pay,
888-NOT-MILK, hurry, do it, today!

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Do not misplace this number!
PHONE: 760-359-3211
Keep this accessible, like the numbers
to your wall safe, or the codes to your
Swiss bank account. If ever you need to
order flowers for a friend, or a never-to-
be-forgotten gift for a business associate
or loved one, call the farmers direct. They
are not on the Internet.

I enjoy the art of discovering sources for incredible
foods. Like finding a secret treasure, a tiny Georgia
pecan farm or organic Florida orange grove is sometimes
a precious jewel to be carefully guarded. The fiddlehead
crop is so tiny, that I share that news with nobody each
spring when receiving my package from Maine. The tiny
heirloom yellow tomatoes from Plymouth, Massachusetts,
and the mangos as big as a man's head from Florida,
all seasonal foods that make eating such a joy. The
Winesap apples from New York, and the extra-large
sweet Brussels sprouts from a small farm in Cutchogue,
New York are a few of the miracles of harvest that I
enjoy each year.

I purchase nuts, grains, and beans directly from organic
farmers. The foods we eat represent the "pick of the
crop" and often cost much less than supermarket produce,
and the taste cannot be compared.

A few weeks ago, I felt it appropriate to write about
my favorite food source, dates grown by my friends on
their California farm. After all, the holidays were
coming, and people needed gift choices, and I love
to support organic farmers.

Remarkably, the Date People were sooo busy with orders,
that I was asked to kindly wait until after Christmas.

OK. I'm cheating a bit. It's too late to get your order
in time for Santa and his reindeer, but it is not too
late to enjoy the most miraculous food grown outside
of that fabled garden of Eden.

You owe it to yourself to buy a box of mixed dates.
I promise you that you've never tasted anything
like these from gourmet shops or grocery stores.
Picked and shipped fresh, depending upon the season,
you can select from a mix of 50 different varieties.

Put this number in a safe place. Buy a gift box for
friends, and they will forever remember your act
of love.

PHONE: 760-359-3211

Sometime after opening the box, you will imagine
yourself a robed Bedouin on a desert oasis. You'll
be sampling dayri, zahidi, and hayani. Imagine the
Saracen sitting on a Persian rug, dining with T.E.
Lawrence, enjoying deglet noors and Mecca golds in
Damascus.

As I write this, I have before me four different
varieties. Each one, perfectly ripe, having been
picked fresh and immediately shipped. Last night,
my daughter Jennifer and I saw the second installment
of Tolkien's Trilogy, and we skipped the popcorn.
Instead, we shared four packages of dates, consisting
of Barhi, Black Plum, Brown Fingerlings, and Halawi.

The Barhi could not possibly be mass produced or
commercially marketed. They are so very soft, they
could not survive months of warehousing as do traditional
store dates. The word "barhi" must certainly
translate in Farsi as "melt-in-your mouth sweetness."

The Black Plum dates are appropriately named. No wrinkles.
Smoothe and firm in your hand, soft interior, a different
kind of sweetness. You might imagine that each has been
injected with the essense of honey taken from bees
gathering nectar from fields of wildflowers.

The Brown Fingerlings look like traditional store-bought
dates. They are wrinkled, but the resemblance ends with
your first bite. A soft chewy texture like caramel
candy with a hint of vanilla.

Finally, the Halawi, my favorites. Each date, a package
of sustanance similar to a sweet, freshly baked whole
grain bread. I lack the words to describe the complexity
of flavors.

Combine the four varieties as your next meal to adore
nature's most creative artwork.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

People Promoting & People Opposing Animal Rights

In the introduction to his new book (People
Promoting & People Opposing Animal Rights),
author John Kistler defines the word "activist":

"An activist is a person who has taken a larger-
than-average role in promoting or opposing a
certain issue."

In Kistler's anthology, there are activists who
both encourage and discourage rights for animals.
Intellectual arguments are provided from both sides
of the fence, and that is what makes this a most
fascinating read.

John Kistler conceived of presenting this amazing book of
contrary spiritualists, and does intellectual justice
to those people who are both pro and anti animal rights.
After reading 42 opinion pieces from hunters and gatherers,
carnivores and vegans, sociologists, politicians,
furriers, do-gooders and do-badders, a full range of the
spectrum of man, one cannot help but be challenged by
thought and inspired to action.

