Sweeter than Sweet; Saltier than Salt;
More Sour than an Aborted Fetus

Sugar, ahhh - - honey honey
you are my candy girl
and you got me wanting you
I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you
(I just can't believe its true)
I just can believe the wonder of this feeling too
(I just can't believe its true)
--Wilson Pickett, 1970 (Written by Barry and Andy Kim)

We are witnessing the dawning of a sci-fi food revolution.
A new technology. A new food group. Amazingly, my research
uncovered something nobody has ever revealed before in a column,
newspaper article, or magazine expose. The next time you read
"artificial flavor" on a food label, you should be aware that
a component of that new genetically engineered food additive
may be embryonic kidney cells from aborted human fetuses.

The new high-tech artificial flavors are not flavors at all.
Instead, they contain chemicals which have been engineered
to fool human taste buds. Future foods will need no salt, sugar,
MSG, or artificial sweeteners. Instead, sensory perceptions will
become warped by modern science. Brains will taste things that
are not really there. Illusions. Deceptions. Memories of taste
which are now artificially induced.

You may not understand the abstract of the most recent publication
from this new food science, as published in the May 2, 2008 issue
of the Journal of Biochemistry. I will translate.

The Abstract:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

J Biol Chem. 2008 May 2;283(18):11981-94.
Small molecule activator of the human epithelial sodium
channel.Lu M, Echeverri F, Kalabat D, Laita B, Dahan DS,
Smith RD, Xu H, Staszewski L, Yamamoto J, Ling J, Hwang N,
Kimmich R, Li P, Patron E, Keung W, Patron A, Moyer BD.
Senomyx, Inc., San Diego, California 92121.

The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), a heterotrimeric complex
composed of alpha, beta, and gamma subunits, belongs to the
ENaC/degenerin family of ion channels and forms the principal
route for apical Na(+) entry in many reabsorbing epithelia.

Although high affinity ENaC blockers, including amiloride and
derivatives, have been described, potent and specific small
molecule ENaC activators have not been reported. Here we
describe compound S3969 that fully and reversibly activates
human ENaC (hENaC) in an amiloride-sensitive and dose-dependent
manner in heterologous cells. Mechanistically, S3969 increases
hENaC open probability through interactions requiring the
extracellular domain of the beta subunit. hENaC activation by
S3969 did not require cleavage by the furin protease, indicating
that nonproteolyzed channels can be opened. Function of
alphabetaG37Sgamma hENaC, a channel defective in gating that
leads to the salt-wasting disease pseudohypoaldosteronism type I,
was rescued by S3969. Small molecule activation of hENaC may find
application in alleviating human disease, including
pseudohypoaldosteronism type I, hypotension, and neonatal
respiratory distress syndrome, when improved Na(+) flux across
epithelial membranes is clinically desirable.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

OK, so what does it all mean? Another question:

What's $6 today and $100 in the Near Future?

One share of stock from a company called Senomyx.
SNMX trades on NASDAQ

http://www.senomyx.com

From the Senomyx website:

"Flavors are substances that impart tastes or aromas in
foods and beverages. Individuals experience the sensation
of taste when flavors in food and beverage products interact
with taste receptors in the mouth...signals are sent to the
brain where a specific taste sensation is registered.

We have discovered or in-licensed many of the key receptors
that mediate taste in humans. Having isolated human taste
receptors, we have created proprietary taste receptor-based
assay systems...has enabled us to improve our ability to
find novel flavor enhancers...As a result, we have synthesized
and discovered hundreds of unique potential flavor enhancers and
taste modulators."

Translation: Senomyx is re-inventing food and flavor by genetically
engineering taste bud receptor cell triggers. Foods of the future
will contain "flavor enhancers" which fool human taste buds into
perceiving the sensations of sweetness, sourness, saltiness, and
bitterness.

Remember the artificial sweetener controversies? Chemical
sugar-replicating compounds are listed on food labels. The
new chemicals made by biotech companies will require no
such labels. Although they are not actual flavors, they will
be called "artificial flavors."

How did Senomyx accomplish the task? A (multi-hour) review of
their patents reveals that it all began with the cloning of
human embryonic kidney cells. Step two was a recombinant
process involving the combination of genetic material from
embryonic kidney cells and human adeno-virus. If I had the
ability to recall ten thousand abbreviations for the amino
acid sequence, plus hundreds of complex combinations of
ACTG (adeneine, cytosine, thymine, guanine) I'd describe the
structure to you. For those curious scientists, do a google
search with the keywords 'Senomyx and patents' and the
third link (bioportfolio.com) will provide more info than you
need to know. See: United States Patent #5,993,778.

How far into the future will these new biotech wonders appear
in our food supply?

The future is now. The next time you read "artificial flavor"
on a food label, pause to consider what you've read here today.
Content labels should read: Embryonic kidney cells from
aborted human fetuses.

Senomyx is presently developing new products with many of
the world's largest food manufacturers including Kraft,
Campbell's, and Coca Cola. In fact, if you eat Nestle's foods,
your taste buds are being artificially stimulated by biotech
products developed by Senomyx. You may not know exactly what
you are eating, but I take this opportunity to paraphrase 17th
century author Miguel Cervantes, who wrote in Don Quixote:

"The proof is in the pudding."

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

New American Farm Bill Reaps Consumers

"Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity,
and sow wickedness, reap the same."
--Job 4:8, King James Version of the Bible

I grow my own lettuce and tomatoes. A little bit of work goes
a long way towards feeding my family. A few blocks from my home
there is a man who grows beans and squash and other vegetables
and sits in front of his home selling produce. People drive their
cars to his driveway and either accept or reject his prices. I
find them to be quite fair. Fresher and better produce at lower
costs than supermarkets. The key word is choice. It is my option
to say yes or no to the fruits of his labor. No government agency
subsidizes this man.

Consider a once-great nation in the midst of a recession,
spinning out of control towards a depression. Bankruptcies
and home foreclosure rates are spiraling upwards. Multi-billions
of dollars have been invested on bullets, bombs, and aviation fuel
for high-tech flying machines which insure our air superiority
over mountains and deserts. Domestic energy costs and food costs
lead America's inflationary spiral.

The President of the United States has begged, argued, and
threatened members of Congress to pass a one-year extension
of last year's farm bill. That wish has been rejected by
both the House and Senate agricultural committees.

Imagine negotiating a settlement among 435 interested members
of the House and 100 members of the Senate, each having his
or her own personal agenda. A simple settlement is impossible
and a complex settlement had to be made to appease each
politician's wish. The result?

Congress has agreed to pass a new 5-year farm bill which is
$10 billion more than the previous farm bill. Farmers are
being bailed out with subsidies that cannot be afforded by
taxpaying consumers. The balloon grows larger and the
inevitable bursting will be much worse than anybody imagines.

Yesterday morning (Tuesday, April 29, 2008), Senator Tom Harkin
(chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee) introduced the
grand compromise to key members of congress. Details have not
yet been released to the public, but here is the framework:

$4 billion for conservation programs
$3.85 billion for a permanent agricultural disaster relief
$1.35 billion in subsidies for specialty crops
$861 million for USDA nutrition programs

America once experienced simpler days in which consumers and
manufacturers had the opportunity to purchase bushels of
corn or grapes or tomatoes from farmers or produce wholesalers
or retail markets. Everyone made a profit. That was once the
American way.

"Americans are concerned about rising food prices. Unfortunately,
Congress is considering a massive, bloated farm bill that would
do little to solve the problem. Congress can reform our farm
program and should, by passing a fiscally responsible bill that
treats our farmers fairly and does not impose new burdens on
American taxpayers."
--President George Bush, April 29, 2008

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Gandhi Says: Drink Milk & Get Sick

I have know Maneka Gandhi for over ten years.
Mrs. Gandhi is the daughter-in-law of India's
First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru
was a close ally of Mahatma Gandhi.

Maneka Gandhi is India's best-known animal rights
activist, and has begun her own Notmilk movement
in India. I am proud to call her my friend, and
publish her latest commentary with joy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drink Milk and Get Sick
by Maneka Gandhi, April 9, 2008

If you drink a glass of milk, a pizza or ice cream do you
get a rumbling in your stomach, gas, bloating, cramps or
diarrhea? Does it happen to anyone in your family? Do you
suffer from migraines, colitis, Crohn's disease or asthma?

Do you have bad breath inspite of keeping your teeth clean?
You probably have lactose intolerance, a genetic disorder
that runs in the family, so if a sibling or parent is
afflicted, you may be too.

Lactose is the sugar in milk and anything made with milk.
As with everything else you eat, your body needs to digest
lactose to be able to use it for fuel. The small intestine
normally makes an enzyme called lactase that breaks lactose
down into simpler sugars called glucose and galactose. These
sugars are easy for your body to absorb and turn into energy.

People who have lactose intolerance do not make enough of the
lactase enzyme in their small intestine. Without lactase, your
body cannot digest food that has lactose in it. This means that
if you eat dairy foods, the lactose from these foods will stay
in your intestines.