I was impressed that Kistler selected his visionaries
almost equally between the sexes. Twenty of the 42
opinionists were female.

Carol Adams writes:

"My goal is to live in a world where meat eating is
as rare as cannibalism."

The authors are listed alphabetically. Ronald Arnold
follows Adams, and opines:

"Animal rights people are by and large consumed by
hatred of those who do things to animals that they
don't like. Animals do not have rights. Rights are
a human constant, not an animal constant. Animals have
as many rights as humans want to give them. If you
remove humans from the universe, there would be no such
thing as rights. There would only be animals that
kill each other to get energy."

Alex Hershaft writes:

"The term 'vegan' defines for me a lifestyle that
is as free of cruelty as is practical, without substantially
detracting from my life's mission. It means choosing
foods that are free of animal flesh, dairy products,
eggs, honey, and ingredients derived from these products
(e.g., gelatin, casein)...It does not mean prowling
through my friends' refrigerators and medicine cabinets
in gleeful search of flawed items and making their
lives miserable. In short, it means treading gently
and lovingly in an imperfect world."

On and on they go. Contrary opinions are expressed.
Different philosophies are substantiated. Fascinating.

People wearing different hats were asked the same
questions. Responses to one question in particular
fascinated me. The subject was spirituality. Kistler
probed man/woman's relationship with God. Only two
persons refused to answer this very personal question.
What surprised me was that only 6 of the 42 admitted that
God was an important part of their life. Does that
one-out-of-seven proportion reflect the reality of the
rest of the world, or is that a trait common to only
"activists"?

Other (fascinating) opinions:

Ingrid Newkirk:

"The ultimate goal can never be achieved. It is an
end to all cruelty. Like the pursuit of world peace
among human beings, it is unachievable; so there
is no retirement, and no end. It will never be over."

Cindy Schonholtz:

"It amazes rodeo fans, contestants, and other
rodeo proponents that animal rights activists
will continuously spread lies about the sport of
rodeo."

Michael Fox:

"I regard as the opposition all people and groups
who place people before animals and nature, and who in
policy and practice manifest anthropocentrism, and
who see animals and nature as commodities/resources
created for man's use."

Finn Lynge:

"I find it striking that the one people on the surface
of the earth who have absolutely no option other than
to live as predators-the Inuit of the Arctic-are also
the one people who have never engaged in wars, who have
no army, and who do not engage in military training.
Spilling the blood of a human? No! Killing an animal
for food and clothing? Certainly. We are made that way,
and we love and respect everything He gave us. Especially
the seals and whales. They are great creatures to watch.
And they taste so good."

Kimber Gorall:

"When I decided that I could no longer justify eating
meat, I knew that I must ultimately become a vegan in
order to be true to my beliefs. Health was never a concern
for me. I knew only that I didn't want animals to be killed
to satisfy my appetite for their flesh. Having grown up
on the standard American diet, it took me a while to figure
out that I could in fact live more healthfully by not
consuming any animal products whatsoever."

Mary Stange:

"But for their part, animal rights activists need to stop
demonizing hunters, and to confront the facts that most
hunters do in fact care, many of them deeply, about
animal welfare, and that hunting is a crucial part of
wildlife management."

Susan Roghair:

"Education is the key to making a difference. I believe
that most people want to be compassionate, and that if
I can let them know what is going on, they will try to
stop participating in animal suffering...Vegetarianism
leads to feelings of empathy and compassion, so the
cruelties of animal abuse for entertainment will
disappear. I will continue to work on many other
animal causes, but I feel helping people go vegetarian
is a top concern because everything else will follow."

Frankie Trull:

"I view all animal rights organizations who are opposed
to animal research as the opposition. We learned long
ago that there is no point in arguing with or
attempting to convert them...I spend most of my time doing
legislative work and media interviews. I care about this
issue because medical research is the underpinning
of so many medical discoveries."

Brian Bishop:

"Thus animals have no rights. Our concerns expressed as
laws or customs protecting animal welfare define what we
owe to one another as humans in our individual treatment
of animals. It is not as if there is some abstract principle
governing the human/animal relationship that existed before
human civilization. The preposterous advancement of lawsuits
on behalf of animals as parties in our courts, and the
attempts to legislate an animal rights agenda, have
permanently hardened my concerns about environmental and
animal rights activists."

Michael Tobias:

"The techniques for consensus building, regarding compassion
and alternative economic solutions for all social and
economic strata must engage through a balance of social
justice and ecological justice...we absolutely must provide
legal voice, dignity, and 'personhood' to each living being.
I don't mean just primates. I also mean ants and wasps and
bats and boll weevils. Pigs, turkeys, sheep, horses, tigers,
and rhinos. There are several million species left on earth,
and hundreds of trillions of individuals...The ethics do not
break apart across species boundaries. But the practical
choices are real, infuriating, and heartbreaking. We have to
engage in triage. It is inherent to nature and evolution.
And this is where the debate gets terribly confusing for
us all."

People Promoting & People Opposing Animal Rights
by John Kistler, published by Greenwood Publishing
Group. To order, call: 1-800-225-5800

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Avoiding The Common Cold

The latest weather report predicts a white
2002 Christmas for the New York metropolitan
area and my New Jersey town of Oradell.

For many Americans, the wastebasket-filled pile
of used Kleenex tissues will represent their
rendition of large mounds of snow after dipping
into sour cream spreads and munching on milk
chocolate treats the night before.

Ask Santa to add Benadryl and antihistamines to that
list of stocking stuffers for your dairy consuming
friends and loved ones. Eighty percent of milk
protein is casein, a tenacious glue. Eat casein and
produce histamines, then mucus.

Should a group of carolers come to your door
this Christmas season, have ready for them
hot soymilk flavored with maple syrup, and a
printout of these eight citations from peer-
reviewed scientific journals:
* * * * * * * * * *

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM (Notmilk Version)

O little town of Death and Phlegm
How still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
Your children sometimes die.

Clogged noses with congested lungs
Are nobody's delight.

Milk chocolate treats and cheezy snacks
Ferment in thee tonight.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Symptoms of milk-protein allergy include cough, choking,
gasping, nose colds, asthma, sneezing attacks..."

Annals of Allergy, 1951; 9

"Hypersensitivity to milk is implicated as
a cause of sudden death in infancy."

The Lancet, vol. 2, 7160, November 19, 1960

"...62.7% of the children were confirmed to
be allergic to milk..."

(153 hospitalized infants with pneumonia or bronchitis were
tested) Roczniki Akademii Medycznej 1995; 40(3)(Polish
Journal)

"There was an increased frequency of wheezing and
constipation and a higher frequency of delayed
reactions...infants with persistent cow's milk
protein intolerance exhibited atopic disease:
asthma, rhinitis, eczema."

Clin Exp Allergy, 1998 Jul, 28:7

"Those who consumed cows milk were fourteen times
more likely to die from diarrhea-related complications
and four times more likely to die of pneumonia than
were breast-fed babies. Intolerance and allergy to
cow's milk products is a factor in sudden infant
death syndrome."

The Lancet, vol. 344, November 5, 1994

"Cow's milk is one of the most frequent food allergens.
Whole casein appears to be highly allergenic...85% of the
patients presented a response to each of the four caseins."

Int Arch Allergy Immunol, 1998 Mar, 115:3

"Allergy to cow's milk proteins...10 hours after milk
intake the patient presented serous rhinorrea, sneezing
and nasal blockade."

J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol, 1998 Jul, 8:4

"Formula fed infants developed symptoms of allergic
rejection to cow milk proteins before one month of age.
The majority of infants tested had two or more symptoms.
About 50-70 percent experienced rashes or other skin
symptoms, 50-60 percent gastrointestinal symptoms, and
20-30 percent respiratory symptoms. The recommended
therapy is to avoid cow's milk."

Pediatr.-Allergy-Immunol., 1994, 5(5 Suppl)

Have a very happy, very healthy, dairy-free New Year.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

"That's What Got Him Here In The First Place."

I have previously written two columns about a friend
who will be spending Christmas and New Year's in a
rehabilitation center after suffering an acute stoke
on the right side of his brain.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1137
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1142

A lifetime of eating saturated animal fat and
cholesterol have compromised this man's ability
to speak and walk. He recovered nicely from his
first stroke this past summer. That primary event
became an unheeded warning signal. This second stroke
was just short of devastating. His third and future
stroke will most certainly end a life that should
continue for many more years.