The bacteria that live in your colon pounce on any undigested
lactose that reaches them and ferment it, producing huge amounts
of gas. This causes gas, cramps, a bloated feeling and diarrhea
from two hours to three days later. Children have vomiting as
well.

How prevalent is lactose Intolerance? About 70% of the world's
population just can't drink milk or eat dairy products without
getting an upset stomach. Lactose Intolerance is genetic and
happens most often in people of African, Asian and Mediterranean
descent.

People of northern European descent alone are likely to be able
to drink milk as adults while most people of other heritages
cannot. Many people with lactose intolerance do not even know
they have the condition. Some maybe misdiagnosed as having a
serious bowel disease.

What problems milk can cause depends on the severity of your
lactase deficiency. If you suspect you may be lactose intolerant,
stop drinking any milk or eating any dairy products for at least
two weeks. If you feel better -and the gastrointestinal symptoms
have diminished - you can do a test.

Drink a little milk or eat a little cheese and wait for two or
three days to see what happens. It may take that long for symptoms
of lactose intolerance to show up. While most lactose intolerance
is genetic, people can also develop lactose intolerance for other
reasons.

Sometimes another illness, like inflammatory bowel disease or
Crohn's disease or amoebiosis keeps the intestine from producing
enough lactase. People can also develop lactose intolerance if
they're taking antibiotics or have just had an infection that
caused diarrhea.

You can be lactose intolerant if you drink alcohol. In any case,
the older you get the more trouble you have digesting dairy foods.
Your body starts making less lactase when you're around 2 years old.
Humans are genetically programmed to be able to survive and thrive
on mother's milk for years but they are also programmed to lose
this ability sometime after the age of weaning.

Human milk has the highest lactose content of any mammal's milk,
about 7% on average. Other primates are next, followed by members
of the horse family. Cows and their relatives have just under 5%
lactose in their milks.

If you have lactose intolerance, your body will usually start
acting up within 2 hours of eating or drinking something that
has lactose in it. Not everyone reacts in the same way - or
within the same amount of time - because some people can handle
more lactose than others can.But when your body starts trying
to digest your food, you'll begin to feel awful.

You can expect to see any of a variety of symptoms anywhere
from a half-hour to several days after eating dairy products.
Many people make the mistake of taking an antacid. This
doesn't work because it works on acid in the stomach whereas
the problem is in the intestine.

Antigas or anti flatulence medicines (like chooran) won't do
anything to the bacteria that are the source of the problem.
Anti-diarrhea medicines actually backfire. After all, you want
to get the lactose out of your body as quickly as possible.

Is there anything that works after you've swallowed the lactose?
The answer is no. You can lessen the awfulness, but as long as
your colon harbors bacteria churning out gas you'll have symptoms
after having dairy products.

At what age does lactose intolerance begin? In Bangladesh, 59%
of children under three are lactose intolerant, 10% of children
under eighteen months. The numbers are similar in Singapore and
Thailand.

Native Americans in Canada and Peru show an effect about half
as large. Barely a handful of L.I. studies have ever been done
on infants. Those that have been done agree on two points. Babies
under six months old do not test as being lactose intolerant.

But studies in Jordan, Tunisia, Nigeria, Thailand, and Bangladesh
that include infants up to 18 months of age all show from 10-32%
lactose intolerance among their subjects. Children who have
recurring stomach infections and bouts of diarrhoea caused by viral
infections can become lactose intolerant because the delicate villi,
the finger-like projections on the inside of the small intestine
that actually manufacture the lactase, get damaged repeatedly and
every time the child is given milk, more damage sets in.

Asian children are particularly subject to this permanent loss.
Some babies are born without any ability to manufacture the lactase
enzyme that digests lactose. This condition, known as Congenital
L.I., used to be fatal before artificial non-milk formulas were
developed. Cases of Congenital L.I. should be quickly diagnosed.

If your child starts showing signs of diarrhea, general gas and
bloating, and foul-smelling stools it may very well be milk-related,
even if you are still breastfeeding. Get a test. Don't let ignorance
on doctors' part stand in the way of your child's health. If you
think you might have lactose intolerance, the next step is to see
your doctor. He or she will check your breath for hydrogen.

When lactose sits in your intestines and isn't digested, it
makes hydrogen gas. The doctor will have you drink something with
lactose in it. After 15 to 30 minutes, blow into a bag to check
the hydrogen level in your breath. If it's high, you have lactose
intolerance. Babies have a stool test.

What has lactose in it? : whey, curds, paneer, cheese, dry milk,
milk powder, butter milk, ice cream, anything with cheese on it
like pizza. Processed cheese and cheese products have much high
lactose than milk.

Whey is the liquid part of milk. Once manufacturers discovered
that they could give their products that good milky taste and
feel at a fraction of the cost of whole milk, they started using
whey in cookies, cake and pancake mixes, bread and cereals and
can be found in frozen foods, cold meat cuts, salad dressings,
and canned soups.

Whey contains the same lactose content as whole milk when liquid.
But when dried and powdered and used in commercial food products
whey powder is two-thirds or more lactose. Birth Control pills
also have lactose in them. In fact, lactose is the inactive
ingredient for most pharmaceutical firms.

Sprayed, lactosedries to a hard, impervious, slippery surface
that helps a pill go down. In powder form, lactose is
slightly-sweet, non-reactive, and anti-caking, the perfect
filler to bulk out the tiny bit of actual medicine that a pill
contains. While the amounts are small, there are documented
cases of people who do prove to be susceptible even to these.

Seniors, especially, and those others who take dozens of pills
a day are most at risk. Additional discomfort when you are
already sick is the last thing you need.

Stop all milk related foods. Since all you are eating dairy
is for the calcium and you can easily get that from soy milk,
orange juice, spinach or any other deep green vegetable.

There are hundreds of non-dairy alternatives for coffee ad
tea ,"milks" based on soy, almonds, oats, rice, corn syrup
and potato starch. Also there are milk-free margarines on
the market.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To join the animal welfare movement contact Mrs. Gandhi at:
14 Ashoka Road, New Delhi 110001 or:

gandhim@...

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Misidentifying Causes of Death

She was shot between the eyes. Cause of death? Heart failure.
Cancer destroyed his pancreas. Cause of death? Heart failure.
Hit by a piece of space shuttle. Cause of death? Heart failure.
I could go on and on, but you've gotten the point.

A study has been published in the March, 2008 issue of
the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 87, No. 3,
627-637, March 2008) which blames the consumption of foods
high on the Glycemic Index for diabetes and heart disease.

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a way of measuring how various
foods affect an individual's glucose level. Foods low on
the GI scale such as apples, carrots, and pears are
considered to be healthier than high GI foods such as
milk, cheese, baked potatoes, spaghetti, and white bread.

A group of Australian scientists systematically assessed 37
prospective cohort GI risk studies and concluded:

"Low-GI and/or low-GL diets are independently associated
with a reduced risk of certain chronic diseases. In diabetes
and heart disease, the protection is comparable with that seen
for whole grain and high fiber intakes. The findings support
the hypothesis that higher postprandial glycemia is a universal
mechanism for disease progression."

Based upon their myopic observation, these researchers are
calling heart failure the cause of death while ignoring
the bullet.

Consider: Forty percent of the average American diet consists
of milk and dairy products. The average American eats 29.2
ounces per day of milk and dairy which adds up to 666 pounds
per person per year.

Although people getting diabetes also eat other foods high
on the GI scale such as potatoes, white bread, and pasta,
the key to diabetes has been scientifically shown to be dairy.
See:

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

Whether it's the Glycemic Index, the Standard American Diet,
or whatever index or gauge you wish to create, so long
as diabetes and heart disease are concerned, if that list
of ingredients includes dairy, then the smoking gun and
bullet exist as the key pieces of evidence.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Something's Rotten in China

Something of olympic proportions is rotten in China, and
it's bigger than the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Eight years ago, China launched a national campaign
promoting milk consumption. That story was the subject
of a November, 2000 Notmilk column:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/343

The Notmilk letter warned:

"China would do well to carefully analyze the effects of
milk and dairy products on Japan. A once healthy nation,
having adopted the American diet, also adopted higher rates
of American diseases. GOT MILK? Got heart disease,
osteoporosis, and cancer."

On April 22, 2008, China's People Daily Online reported:

"At present, the growth of China's milk production occupies
more than half of the world's milk production."

DIABETES

Diabetes rates are soaring in China:

http://tinyurl.com/5beza6

Diabetes.co.UK reports:

"Diabetes in China - The Situation:
Information about the state of diabetes in China is not readily
available, although some experts have stated that it is alarming.
It is estimated that during the 21st Century almost 1 million new
cases of diabetes will occur per year."

ASTHMA

Asthma Rates are soaring:

http://tinyurl.com/6xr46l

The Shanghai Star Reports:

"...the number of children with asthma in Shanghai
has risen over the past few years."

CANCER

Cancer has now become the biggest killer in China.

http://tinyurl.com/6l28l6

According to the Shanghai Star (April 16, 2008):

"China's increasing wealth has brought with it many of the
trappings of the developed world...But along with designer
clothes and consumer goods come increased stress, increased
pollution and soaring cancer rates...Cancer has become
China's top killer..."

Osteoporosis, once rare in China, is now common:

http://tinyurl.com/666n7g

HEART DISEASE

Heartzine.dom reports:

http://tinyurl.com/6e3pc4

"Data from 1957 for China had put diseases of the heart
in a firm fifth place amongst causes of mortality. The
rapid increase in heart disease should ring alarm bells
for the government of China..."

Indeed.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Milk Causes Zits - New Study

JOURNAL: Journal of the Amercian Academy of Dermatology
CITATION: Volume 58, Issue 5, Pages 787-793 (May 2008)
TITLE: Milk consumption and acne in teenaged boys
AUTHORS: Clement A. Adebamowo, Walter C. Willett, MD, et. al.
OBJECTIVE: "We sought to examine the association between
dietary dairy intake and teenaged acne among boys."

NUMBER OF SUBJECTS: 4273 boys

RESEARCHER'S AFFILIATIONS:

Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health,
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School, Boston
Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover

CONCLUSION:

"We found a positive association between intake of skim milk
and acne. This finding suggests that skim milk contains hormonal
constituents, or factors that influence endogenous hormones, in
sufficient quantities to have biological effects in consumers."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notmilkman's Comment:

At last! Epidemiological data to support scientific research:

Acne occurs when steroids (androgens) stimulate the sebaceous glands
within the skin's hair follicles. These glands then secrete an oily
substance called sebum. When sebum, bacteria and dead skin cells
build
up on skin, pores become blocked, creating a zit.

"As pointed out by Dr. Jerome Fisher, 'About 80 percent of cows that
are
giving milk are pregnant and are throwing off hormones continuously.'
Progesterone breaks down into androgens, which have been implicated
as a
factor in the development of acne...Dr. Fisher observed that his
teenage
acne patients improved as soon as the milk drinking stopped."

Don't Drink Your Milk, by Frank Oski, M.D. (Director, Department of
Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
___________________________

"Acne usually begins at puberty, when an increase in androgens causes
an
increase in the size and activity of pilosebaceous glands...if a food
is suspected, it should be omitted for several weeks and then eaten
in
substantial quantities to determine if acne worsens."

MERCK Manual, Merck & Company, 2000
___________________________

"Acne is an end-organ hyper-response to androgens...These data show
that sebaceous glands are stimulated by androgens to varying degrees
and support the theory of an end-organ response in acne."

British Journal of Dermatology, 1998 Jul, 139:1
___________________________

"Acne vulgaris is a self-limiting skin disorder seen primarily in
adolescents, whose etiology appears to be multifactorial. The
immunologic response involves both humoral and cell-mediated
pathways.
Further research should clarify the role of complement, cytotoxins,
and neutrophils in this acne-forming response."

Postgrad Med J, 1999 Jun, 75:884
___________________________

"Hormones found in cow's milk include: Estradiol, Estriol,
Progesterone, Testosterone, 17-Ketosteroids, Corticosterone,
Vitamin D, insulin-like growth factor, growth hormone,
prolactin, oxytocin..."

Journal of Endocrine Reviews, 14(6) 1992
___________________________

"We studied the effects of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like
growth factors (IGFs), alone and with androgen, on sebaceous
epithelial cell growth...IGF-I was the most potent stimulus of
DNA synthesis. These data are consistent with the concept that
increases in GH and IGF production contribute in complementary
ways to the increase in sebum production during puberty."

Endocrinology, 1999 Sep, 140:9, 4089-94


Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Official Government Lies Regarding Health

Yesterday (April 24, 2008), a New York Daily News
editorial (page 40) offered this commentary:

##############################################

"A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that former
Environmental Protection Agency Chief Christie
Whitman cannot be held liable for issuing patently
false assurances that the poisoned air around
Ground Zero was safe to breathe after 9/11.

So, more than seven years after failing to warn
rescue and recovery workers, she has beaten the rap...
the judges acknowledged evidence that White House
officials directed Whitman to avoid warning the
public about air-quality hazards--as well as
evidence that her aides were aware of the perils.

The failure by the U.S. government to come through
for citizens from across the country who stepped up
in a crisis and were hurt is what truly shocks the
conscience."

##############################################

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two days after 9/11/2001, the Notmilk letter warned:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/685

"The World Trade Center was the last major construction
job in the United States to use blow-on asbestos
insulation. Crocidolite asbestos fibers are carcinogenic.

If you visit or live in Manhattan, use a face mask. Shower
frequently, and after each exposure, send your clothing to a
dry cleaner."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three days after 9/11/2001, the Notmilk letter warned:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/686

"...dust masks do not protect you from asbestos fibers.
...a dust mask does not stop those small particles."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
34 months after 9/11/2001 (July 9, 2004) Notmilk reported:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1704

"...more than half of the surviving police and fire department
personnel are on disability as a result of lung diseases
suffered during the ill-fated post-9/11 asbestos-filled days.

Over two thousand police and/or firefighters have filed
lawsuits against New York City for lung diseases and cancers
which they claim resulted from the fouled New York City
air that was supposedly safe to breathe."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When it comes to your own health, be informed. Do not
trust the government's opinion which is compromised
by political and financial conflicts of interest.

Read USDA's March 10, 2000 transcript of the Notmilkman's
testimony before the Food Pyramid Committee and act
accordingly:

http://notmilk.com/usdatest.html

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Panning Milk

In Greek mythology, Pan was the child of Hermes (the god of
farm animals) and Penelope (the founder of GETA). Pan, the
god of goat herders, was half goat (the lower half) and
half man (the upper half). Mythology does not record whether
there was a Mrs. Pan although there must have been, because
we all know the story of Peter. But, the question we raise
here today is this: Were the Pan children nurtured on a human
breast or from a goat's udder?

Scientists at the University of California at Davis have
re-combined genetic material from humans with genetic material
from goats to manufacture a new species of goat which produces
milk with characteristics of human breast milk.

Is that something you would want to use to lighten your
Vente-Latte? Two squirts or three?

After creating their new Pan-creature, light bulbs went
off in the minds of California scientists which resulted in
a bizarre pig experiment reminiscent of the lovely research
performed during World War II by Nazi scientists on humans.

A group of adult pigs were exposed to a virulent strain of E.
coli bacteria after being fed transgenic milk. The pigs then
suffered severe reactions.

Researchers then killed the pigs and autopsied their bodies.
They found that the pigs fed human/goat milk had lower levels
of E. coli in their intestines than the control group. The
control group was fed only goat's milk. One wonders why the
control group of pigs was not fed human breast milk or
(heaven forbid the logic of it all) pig's milk.

Scientists James Murray and Elizabeth Maga issued this
statement in a U.C. Davis press release:

"We are hopeful that milk with similar benefits one day will
be available to protect infants and children against diarrheal
illnesses, which every year kill millions of children around
the world."

Yes, but will kids fed this milk grow up to play Pan's flute
(the panpipes) like Zamfir and prance naked in the woods?

Are they kidding? The key word is "protect." This means that
in their brave new world, all children would be fed this new
milk before they get sick, not as a cure-all after the fact.
This is not real research. It is research meant to generate
continuing grant money for absurd scientists with nonsensical
theories.

What difference is there between Michael Vick (quarterback of
the Leavenworth eleven) who tortured dogs for sport, or such
scientists who torture pigs for naught?

You might want to communicate with these three scientists
and inquire:

Does pig-ass (ham) fed human/goat milk taste better
than pig-ass from just plain goat's milk?

The senior author of the study is Dottie Brundige, a
graduate student who is not even mentioned in the
U.C. Davis press release. Her email address:

drbrundige@...

Her two mentors:

Jim Murray (530-752-3179) jdmurray@...
Elizabeth Maga (530-752-5930) eamaga@...

Final note: This study will be published in the May, 2008
edition of the Journal of Nutrition, a peer-review journal.
Something the peer reviewer(s) missed. Was this study
intentionally biased? After reviewing the abstract, I found
a significant flaw. The baby pigs used as experimental subjects
were all exposed to E. coli bacteria after being fed a diet
which included either pasteurized goat's milk or pasteurized
transgenic goat's milk. Pasteurization would destroy natural
immunoglobulins which help to fight infection. It gets worse.

The pigs which were "non-challenged" were autopsied after
six weeks while all the other goats were autopsied after
seven weeks. All of the experimental animals should have
been autopsied at the same time. This extraneous variable
intoduces an experimental bias which negates the study.
In other words, the experimental pigs lived one week longer
which allowed the immune systems to work one week longer
than the controls to battle the disease. No wonder they
had fewer E. coli!

So, if there remains one unanswered question from this
awful study performed at a prestigious university and
published in a once-respected journal, it is this:

Do chitlins from pigs fed GMO goat-milk and eposed to
bacterial infections contain more E. coli-infested chit?

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

New Prostate Cancer Studies (April, 2008)

On Tuesday, April 22, the Notmilk letter contained the
first of two April, 2008 prostate cancer studies:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/2998

In that study, 43,435 men were research subjects.

In today's study, 142,251 men were research subjects.