After carefully examining the hospital tests (MRI),
his neurologist suggested an experimental technique,
balloon angioplasty of a blocked neural artery. To
his physicians, that represents his only hope of
survival, but I know in my own heart and mind that
this 86-year-old man would not survive such a risky
procedure.

The traditional physicians, neurologist, cardiologist,
refuse to consider the damaging role that diet played
in the etiology of his stroke, nor the potential cure
that diet will play in promoting and maintaining his
future good health.

I visited him yesterday, and brought back home with
me a seven-day menu that is served to all patients in
Sunbridge Rehabilitation Center located in Bergen
County, New Jersey. This 200-room facility offers
the best of care, and I have been impressed by most
of the things I have witnessed there. I have also
spoken to the nutritionist. Her name is Deb, and she
will be getting an earful from me this coming week.

Here is the actual description of the Christmas meal
being served to those who have trouble walking and
talking as a result of their debilitating strokes,
heart attacks, and other events that thousands of
scientific journal articles have positively linked
to diet:

"Merry Christmas!!!

Roast Prime Ribs of Beef Au Jus
Broccoli Spears with Cheese Sauce
Baked Potato with Sour Cream
Coconut Custard Pie"

I kid you not.

Based upon his past history, he would eat this
meal with relish. I, of course, will be bringing
him an alternative meal about 30 minutes before
this artery-clogging poison is served. Why will
I do so?

Because...

"That's What Got Him Here In The First Place."

Please join me in starting a new movement. One day,
your friend or family member will be taken by
ambulance to an emergency room, and hopefully survive
that trauma and be assigned a bed in a hospital. His
or her first meal will include a carton of milk. At
that moment, you must contact the hospital dietician
or nutritionist and teach that individual a thing or
two about diet and disease. For the sake of your
loved one, overcome your shyness and repeat these words:

"That's What Got Him (or Her) Here In The First Place."

If enough people say these words, we will make an
impression upon those people who should know better.

If ever there was a moment not to serve saturated
animal fat laden with cholesterol and flesh filled
with sulfur-based amino acids such as homocysteine
and methionine, it is that time of healing immediately
following a cardiovascular or cerebral event such as
a stoke. To celebrate the symbolic birth of a child
on Christmas Day in this manner by serving such an
offensive meal is to pay tribute to death and
suffering, not life and joy.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

What do the Ukraine (Soviet Union) and
Ohio (United States) have in common on
Christmas Day, 2002?

From the great Gates of Kiev to the Golden
Jersey Inn serving unpasteurized milk to
its Buckeyed customers, people continue to
get sick after drinking body fluids from
diseased animals.

UKRAINE STORY (You may have to paste together each URL)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021224
/ap_wo_en_ge/eu_gen_ukraine_poisoning_1

OHIO STORY

http://www.activedayton.com/ddn/local/daily/1225youngs.html

More than three dozen Soviet citizens, mostly children,
are in serious condition after eating dairy products.

Sixty-six Americans would have preferred a lump of
coal to the abdominal pain, diarrhea, chills, fever,
nausea, and vomiting that plagues them on this
25th day of December. Their salmonella infections
resulted shortly after drinking unpasteurized pus
with their pre-Christmas meals.

Here is a secret that the dairy industry does not
want you to know. By the time one hears the snap,
crackle, and pop from a bowl of Rice Krispies, that
milk has been pasteurized three times. Why doesn't
the first time work, or the second, or third? Most
people have experienced the putrid smell of soured milk.
Pour it down the drain on day eight. Imagine what you
consume on day seven? Just one drop of sour milk may
contain more than 50 million bacteria.

Here is my Christmas gift to you on this day, three
quotes from scientific journals. Please share them
with friends and loved ones:

"Salmonella are widespread in the environment and hence
can enter the dairy factory from various sources. Butter
readily supports growth of salmonella at room temperature,
but refrigeration or freezing for brief periods does
not eliminate it. Salmonella can remain viable in butter
for up to 9 months."

Journal of Dairy Science, 1992;75(9):2339

"Bulk tank milk from 131 dairy herds in eastern South
Dakota and western Minnesota were examined for coliforms
and noncoliform bacteria. Coliforms were detected in 62.3%
of bulk tank milk samples...noncoliform bacteria
were observed in 76.3% of bulk tank milk."

Journal of Dairy Science, 1999 Dec, 82:12

"... curing (Pasteurization) alone may not be a sufficient
pathogen control step to eliminate Salmonella, Listeria,
and E. coli O157:H7 from cheese.

Journal of Food Protein, 1998 Oct, 61:10

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Multiple Reasons for Multiple Sclerosis?

Yesterday, I wished Harold Ikeler a Merry Christmas
in my 11 AM phone call to his Illinois home.

Ikeler's wife died from multiple sclerosis (M.S.).

One of his daughters is seriously ill from that
same disease, while two other daughters have
recently been diagnosed with M.S.
Ikeler accepts the well accepted theory that
"something" triggers M.S., but he and many
epidemiologists have no clue what that missing
link is.

One scientist with a very powerful clue is Michael
Dosch.

THE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS/MILK CONNECTION

Michael Dosch, M.D., and his team of Toronto,
Canada, researchers (416-813-6260) have determined
that multiple sclerosis and type I (juvenile)
diabetes mellitus are far more closely linked than
previously thought. Dosch attributes exposure to cow
milk protein as a risk factor in the development of
both diseases for people who are genetically
susceptible. According to Dosch:

"We found that immunologically, type I diabetes and multiple
sclerosis are almost the same - in a test tube you can
barely tell the two diseases apart.  We found that the
autoimmunity was not specific to the organ system affected
by the disease. Previously it was thought that in MS
autoimmunity would develop in the central nervous system,
and in diabetes it would only be found in the pancreas. We
found that both tissues are targeted in each disease."
(Journal of Immunology, April, 2001)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common neurological disease,
affecting approximately 300,000 Americans. Two-thirds of
those diagnosed with MS are women.

Most researchers believe that MS is an auto immune disease.
Auto means "self." The body's reaction to a foreign protein
is to destroy that antigen-like invader with an antibody.
The antibody then turn upon one's own cells. That is an
auto-immune response. In the case of MS, the body's response
is to attack the outer membrane-protecting nerve cells, or
the myelin sheath.

Symptoms of MS include tingling or numbness of the limbs,
paralysis, and vision problems. Sometimes MS patients
experience slurred speech accompanied by chronic pain.

MS costs approximately $2.5 billion each year in America. MS
is found in milk-drinking populations.  It is interesting to
note that Eskimos and Bantus (50 million living in East
Africa) rarely get MS.  Neither do those native North and
South American Indian or Asian populations who consume no
dairy products.

Many physicians have noted a dairy link to MS. Many little
clues have been reinforced by one very large clue, just
published.  Each clue provides a piece of the puzzle.

Norway has the highest rates of milk and dairy consumption
in the world.  Dr. Ashton F. Embry analyzed geographical
regions, and provides this dairy clue:

http://www.DIRECT-MS.org/

He writes:

"...In Norway MS is up to five times more common in the
inland farming areas than in the relatively nearby coastal
fishing areas."

John McDougall, M.D., cites the British medical journal
Lancet in pointing out that a diet filled with dairy
products has been closely linked to the development of MS.
(The Lancet 1974;2:1061)

Dr. Luther Lindner is involved in clinical MS experiments at
Texas A & M University College of Medicine.  Lindner, a
pathologist, writes on his website:

"It might be prudent to limit the intake of milk and milk
products..."

http://www.sky.net/~dporter/MSCFSABX.htm

A worldwide study published in the journal Neuroepidemiology
revealed an association between eating dairy foods (cow's
milk, butter, and cream) and an increased prevalence of MS.
(Neuroepidemiology 1992;11:304­12.)

The April 1, 2001 issue of the Journal of Immunology
contains a study linking MS to milk consumption.
It has long been established that early exposure to
bovine proteins is a trigger for insulin dependent
diabetes mellitus. Researchers have made that same
milk consumption connection to MS.

The July 30, 1992 issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine first reported the diabetes auto immune response
milk connection:

"Patients with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus produce
antibodies to cow milk proteins that participate in the
development of islet dysfunction... Taken as a whole, our
findings suggest that an active response in patients with
IDDM (to the bovine protein) is a feature of the auto immune
response."