Both studies found strong significant correlations between
milk consumption and prostate cancer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Journal: British Journal of Cancer
Date: April 1, 2008
Number of subjects: 142,251 European men
Study Duration: 103 months
Scientist's Conclusion: "A 35-gram per day increase in
consumption of dairy protein was associated with an increase
in the risk of prostate cancer of 32%. Calcium from dairy
products was also positively associated with risk, but not
calcium from other foods. The results support the hypothesis
that a high intake of protein or calcium from dairy products
may increase the risk for prostate cancer."

Medline Abstract:

Animal foods, protein, calcium and prostate cancer risk: the European
Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.Allen NE, Key TJ,
Appleby PN, Travis RC, Roddam AW, Tjønneland A, Johnsen NF, Overvad
K,
Linseisen J, Rohrmann S, Boeing H, Pischon T, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB,
Kiemeney L, Tagliabue G, Palli D, Vineis P, Tumino R, Trichopoulou A,
Kassapa C, Trichopoulos D, Ardanaz E, Larrañaga N, Tormo MJ, González
CA,
Quirós JR, Sánchez MJ, Bingham S, Khaw KT, Manjer J, Berglund G,
Stattin P,
Hallmans G, Slimani N, Ferrari P, Rinaldi S, Riboli E. Cancer
Epidemiology
Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

We examined consumption of animal foods, protein and calcium in
relation to
risk of prostate cancer among 142,251 men in the European Prospective
Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Associations were examined
using
Cox regression, stratified by recruitment centre and adjusted for
height,
weight, education, marital status and energy intake. After an average
of
8.7 years of follow-up, there were 2727 incident cases of prostate
cancer,
of which 1131 were known to be localised and 541 advanced-stage
disease. A
high intake of dairy protein was associated with an increased risk,
with a
hazard ratio for the top versus the bottom fifth of intake of 1.22
(95%
confidence interval (CI): 1.07-1.41, P(trend)=0.02). After
calibration to
allow for measurement error, we estimated that a 35-g day(-1)
increase in
consumption of dairy protein was associated with an increase in the
risk of
prostate cancer of 32% (95% CI: 1-72%, P(trend)=0.04). Calcium from
dairy
products was also positively associated with risk, but not calcium
from
other foods. The results support the hypothesis that a high intake of
protein or calcium from dairy products may increase the risk for
prostate
cancer.


Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

New Prostate Cancer Study (April, 2008)

Journal: Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention
Date: April, 2008
Number of subjects: 43,435 Japanese men ages 45 to 74 years
Study Duration: 90 months
Scientist's Conclusion: "...our results suggest that the
intake of dairy products may be associated with an increased
risk of prostate cancer."

Medline Abstract:

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Apr;17(4):930-937.
Dairy Product, Saturated Fatty Acid, and Calcium Intake and
Prostate Cancer in a Prospective Cohort of Japanese Men.
Kurahashi N, Inoue M, Iwasaki M, Sasazuki S, Tsugane AS;
for the Japan Public Health Center–Based Prospective Study Group.
Epidemiology and Prevention Division, Research Center for Cancer
Prevention and Screening, National Cancer Center, 5-1-1 Tsukiji
Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0045 Japan. nkurahas@...

Many epidemiologic studies have reported a positive association
between dairy products and prostate cancer. Calcium or saturated
fatty acid in dairy products has been suspected as the causative
agent. To investigate the association between dairy products,
calcium, and saturated fatty acid and prostate cancer in Japan,
where both the intake of these items and the incidence of prostate
cancer are low, we conducted a population-based prospective study
in 43,435 Japanese men ages 45 to 74 years. Participants responded
to a validated questionnaire that included 138 food items. During
7.5 years of follow-up, 329 men were newly diagnosed with prostate
cancer. Dairy products were associated with a dose-dependent
increase in the risk of prostate cancer. The relative risks (95%
confidence intervals) comparing the highest with the lowest quartiles
of total dairy products, milk, and yogurt were 1.63 (1.14-2.32),
1.53 (1.07-2.19), and 1.52 (1.10-2.12), respectively. A statistically
significant increase in risk was observed for both calcium and
saturated fatty acid, but the associations for these were
attenuated after controlling for potential confounding factors. Some
specific saturated fatty acids increased the risk of prostate cancer
in a dose-dependent manner. Relative risks (95% confidence intervals)
on comparison of the highest with the lowest quartiles of myristic
acid and palmitic acid were 1.62 (1.15-2.29) and 1.53 (1.07-2.20),
respectively. In conclusion, our results suggest that the intake of
dairy products may be associated with an increased risk of prostate
cancer. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(4):930-7).

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Rub-a-dub-dub, Three Senators in a Tub

When they call the roll in the Senate, the
Senators do not know whether to answer
'present' or 'not guilty.'"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Rub-a-dub-dub, Three Senators in a Tub
And who do you think they be?
The moocher, the faker, the PAC money taker,
Turn them out, knaves all three.

In March of 2008, the Federal Reserve bailed out Bear
Stearns with $30 billion in emergency aid. During the
2004 campaign for the presidency, the Chairman and CEO
of Bear Stearns, James Cayne, donated $100,000 to the
George Bush election campaign. Who will bail out America's
bankrupt taxpayers? Senators received money from Bear
Stearns too.

Do I do research? You bet your butt I do. Bear Stearns
hired a lobbying firm, Venable LLP, to pass dollars to
members of the Senate who would support their bailout.
I spent hours tracing down donations from Venable to three
Senators who are currently running for president. Dozens of
Venable employees donated to Clinton and Obama. Obama has the
nerve to represent that he does not accept money from lobbyists,
yet, I found Carol Bruce, Karl Davis, Seth Rosenthal, and Geoffry
Garinther (all work for Venabloe) each giving $2,300 or more to
Obama. Clinton? I found Karl Racine, James Shea, Thomas Quinn,
and Charles Morton (all work for Venable) each giving $2300 or
more to her campaign. The list of donations from Venable to
powerful presidential candidates is a long one. Even McCain
received money from a Venable attorney, Bruce Jolly, Esq.

Wall Street firms know how to invest wisely. Let's take a
look at the manner in which another firm does business.

Goldman Sachs is the largest global investment banking firm
in the world. In 2007, each of Goldman Sachs' three top
executives earned in excess of $67 million, and 2007 was
a down year for Wall Street firms which lost an estimated
$350 million. Goldman Sachs' expertise is in making prudent
investments. They invest in people too, expecting huge
returns.

This year, Senator John McCain received $115,600 in
political donations from Goldman Sachs.

This year, Senator Hillary Clinton received $440,300 in
political donations from Goldman Sachs.

This year, Senator Barack Obama received $523,168 in
political donations from Goldman Sachs.

Biotechnology companies have grown wealthy during the past
eight years, thanks to influence purchased by PAC dollars.
Americans live in the United States of Monsantoland. See:

http://notmilk.com/pelican.html

How does the pharmaceutical industry relate to our current
three senatorial presidential hopefuls in the tub?

So far, in 2008, Senator John McCain has received $139,400
in donations from the pharmaceutical industry.

So far, in 2008, Senator Barack Obama has received $506,001
in donations from the pharmaceutical industry.

So far, in 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton has received $528,765
in donations from the pharmaceutical industry.

Senators vote on bills and serve on committees which award
billions of dollars in lucrative contracts to various firms.
The worst burdens taxpayers bear are represented by the dollars
paid to law firms. Taxpayers are raped by a self-serving system
Senators use to pad their own accounts. Trickle down
bribenomics, anyone?

In 2008, Senator John McCain has received $3,610,713 in
donations from law firms.

In 2008, Senator Barack Obama has received $13,690,170 in
donations from law firms.

In 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton has received $14,843,862
in donations from law firms.

McCain, Obama, Clinton. All three owned by the same masters.
All marionettes dancing to the impulses of the same puppeteers.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Avoiding the Angel of Death Like the Plague

Last night began the Jewish celebration of Passover, and my
family enjoyed our traditional Seder meal. Last night was
different from all other nights because on Passover, we
eat unleavened bread (matzoh) with bitter herbs and rest
on comfy cushions while dining.

Matzoh is that traditional bread replacement which Jews baked
in the desert while escaping from Pharaoh's troops. Having
no time to leaven bread, matzoh became the 18-minute staple
(from mixing of dough to eating). If you're not Jewish,
you'll recognize matzoh as a giant wafer-thin perforated
Saltine-like cracker, seven inches long and seven inches
wide. This remarkable low-calorie food contains just two
ingredients, wheat flour and water. Its texture is crunchy
and its taste is neutral.

Hummus also goes well with matzoh. Hummus is probably the
number one calcium-rich food on this planet unless you are
a scavenging hyena who crunches and munches on discarded
bones left over from lion kills. Hummus is made with chick
peas, which contain 150 milligrams (mg) of calcium per
100-gram portion and sesame seeds (1160 mg). Compare that
to human breast milk containing 33 mg calcium per 100-grams.

Every Jew worth his salt (with the exception of Lot and his
lovely wife, Wattzernaym) is left with multiple boxes of
unopened matzoh after each Passover, to be stored on the
very top shelf of the least accessible kitchen cabinet.

What else will be found on my Passover Seder plate? I can
assure you that there will be no meat and notmilk.

I am baffled by a riddle of biblical proportions.

How did the Canaanites develop a technology to put milk into
a bottle and keep it from poisoning thirsty consumers? Three
thousand years ago, there were no outlets in which to plug
General Electric's refrigerators. Was milk ultra-pasteurized?
Did the Israelites put drawings of missing prophets on the
sides of their milk bottles?

Milk & the Bible (King James Version) - JUDGES 4:19

"And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water
to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk,
and gave him drink, and covered him."

RIDDLE:

How did a Bedouin open a bottle of non-pasteurized milk in
the desert heat three thousand years ago?

ANSWER:

Verrrry carefully!

JUDGES 4:21

"Then (she) took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in
her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into
his temple...for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died."

If the nail didn't kill him, the rancid milk might have done
so. What powerful stench awaited those milk drinkers? Did
the children of Israel buy "sicks" packs?

Historians believe that glass bottles originated in Syria 21
centuries ago when the art of blowing glass was first developed.
According to religious scholars, the incidents depicted in
Judges 4:21 occurred more than one thousand years before the
art of blowing glass into bottles was discovered/invented.
A new biblical controversy? Glass bottles were common in 16th
century England. I simply attribute this riddle to that
group of 47 overzealous translators chosen by King James I
who re-wrote the exisiting Vulgate Bible at the beginning of
the seventeenth century. It seems as if this biblical passage
was not-so divinely inspired.

In the third edition of his dairy textbook, Modern Dairy
Products, Lincoln Lampert writes:

"A drop of sour milk may contain more than 50 million
bacteria...a new generation may be formed every 20 minutes."

So...where did those bottles of milk come from, where were
they stored, and who had the courage to drink something that
must have stunk to high heaven?

And speaking of Jews...and milk...I tell this next story to
demonstrate to you that I do not place blame upon spoiled
rotten hormone-filled milk as the cause for all of the
world's illnesses and injustices. Forgive me if you've
heard this one before, but it is my traditional Passover
story.

My grandfather died when he was 95. We used to visit him at
his apartment in New York's lower East Side, a neighborhood
in which the official language was Yiddish. I understood
little.

Grandpa Sam used to take me and my sister to his favorite
Kosher diner, a restaurant that he had been going to for
over thirty years. Forgive me, but I've forgotten the name.
We would enjoy the same breakfast, a freshly baked buttered
bialy. This diner served no meat, just dairy. Grandpa Sam
would always order a bowl of corn flakes with milk. He
offered the same to me, but I was at that stage of life in
which I learned that cow's milk contained strontium-90,
fallout from nuclear bomb tests. I refused to drink milk.

I never heard Grandpa Sam complain about a thing until one
day, right after our food was set on the table, he summoned
the waiter. My sister and I had never seen him so upset.

The conversation went something like this:

"Waiter, taste this cereal."
"Why, is there something wrong with it?"
It was obvious that Grandpa was upset.
"Just taste it!"
The waiter reached for the bowl.
"I'll bring you fresh cereal.
Maybe the milk was on the table too long."
Grandpa raised his voice.
"Taste the cereal, now!"
The waiter was apologetic.
"You're one of my best customers, Mr. Cohen.
Why should I taste it? This is not
a big deal. I don't want to argue with you.
I'll get you a new bowl."
Grandpa was red in the face. He raised his voice
even louder, and a few patrons looked over. I had
my own experiences in tasting sour milk. That memory
never leaves a person. I was hoping that grandpa
would not ask me to taste his bowl of cereal.

"TASTE THE CORN FLAKES!"

The waiter was so intimidated, that he sat down
at the table.
"All right, I'll taste it. Where's the spoon?"
Grandpa smiled.
"Aha."

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Nazis Release Humane Jewish Slaughter Video

A group of neo-Nazis living in Argentina have released
a video claiming that Jews were humanely killed in
concentration camps during the Second World War.

The producers of the video argue that it would have
been inefficient to torture their victims, so mass
murders were committed with compassion.

http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=gINu_MToseU

America's meat industry has issued the first of a
series of YouTube videos claiming that America's farm
animals are transported and killed compassionately in
slaughterhouses with compassion too. While no such Nazi
video was ever actually produced as described in the
first paragraph, the meat industry video is real. See:

http://www.YouTube.com/meatnewsnetwork

The tape begins with this written statement:

"Different industries use different raw materials. Auto
makers need steel, mufflers, and tires. Clothing makers
need fabric and thread. The meat industry, uniquely,
needs live animals to produce its products."

At that moment, I wondered what the equivalent video
in Korea would say:

"Our food industry needs live dogs to produce its products."

Easter in America:

"Our food industry needs live baby lambs..."

Gourmet food shops:

"Our food industry needs live bunny rabbits..."

Whole Foods Supermarkets:

"Our food industry needs Porky the Pig and his brothers..."

This summer's Olympic host nation:

"Our food industry needs worms, monkey brains, deer penis,
and cow testicles."

When you watch the meat industry's scam-video, take note
of how nicely the animals proceed down ramps to death.
Observe the animals standing shoulder to shoulder, nose
to tail in their holding pens. You will see clean cattle
with neither dirt nor feces in carefully orchestrated
and meticulously edited scenes.

The meat industry interviews its own loyal troopers who
do their best to convince consumers how happy farm animals
are to give their lives so that they might be eaten for our
fgast food lunches and snacks.

Each attempt to brainwash consumers into believing that
murder is compassionate is despicable. If you're going to
participate in the kill and then promote murder as an act of
love, be warned. We find the hiring of public relations firms
and film production companies who produce sanitized versions
of truth to be morally and intellectually offensive.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

One Woman's Environmental Horror Story

Today I share with you one of the best researched
and best written newspaper articles I've ever seen.
After reading the story, I located the author to
congratulate her on a brilliant job of reporting.

The following appeared in the April 2, 2008 issue of
Ithaca, Times. Thanks to Bina <civitas @ linkny.com>
for sharing it.
__________________________________________
__________________________________________

Toxic fumes, blisters & brain damage:
The cost of doing business?
By: Rebecca Lerner - An investigative report
04/02/2008

Willet Dairy's cows are lined up together,
eating feed, in one of the farm's barns.

Karen Strecker is bracing. She's about to turn on the
faucet, and there's a chance liquid manure is going to
stream from the spout.

"I've been taking a bath and actually had cow shit pour
into the tub,'' Strecker says, matter-of-factly. She
uses well water. "It's nasty."

Yet the threat of a sewage bath pales in comparison to a
more dangerous problem: Breathing poisonous fumes. After
years living next to Willet Dairy, the largest industrial
farm in the state, Strecker and her neighbors in Genoa
are reporting the kinds of health problems eco-watchdogs
lose sleep over, from blistering eyelids to brain damage.
Manure is known to release gases that, in high
concentrations, are linked to those scary symptoms.

Strecker's plight takes on national relevance as the EPA
prepares to roll back air-pollution-reporting requirements
for industrial animal farms like Willet in October - even
as environmentalists warn that regulation is already too
lax in New York.

The Road to Industrial Farming

Located next to Lansing in Cayuga County, Genoa is a rural
town with sprawling hills and a population of 1,914. Its main
street is spare but quaint, with an antiques shop, a fire hall
advertising a NASCAR event, and a church with the motto,
"Exercise Daily: Walk With God."

The roadsides here are dotted with farms. Willet Dairy's giant
white barns sit close to Route 34, the main thoroughfare.
Pickup trucks and heavy machinery sit in dusty lots. With
7,800 cattle, Willet is a relative behemoth. The other two
major livestock operations in town are Osterhoudt Farm,
with 470 cattle, and Ridgecrest Dairy L.L.C., with 1,090,
according to the state Department of Environmental
Conservation, the agency charged with regulating agricultural
pollution.

Willet began in 1974 as a small, family-owned operation that
grew steadily over the years, acquiring its neighbors' property
and expanding as American agricultural practices became
increasingly mechanized and efficient. Today, Willet spans
approximately 6,300 acres over four sites, including a
facility on Route 34 near Lansing, one on Lane Road in Locke,
Belltown Dairy in King Ferry and W.D. Corey Dairy. "Why larger
dairies?" said David M. Galton, a dairy management professor
at Cornell University. "Well, why Wegmans? Target and Circuit
City and Home Depot and Lowe's - they're doing it to dilute
out cost and to maintain or improve standard of living.
It's like every other segment of our economy. Larger dairies
are trying to address the ever-rising cost of producing milk
and standard of living."

In 1993, farms with 200 or more cattle made up 3.6 percent
of the state's dairies, according to USDA statistics. By 2002,
they made up 9 percent.

"The larger the dairy farm, the lower the costs are. And so,
as the costs keep rising - fuel costs, feed costs, taxes - it
puts more economic pressure on the individual farms to produce
more milk,'' Galton said. "If you take the milk price of 1980
and adjust it for inflation, the milk price would be $38.92
per 100 pounds. The milk price today is approximately $20
per 100 pounds."