In October of 1996, The Lancet reported:

"Antibodies to bovine beta-casein are present in over a
third of IDDM patients and relatively non-existent in
healthy individuals."

Two months later (December 14, 1996), The Lancet revealed:

"Cow's milk proteins are unique in one respect: in
industrialized countries they are the first foreign proteins
entering the infant gut, since most formulations for babies
are cow milk-based. The first pilot stage of our IDD
prevention study found that oral exposure to dairy milk
proteins in infancy resulted in both cellular and immune
response...this suggests the possible importance of the gut
immune system to the pathogenesis of IDD."

Multiple causes for multiple sclerosis? Not at all.
The evidence suggests that the etiology for this
autoimmune disease can be found on the dairy farm.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Dinner with the Prophets

http://www.notmilk.com/prophets.html

Imagine that you are the host, and you're
entertaining four guests for dinner. In
alphabetical order, you'll be cooking for
Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, and Moses.

It's up to you to prepare the perfect meal.
Something heavenly. Something divinely
inspired.

In an essay no longer than 500 words or shorter
than 200 words, please describe what you believe
would be fitting fare to please the palates
of history's greatest prophets.

I will be awarding a SoyToy soymilk machine
(retail $159) to the author of the best essay.

For more information, see: http://www.SoyToy.com

All entries become the property of yours truly,
and I will act as the sole judge of the winning
entry. Last time we had a contest, I awarded two
SoyToys to the best entries.

If your effort makes it to the final round, you might
even become a published author in a future book.
If that is the case, I promise you a free copy.

Entries must be submitted by February 14th, 2003.
The winner will be announced on or about the Ides
of March.

On the night after Christmas, Lizzy (my 13-year-old
daughter) asked me for a snack. I toasted a piece of
ten grain bread, then spread atop that a large dollop
of raw organic almond butter. On top of that, I poured
a thin (messy) stream/lake of Vermont maple syrup.
Lizzy called her snack "perfection," and that got me
thinking, and inspired me to create this contest.

Email, fax, or snail mail your essay to:

notmilkman@...

or:

SoyToy
325 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

or:

FAX: 201-871-9304

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The dairy industry brainwashers will have you
believe that consuming saturated animal fat, growth
hormones, and lots of calories (cheese, ice cream)
is the cure to obesity. Despite the fact that milk
drinking nations have the highest rates of heart
disease, cancer, and osteoporosis, dairy ad agencies
are strategizing campaigns to contradict scientific
evidence that milk does not do the body any good.
Coupled with enormous donations to friends in high
places, these dairy Rasputins may very well continue
to fool most of the people, most of the time.

Here is what the dairy industry in boasting.
The milk producers reveal their marketing
strategies for 2003:

http://www.directag.com/directag/news/article.jhtml?article_id=1008932

"'Tis the season for recapping a year's work and this
week Tom Gallagher, chief executive officer, Dairy
Management Inc., outlined the top 10 accomplishments
of the dairy checkoff for 2002. 'We worked hard to
find new growth opportunities in product marketing in
2002. We expect these efforts to help strengthen dairy
demand in 2003 and beyond,' he notes.

Here's a quick rundown on the checkoff's accomplishments
for 2002, according to a press statement from DMI. If you
want more detailed information on any of these programs
visit DairyCheckoff.com.

Improved kids' milk-drinking experience in schools.
Through a partnership with the American School Food Service
Association, the dairy checkoff developed a School Milk
Pilot Test to demonstrate that kids will drink more milk
in school if certain product enhancements are made. The test,
conducted in 146 schools across 10 states, involved more than
100,000 elementary and secondary school students. As a result,
milk sales increased an average of 18 percent when schools
provided flavored milks (white, chocolate and a third flavor)
in single-serve, plastic, re-sealable containers, and offered
these milk enhancements in the school meal feeding line, a la
carte and through milk vending machines.

Partnered with leading health organizations to position
dairy as part of the solution to the nation’s childhood
obesity epidemic. In October, the checkoff-funded National
Dairy Council co-sponsored a highly publicized "Healthy
Schools Summit" in Washington, D.C. The summit challenged
health, nutrition, academic, governmental, and physical
fitness experts to take action to improve children's
nutrition and physical fitness in schools.