Galton is director of PRO-DAIRY, a government-funded outreach
arm of Cornell University that works to increase profitability
in the dairy industry and educate farmers on the latest
manure-management techniques.


Willet Dairy is a privately held business headed by Dennis
Eldred, a Genoa resident. The company is listed as Willet
Dairy L.P.; Willet Dairy L.L.C.; and Willet Dairy Inc., in
legal documents. Eldred did not return phone calls to his
home and office and declined to be interviewed through his
attorney, David Cook of Nixon Peabody L.L.P.

Scott, Todd, Susan and Peter Eldred are also listed as
co-owners of Willet, according to 2005 USDA records as
compiled by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. Todd,
Susan and Peter Eldred are "all family members, members of
the LLC," according to Cook. Neighbors identified them as
Dennis Eldred's adult children. Scott Eldred is Dennis
Eldred's brother, and his status with the company is not
clear at this time because Scott Eldred is in the Carribbean
working as a missionary, Cook said. Town Supervisor Stuart
Underwood has known Dennis Eldred and his family for decades
and described them as "good people.''

Willet Operations Officer Lyn Odell, who spoke to the Ithaca
Times, declined to discuss the company's annual profits.
Public records show Willet received $1,114,807.88 in USDA
subsidies from 1995 to 2005, according to a database
maintained by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

Property tax records show Willet paid more than a third of
the locally funded portion of Genoa's 2007 town budget.

Large-scale dairies like Willet are known colloquially as
factory farms, a term that refers to the industrialized
nature of their daily operations. The state Department of
Environmental Conservation refers to large dairies as
"concentrated animal feeding operations," or CAFOs, because
they confine their animals in warehouse-like facilities for
more than 45 days each year.

If you peer into Willet's barns, some of which are open-air
and visible from the roads, you will observe bovine faces
neatly aligned, as far back as the eye can see.

At dairy farms in general, cows are impregnated once every
13 to 14 months in order to keep milk production at a profitable
level, Galton said. But whereas small farms may house cows and
calves together, it is standard practice for CAFOs to isolate
calves in individual crates for the six weeks immediately
following birth, Galton said, in order to avoid compromising
their fragile immune systems.

This is a practice assailed by animal welfare groups,
including Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, as cruel. It irks
Strecker as well. Down the street from her house, small
evergreens do little to block the view of the crates, arranged
in orderly rows along a grassy plain that stretches several
football fields in length. At night, floodlights illuminate
the scene.

"We do what we have to do to improve standard of living and
dilute out cost," Galton said of the industry.

To address the ecological impact of thousands of cows relieving
themselves in one area, large dairies like Willet are required
by law to manage the excrement using techniques developed in
large part by Cornell University.

Willet cows produced 157,126 tons of manure in 2006, according
to the DEC. Willet liquifies the untreated waste and pumps it
into manure lagoons, as is standard practice among large-scale
dairies. There it sits - some hundreds of feet from Strecker's
home - uncovered and decomposing, releasing hydrogen sulfide,
a poisonous, acidic gas known to burn the eyes and respiratory
tract, until some of Willet's laborers spray it onto farm
fields with tanker trucks.

Toxic Gases

The stench in Strecker's yard makes you cough at first, then
your eyes water and nausea sets in. Dizziness knocks you over
if you stick around for more than five minutes, and if the wind
is blowing the right way, you might find yourself nursing a
headache. Of course, that's just if you're visiting on a mild
day. The effect is more severe if you actually live there.

"No matter which way the wind blows, we're screwed,'' Strecker
says. Strecker has been on a constant dose of antibiotics for
years to treat chronic respiratory problems caused by exposure
to her surroundings, according to a series of letters written
by her doctor, Ahmad Mehdi of Groton Family Practice. The
letters span from Aug. 15, 2000 to Jan. 22, 2007.

"Do people get sick when manure gets spread? Yes, it's a fact,"
Mehdi told the Ithaca Times. "It's the huge, mass production.
When you have 10,000 cows in one place, that's a lot of manure.
Everybody knows that. But it's the way of life around here."
Cayuga County is home to 28 industrial farms, and Tompkins has
10, according to the DEC. There are more than 600 such
facilities in the state. Detailed information about each is
available online at:

http://www.factoryfarmmap.org

a website compiled by the research and advocacy group Food &
Water Watch. You can't see manure lagoons from the roadsides,
but you can smell them, and the dangers of their fumes have
been documented. A 2002 study by the University of Iowa and
Iowa State University examined the impact of aerial ammonia
and hydrogen sulfide on residents living near industrial hog
farms after former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack requested information
on their public health impact.

The researchers noted that aerial ammonia and hydrogen sulfide
gas - both routine CAFO emissions - are poisonous in high
concentrations, causing sinusitis, asthma, chronic bronchitis,
inflamed mucous membranes of the nose and throat, headaches,
muscle aches and pains in those who live or work nearby.

The National Association of Clean Air Agencies - which
represents local, state, federal and agencies - cites manure-pit
emissions containing hydrogen sulfide and ammonia for the deaths
of at least two dozen people working or living near the
operations in the Midwest over the past 30 years.

"The release of toxic substances from manure in amounts
dangerous to human health is not a theoretical exercise - people
have been killed,'' said the NACAA's Catharine Fitzsimmons, in
testimony before the U.S. Senate on Sept. 6, 2007.

A June 2006 fact sheet put out by PRO-DAIRY on health and safety
issues describes hydrogen sulfide as "a poisonous, acidic gas
that can kill in a matter of seconds," "accumulates in low,
confined spaces" and dissolves "rapidly in eye moisture and
in the respiratory tract."

Yet the DEC does not closely monitor toxic emissions from
livestock farms. DEC spokesperson Lori O'Connell said the fumes
are regarded "as either 'trivial activities' ... or as 'fugitive
emissions' in the case of outdoor manure piles and waste lagoons.
Both of these designations have the effect of relieving farms in
New York from needing an air permit or minor source
registration."

Brain Damage and Poisoned Eyes

If you ask Fred Coon, Strecker's 82-year-old father, why he's
missing his lower eyelids, he will tell you about the time he
"got my eyes poisoned."

"It was a terrible process,'' Coon said. "I was raking leaves
by the barn, and my eyes started stinging. I came inside and
looked in the mirror, and there were a million little tiny
blisters over here, and here,'' he says, pointing to the
magenta tissue his lower eyelids used to cover. The blisters
burst and became infected, prompting doctors to amputate the
thin flaps of skin containing them.

Neighbor Connie Mather, a perky former schoolteacher from
Philadelphia who owns a property around the corner, also had
a run-in with the blisters. In her case, they converged on the
inside of her throat and nasal passages. But Mather had another
cause for alarm. In 2004, a medical expert diagnosed her
teenage son, Samuel, with irreversible brain damage caused by
exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas.

The physician was Dr. Kaye Kilburn, a professor at the
University of Southern California who has published 61
peer-reviewed papers on neurobehavioral toxicology. Kilburn is
president and director of Neuro-Test Inc., a company that
evaluates chemical exposure for lawsuits and disability claims.
Kilburn also diagnosed Connie Mather and Coon with
neurological damage from the fumes.

During the evaluations, Kilburn reviewed a 15-page questionnaire
on each patient's medical history and administered 43 different
tests, according to legal documents.

"Each patient's brain impairment has been caused by exposure
to hydrogen sulfide," Kilburn wrote. "None of the patients have
been exposed [to] other significant chemical exposures, and none
of the patients have [sic] suffered spontaneous or associated
neurological or psychiatric disease. After analyzing of other
possible causes for brain impairment [sic], I found that for
each patient the clinical signs of all possible alternative
causes are absent."

Kilburn told the Mathers to vacate their property immediately.
The family is renting elsewhere.

Angered into action, Mather became a founding member of
Neighbors United for the Finger Lakes, an anti-CAFO
organization with membership in anational coalition called
the Dairy Education Alliance. She worries about plans for
an 84,000-head cattle CAFO in St. Lawrence County - an
operation that would be more than 10 times the size of Willet.

A Losing Lawsuit, A Bitter Fight

Strecker spends her days taking care of her father, Fred Coon.
Both retired carpenters, they live on a 7-acre property with
a main house, a trailer, a garage decorated with Coon's artwork
and a muddy stream in the backyard. The land has been in the
family since the 1800s. Coon still sleeps in the house he built
in the 1940s. His late wife, and Strecker's mother, Pearl
Coon, spent her last days here.

In the good old days, the air here smelled like lilac trees,
flowers grew in the garden and marathon barbecues brought the
town together, Coon said. They even had neighbors. But that
was before Willet expanded. Now they're surrounded by Willet
on three sides.

"I'm just angry they took our lives away,'' Strecker says.
"I can't even get a friggin' clean glass of water."

To no avail, Strecker and Mather tried complaining about
Willet to the state DEC; Office of the New York State
Attorney General; New York State Soil and Water Committee;
Cayuga County Health & Human Services Department; former New
York Governors Eliot Spitzer and George Pataki; the U.S. EPA;
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; federal and local legislators;
the New York State Police; the Cayuga County Sheriff's
Department; and the Genoa town supervisor.

"They all say they'll 'look into it,'" Strecker says. "Nobody
cares." Frustrated, the neighbors tried the legal arena, banding
together to file a citizen's lawsuit alleging violations of the
Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act,
Rivers and Harbors Act, and the New York State Environmental
Conservation Law. Suing Willet were Karen Strecker; Fred Coon
and his late wife Pearl Coon; Connie Mather and her husband
Scott Mather; and three other neighbors, Karen and Kenneth
Keppel and Dale Mangan, according to legal documents.

After five years of litigation, the case was dismissed in July.
Their attorney is Gary Abraham, a T-shirt-wearing environmentalist
who works out of a room in his house in Allegany, N.Y., and who
took the case at his own expense. Willet Dairy was represented
by attorney David Cook of the firm Nixon Peabody L.L.P., a
700-attorney powerhouse with offices in 17 cities, including
Rochester and Shanghai, China.

Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. of the Northern District of
New York dismissed the suit, ruling in Willet's favor that the
farm's neighbors did not have the legal authority to bring an
enforcement action. This leaves the door open for the neighbors
to try again in another jurisdiction. Abraham is challenging
the court decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second
Judicial Circuit. Both Abraham and Cook have filed briefs; oral
arguments are expected to begin in May.

Abraham said he is optimistic, bolstered by a Jan. 15 decision
by a Michigan appellate court reaffirming the power of citizen
suits to enforce Clean Water Act violations.

On behalf of Willet, Cook described the dairy as "a leader in
environmental stewardship." Inaction by the broad array of local,
state and federal government agencies bolsters the argument that
Willet did not violate any laws, Cook said. He called the
neighbors' allegations of pollution and detrimental health
effects "utter nonsense."

"Now, do I believe these people believe it? Absolutely. But the
science doesn't back it up," said Cook. "When we went out to
hire experts to tell us what the levels of exposure were, do you
know what the levels were? Non-detect."

Researchers took samples of soil, air and water at Willet and
then extrapolated the results to estimate what Willet's neighbors
encountered, Cook said. When the Ithaca Times asked to see the
data, Cook declined to release it. "We are still in the midst
of litigation," Cook said. Odell, the Willet employee, said he
believes the company is being subjected to unreasonable scrutiny.

During a recent four-day-long surprise inspection of Willet in
November, the DEC found that Willet "continues to be a well-
managed and operated dairy" in "satisfactory" compliance with
permit requirements, according to a Dec. 11, 2007, letter sent
to Dennis Eldred from the DEC's Environmental Program Specialist
Scott D. Cook.

"We don't farm any different than anybody else does up and down
this road," Odell said, referring to Route 34. "This is about
the nature of our business, about how we farm. It's not about
Willet. It's about the dairy industry."

While Genoa's other two CAFOs, Osterhoudt and Ridgecrest, have
never been cited for environmental violations by the DEC, Willet
has paid for two. On March 8, 2001, the DEC fined Willet $25,000
for leaking "a significant amount of manure" into the Cayuga
Lake watershed when a pipe burst, resulting in a fish kill and
a water quality violation, the DEC said. The company paid
$15,000; the remainder of the penalty was suspended due to
satisfactory compliance with clean-up efforts, the DEC's O'Connell
said. On Dec. 11, 2006, the DEC fined Willet $2,500 after manure
spilled from an overturned tanker, leaking into a tributary of
Salmon Creek in the Cayuga Lake watershed. The company paid just
$500 of that amount; $2,000 was suspended because Willet complied
with the clean-up to DEC's satisfaction, O'Connell said.

From January 2005 through June 2007, the DEC filed 30 enforcement
actions against CAFOs.


The Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, the National Resources
Defense Council and other national environmental organizations
have long criticized industrial farms as major polluters,
particularly because of the run-off problems associated with
liquid manure. A 1998 study by the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention of nine large Iowa CAFO sites turned up
chemical pollutants, pathogens, bacteria, nitrates and
parasites in lagoons and other areas in and around the sites.

In an effort to mitigate pollution, CAFOs are required to file
annual reports with the DEC, and the agency sends regulators to
inspect the facilities once a year. However, the agency does
not keep farms' waste management plans on file, and the
documents are not available for public view. The Sierra Club,
in its 2005 report "Wasting New York State," says this makes
enforcement difficult.

It's a familiar refrain from environmentalists: There are too
many loopholes; too little oversight. Or as Abraham put it:

"The system is broken."
__________________________________________
__________________________________________

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Never Cry Wolf

I found Farley Mowat's "Never Cry Wolf" ten years after
it had been written. It was on the assigned reading list
for a comparative animal behavior class I was taking.
The year was 1973, and I was still in college. Never Cry
Wolf had an intense affect on me, and I trace my interest
in environmental issues back to that introduction to Mowat's
work. Ten years later, Mowat's book became a popular Disney
movie.

Twenty years after the movie was released, the flagship for
the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was dedicated and
named the Farley Mowat. This week, that same ship was
illegally boarded by Canadian authorities while captain
(Paul Watson) and crew were attempting to chronicle the
horrors of Canada's annual baby seal slaughter. Paul Watson
was one of the original founders of Greenpeace. In March,
the Farley Mowat was boarded by Japanese whalers. Watson
was shot in the chest. His life was saved by a bulletproof
vest.

Farley Mowat was the man who introduced me to the injustice
of animal abuse. Wolves are the most humane of non-human
mammals and live in loving well developed family groups.
Read Never Cry Wolf and I guarantee that you will share my
profound appreciation of these gentle intelligent creatures.

Canadian authorities once suspected that wolves were
destroying caribou herds. Mowat taught them something they
did not want to know. Man was the mass murderer, not wolf.
Hunters with guns, not wolves with sharp teeth. Sure, they
ate an occasional caribou. Native Inuit Canadians respect
the wolves. They thin out the herd by eating the sick and
infirm. In that regard, wolves keep the herd strong. Mowat
observed that the major food source for wolves in the
Canadian wilderness was field mice, not caribou.

Which brings us to the Wisconsin wilderness and the latest
dairy industry animal abuse story. The dairy industry is
blaming its financial ills on wolves. What nonsense. Milk
marketing geniuses are now terrifying cheeseheads.

In today's attached article, take note when the farmers
admit that bones are rarely fround from missing cows.
When you get to this sentence in the attached story, note
the irony:

***"Tandler said he is selling most of his cows because
he can't keep up with the gas and feed expenses along
with losing money on animals."***

The United States Department of Agriculture compensates
every dairy farmer for a reported missing cow due to a
wolf attack. Anybody smell a scam?

Canis lupus will soon lose their lives to the the lies
offered by homo sapiens.

Yesterday's Leader Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
(April 16, 2008) reports:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The spring Conservation Congress hearings are scheduled in
every county at 7 tonight. Questions ask if there should
be a wolf hunting season and if people can shoot wolves
on public land.

Wolf attacks haunt farmers
Hunt question tackled amid calving season
By Chris Vetter

Judy Antczak is nervous. In about three weeks, she is expecting
about 60 calves to be born on her 150-acre farm, 20 miles east
of Rice Lake. She knows that not all the animals will survive.

A growing wolf population in the area will nab a handful of the
newborn calves, Antczak said.

'The wolves are here every day,' she said. 'We don't see them but
we see their tracks. The wolves have been here all year. They were
howling on the fence line in the middle of the day.'

Antczak has a permit to shoot wolves, but so far she hasn't been
successful. She has lived on the farm since 1961, but she's only
seen problems with wolves in the past six years.

"I'm worried because there is getting to be so many of them,"
she said.

Antczak said she has lost about 20 animals on her farm to wolves.

'The wolves can get to just about anything,' she said. 'They killed
one right behind a house here. Last year, they killed an adult
heifer. That's the biggest one we lost."

Adrian Wydeven, an ecologist and director of the state's wolf
program, estimates there were between 540 and 577 wolves in the
state in 2007. His organization will meet next week in Wausau to
go over population estimates for this year.

'We've seen increases almost every year since 1985, but it
seems our wolf population has leveled off this year,' Wydeven
said, citing a cold winter as a reason for some of the older
animals dying this year.

Wolves in the state were 'de-listed' in March 2007, meaning the
Department of Natural Resources now allows homeowners to obtain
permits to shoot wolves on their property. Any wolves that are
killed must be turned over to the DNR within 24 hours, he said.

'It does ease people's minds, that they have these permits,'
Wydeven said.

Last year, the DNR trapped 38 wolves and another three were shot
by landowners, he said.

Drew Tandler has a 210-acre farm 10 miles north of Weyerhaeuser,
and he also has seen a number of cattle vanish in the past four
or five years. One year he should have had 30 calves but wound
up with just eight.

'They went somewhere,' Tandler said. 'The cows were pregnant.'

The wolves work together to corner cows, he said.

'They pushed (a cow) out into a swamp, and they took the calf
right from her,' Tandler said.

Tandler said it often is difficult just to find the carcasses
because the wolves destroy the animals so completely.

'A calf was ripped apart, torn in all directions,' he said.
'There's a lot that are killed that we never see.'