Readied the 2003 launch of "3-A-Day for Stronger Bones,"
a long-term, consumer education and marketing campaign that
aims to increase category dairy sales and address America's
calcium crisis. The 3-A-Day program will work to increase
consumption of dairy products to three servings a day, as
recommended by the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, from the current
average of only 1.5 servings.

Leveraged high-profile milk marketing partnerships with
Kellogg's. In a grocery store tie-in to the blockbuster
movie 'Spiderman,' the dairy checkoff promoted milk on 60
million Kellogg's special edition cereal packages in stores
covering two-thirds of retail food sales nationwide.
Kellogg’s invested $10 million in this partnership.

Worked with national chain restaurants to drive cheese demand.
In partnership with the dairy checkoff, Pizza Hut launched its
"Summer of Cheese" promotion, during which it used more than
100 million pounds of cheese. During the promotion, Pizza Hut
reintroduced the Insider pizza, which used a one-pound blend
of Parmesan, Mozzarella, Monterey Jack, Provolone, and Cheddar
cheeses. In addition, in 2002 the dairy checkoff maintained
foodservice partnerships with Wendy's and Taco Bell.

Integrated efforts to help increase kids' fluid milk
consumption. Dairy checkoff fluid milk marketing efforts
are targeted mainly to kids 6 to 12, who are key to increasing
fluid milk consumption long term. Milk consumption data
reinforced that ongoing checkoff-funded public relations
and retail promotion targeted to kids are on the right
track. The National Family Opinion's Share of Intake Panel
reported that annual fluid milk beverage per capita consumption
among kids 6 to 12 increased to 28 gallons per capita -- the
highest level in 10 years. Consumption of both white and
flavored milk is growing. White milk consumption increased to
24.1 gallons per capita, while flavored milk rose to 3.6 gallons.

Enhanced dairy's image among consumers. The dairy checkoff,
in partnership with National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF)
and other producer groups, conducted numerous producer
communications training workshops in 2002, helping hundreds of
dairy producers across the nation hone their skills on
communicating dairy's sound animal care, environmental and
food safety practices to consumers.

Identified new uses for dairy ingredients. With the help of
dairy checkoff-funded research, a number of dairy product and
technology introductions and improvements hit the consumer
marketplace in 2002. For example:

Pizza Hut used a Mozzarella cheese developed from
checkoff-funded research in its P'Zone, a combination pizza
and calzone. Research led to the development of whey protein
polymers that act as thickening agents, thus opening new food
ingredient opportunities for whey. Expanded international
dairy markets. A checkoff-funded cheese foodservice promotion
in Mexico, managed by the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC),
helped increase U.S. cheese use by 14% for Domino's Mexican
market.

Led dairy industry animal health emergency preparedness
communications efforts. The dairy checkoff joined forces with
NMPF, USDEC and the International Dairy Foods Association to
develop a communications plan to assist the dairy industry
in the event of an animal health emergency. This effort
included the development of a USDA-reviewed brochure to
help producers stay vigilant about foot-and-mouth disease
and other animal diseases."

Here's the game plan. Their millions of promotion dollars
against our passion for truth. Animal abuse and human
health versus profit. Who will win in 2003?

Robert Cohen
www.notmilk.com

Once each year, I like to send out
an editorial that was written about
yours truly in the monthly "American
Dairy Farmer" magazine.

BACKGROUND

I received an invitation to dinner at the
northern Florida dairy farm owned by Teresa
VanWagner and family.

If you've seen the ending to the movie, "Easy
Rider," you can relate to my mixed feelings at
accepting that invitation. Would I be buried
somewhere in the north 40?

Although she is a friend, there is no
misunderstanding between us. I am the
dairy industry's worst nightmare. One
well placed pitchfork, and I'd be
sleeping with the cow dung.

I see great wisdom in knowing one's enemy.
I subscribe to many dairy magazines and
journals and try to keep up with the
politics, science, and business within
that industry.

Know your enemy. That view was shared by
Italian statesman Niccolo Machiavelli,
Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu and Abraham
Lincoln. These men combined the art of
political science with the psychology of
human nature to write their own unique
chapters in the collective textbook of
the art of warfare. Lincoln once said:

"I destroy my enemy when I make
him my friend."

Machiavelli's text,"The Prince," has been
used for tutoring monarchs and chief
executives in a centuries-old lesson:
successful campaigns are waged on and off
battlegrounds. Those who understand their
opponents win wars.

The great Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu
wrote in his "Art of War":

"If ignorant both of your enemy and
yourself, you are certain to be in
peril."

THE EDITORIAL

GUESS WHO CAME TO DINNER
by Teresa VanWagner

"At any gathering, he'd be the center of
attention, the life of the party. One
minute he'll regale you with stories of
his misadventures, the next minute he'll
single-handedly and fairly debate both
sides of an issue. He's a whirlwind of
energy with a brilliant mind. He reads
people as easily as the rest of us read
traffic signs, and his sense of humor
doesn't quit. He's charismatic to a
spellbinding degree, and his name is
Robert Cohen. Yes, that Robert Cohen-the
NotMilkman, founder of the Dairy Education
Board, author of the book "Milk - The
Deadly Poison," the person the dairy
industry loves to hate - THAT Robert Cohen
came to dinner.

In the past, via email, Robert and I had
engaged in an offensively hostile war of
words. Trading verbal putdowns, attempting
to discredit another's avocation by
discrediting the person is a forgivable
fault of human nature. But standing in the
middle of a raging battlefield, playing
mindless word games, isn't good strategy
for staying alive. Finally, Robert and I
decided to act like intelligent adults.
We agreed to respectfully disagree. By
openly acknowledging that knowing one's
enemy is of utmost importance in the
pursuit of winning any adversarial conflict,
we discovered that while we would always
be enemies on one level, we could be, and
are, friends on another. It's a fragile
trust, based on a shared philosophy that
there is no one in this world from whom
we can't learn something.

So there we were, seven of us - three
generations of VanWagners, Robert Cohen
and his friend, Eva Jones sharing a meal
and lively, laughter-filled and serious,
conversation. A summit meeting of sorts,
with a unique cast of characters as
comfortable with one another as the dairy,
pasta, poultry, and vegetarian foods on
the table. From our email conversations,
I had already come to the conclusion that
behind Robert's abrasive, inflammatory
mockery of dairy products lies a man with
a serious dedication to his mission
against milk.

Before I met him, it was warning enough to
simply say, 'Watch out for this guy! He has
an extensive knowledge of science and a
superior ability to combine facts, in a
variety of ways, to support his arguments.'

Since meeting him, however, I know those
were naive words. They don't do justice to
Robert's powerfully persuasive personality,
or to his thorough understanding of dairy
farmers and the dairy industry. He has
sincere appreciation, empathy and admiration
for dairy farmers, publicly and privately
describing us as the most dedicated and
hardworking people he knows. He has an
excellent grasp of the fragmentation within
our ranks and the reasons behind our
divisiveness. He has some outstanding ideas
on how to promote milk consumption, as well
as valid, constructive criticisms of our
present milk marketing programs.

Is Robert Cohen an enigma? Maybe. What's
important is that he knows his enemy well-
far better than we know ourselves. I have
two lasting impressions from that evening.
One is that underestimating Robert Cohen's
ability to damage the dairy industry is a
big mistake. The other is a profound wish
that the man was on our side. And I have a
question. If 'got milk?' and 'NotMilk!'
from opposite sides of the battlefield can
agree to find middle ground, why can't
those of us, on our side of the battlefield,
do the same?"

You can visit Teresa, her family, and the
600 cows on on the VanWagner farm:

http://www.atlantic.net/~vwd/farm.html

Have a happy and healthy new year!

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Many of you will wake up with throbbing
heads come New Year's Day, and alcohol
may not be the major cause.

Hopefully, you will keep your C2H5OH consumption
to a minimum.

Martinelli's apple cider is the best
bubbly on the market. We buy it by the case.

If you must drink, substitute fruit drinks for
dairy-based egg nogs and Black Russians.

The day after a night of drinking can be
painful, but the cheese and ice cream snacks
combined with alcohol can make a bad headache
worse.

The Journal of Pediatrics recognized that
dairy products cause head throbbers:

"Dairy products may play a major role in the
development of... migraine headaches."
Pediatrics 1989;84(4):595-603

So...find somebody you do not like at your New
Year's party, and make him/her your designated
cheese eater.

Drive safe, be healthy.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com