Tandler agreed with Antczak that this time of year is the
worst, when calves are being born.

'(The wolves) can smell the blood in the air when the cows are
calving, and they are right there,' he said. 'He'll howl for
other ones to come, and they'll come. I've heard this happen time
and time again. When they howl, I'll shoot a gun up in the air.'

Tandler said he is selling most of his cows because he can't keep
up with the gas and feed expenses along with losing money on animals.

Antczak said one of her frustrations is that she gets reimbursed
from the state for lost animals, but it often is a several-month
wait.

Wydeven said the DNR just sent out a press release stating that a
dog was killed by wolves in Forest County. Last year, wolves killed
13 dogs in the state.

One of the questions at Conservation Congress hearings tonight
whether there should be a hunting season on wolves. Wydeven said
he sees that as an eventual way to control the population, but he
said the number of permits would have to be limited to prevent too
high of a harvest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the state of Wisconsin live 5.6 million humans,
1.2 million cows, and 45 dozen wolves.

That averages out to about 7.5 acres per human, 35
acres per cow, and 77,629 acres per wolf (one wolf
for every 121 square miles).

The census bureau does not list the number of young
girls who walk through Wisconsin woods wearing red
riding hoods.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Duplicitous Animal Rights Imposters

"When it comes to having a central nervous system,
and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst,
a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy."
-Ingrid Newkirk

I respect Ingrid Newkirk. She tells it like it is.
Boys feel pain. Dogs feel pain. Rats feel pain.
Boys should not ethically be used as laboratory
subjects. Neither should dogs. Neither should
rabbits, guinea pigs, or rats.

There are famous animal rights and vegetarian spokespersons
who universally are acclaiming a current best-selling book
which cites absurd rat studies which tortured animals to
incorrectly support invalid cancer conclusions.

In their lectures these pretend animal rightists support
animal research, citing these same rat studies. Just for
the record (and the ignorant):

Half of the cancers rats get mice do not get.
Half of the cancers mice get rats do not get.
Rats lack gall bladders. Rats have different
digestive enzymes than humans do.

If scientific data from furry sharp-toothed
long-tailed four-legged rodents from one species
cannot reliably be applied to other rodent species,
how in the heck can rat studies be ethically used
to apply to humans? These rats are tortured in
laboratories by being given extreme doses of poison
and then submit to surgical procedures, often without
analgesics to alleviate post-surgical pain and trauma.
They are then killed and autopsied to produce invalid
points which only supply funding for dishonest
researchers. They know it. You should too.

Rats bleed.
Rats feel pain.
Rats should not be laboratory models.
Rat research cannot be justified. They betray
men who rely upon such research.

Rat research caused dangerous drugs to be approved
for human use. One example is diethyl stilbesterol
which caused genetic deformities in humans. Rats did
not suffer adverse affects.

Hundreds of cancer cures on rats have not worked for humans.

If you should attend one or both of these summer conferences:

http://www.arconference.org
http://vegetariansummerfest.org

Have the courage to demand justice for all animals.
If you allow speakers to support the suffering of
innocent creatures, you become a part of the problem.

Animal rights advocates who cite animal studies betray
the animals. Today I do not name names. Be warned. One day
I will expose the phonies who are only in it for the money.
The phonies will be keynote speakers at 2008 summer vegetarian
and animal rights conferences. The time approaches for them
to change their ways and come to their senses or be outed.

"Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and
the answer is: 'Because the animals are like us.' Ask the
experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals,
and the answer is: 'Because the animals are not like us.'
Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction."
-Charles R. Magel

"The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest."
-Henry David Thoreau

"Cruelty must be whitewashed by a moral excuse, and pretense
of reluctance."
-George Bernard Shaw

"I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific
discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no
consequence."
-Mahatma Gandhi

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Pretty is What Changes

"Pretty isn't beautiful, Mother
Pretty is what changes
What the eye arranges
Is what is beautiful"
- Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park With George

A few weeks ago, Jennifer's flight arrived on
time from Brisbane, Australia. I was happy to
drive to the airport to pick up my daughter.

The drive to JFK from my home took just forty
minutes. Ten minutes after her plane landed
we were exchanging hugs. One hour later, we
were still waiting for her luggage.

Something unusual happened then. Something that
was meant to happen. A young woman standing to
my right turned to me and said, "This is ridiculous.
Does it always take more than an hour to get luggage?"

I saw that familiar look on Jen's face. Uh, oh. Here
he goes. Jen knows that I am usually the one to initiate
a conversation. I responded, "It's Saturday night,
after 10 PM. I expected nothing less." The woman
continued to look at me. I would have ignored it,
but there seemed to be something spirited about her.
I could not help myself. I felt Jennifer's discomfort.

"Excuse me. I've got to ask. What do you do for a living?"

She smiled. Jennifer shuddered. The woman responded,
"I'm a writer." She paused for a moment. "What do you
do for a living?"

It was too late for Jen to stop the avalanche of words
which continued for another fifteen minutes before our
luggage finally appeared.

"I'm a writer too. What subject do you write about?"

She responded, "I write for television. Gossip Girl.
I also have a new book that just came out about breast
cancer. What do you write about?"

I laughed. "I write about breast cancer too."

When she told me the name of new book, Pretty is What
Changes, Jennifer joined in the conversation by adding,

"What the eye arranges is what is beautiful"

I had no idea what Jennifer was talking about until
she explained to me that the title of Jessica's book
comes from a lyric in a song from her favorite Broadway
play, Sunday in the Park With George. I think that
Jessica was a little surprised that a perfect stranger
waiting for her baggage would understand the metaphorical
meaning of her book without having read it.

If ten thousand people walked through JFK's terminal
number 4 on that day, I would wager that none other
than Jennifer would immediately respond to the book
title with the next line from Stephen Sondheim's not-so
familiar song. If one million paired people had a
chance encounter while waiting to claim baggage,
not two in a million would be writers standing next
to one another whose subject is breast cancer.

We laughed. We talked. We debated. She got emotional.
She got upset. We exchanged contact information. Her
book arrived in the mail a few days ago.

Pretty is What Changes

Jessica Queller tells the story of her mother who survived
Breast Cancer, but died a few years later from ovarian
cancer. Three months after her mother's death, Jessica
continued to be haunted by a suspicion. After genetic testing,
Queller learned that she possessed the BRCA breast cancer
gene mutation and that her probability of getting breast
cancer in the future was extremely high.

It was then that this 33-year-old unmarried woman charmed
with the gifts of wisdom, beauty, and youth made the decision
to have both of her breasts surgically removed.

Pretty is What Changes.

After reading through the first 90 pages of this book,
I was mesmerized. Having met the person who lived with
the pain of what she so eloquently expressed in her
story, I knew that I must finish reading the book at
one sitting.

Now that I have finished, I am haunted. She has removed
her breasts without considering that the BRCA gene
is only an indication of a predisposition to breast cancer.
While every woman does not possess that gene, every
woman with or without breasts has a pre-disposition to
cancer. While reading the book, I became angry when
Jessica recounts the story of how she was deceived by
trained medical con artists (my language, not hers) whose
job it is to terrify women so as to increase their own
cash flow. Cancer has become a big business.

On November 8th, 1994, the New York Times reported the
results of an autopsy study from women who had prematurely
died in car accidents. Although only one percent of women
in the age group of 40-50 are clinically diagnosed with
breast cancer, that study revealed 39.6 percent already
have breast cancers. The article can be found on page C-I.
It is written by Gina Kolata. The same study shows that
virtually every adult over age 50 has cancer. Damn the
BRCA gene nonsense.

Pretty is What Changes author Jessica Queller has plans
to voluntarily have her ovaries removed some time in the
near future. She does not want to die like her mother
did. We shall all die like her mother did. And like my
father did. In our youth, we deny our destiny. The
subtitle of this book is:

"How I Defied My Destiny"

No human can defy his or her destiny. We can deny, but
we cannot successfully defy. No woman defies death by
removing her breasts and ovaries. Death is the one
constant of life.

While I disagree with the author, I admire her courage.
I condemn the physicians who agreed to the procedures.
They grow wealthy on people's fears.

Despite my anger, reservation, disagreement...
this book is one of the most fascinating looks into
the human mind that I have ever experienced. Each
reader will come to different conclusions regarding the
human spirit. About relationships with other people.
About the imprinting of human behavior from parental
influence. Wordsworth once wrote, "The child is the
father of the man." Jessica Queller shows us that
she is her mother's daughter. Her grandmother's
grandchild. We all become part of the equation of
our lineage; the sum product of psychological formulas.

Reading this book is a literary experience that should
not be denied. As strongly as I disagree with the
author's actions, I have learned things about myself
that I never had the courage to explore. In that regard,
this book acts as a powerful self analytical tool.
I experienced more moments of laughter than of sadness.
Pretty is What Changes now joins a very short list of
books that I will forever recommend to friends.

Some books are forgotten after the final words are read.
Others stay with the reader and become a part of one's
own psyche. Although there are disturbing themes in
this book, I have been left a few days later with
powerfully positive thoughts.

I want to one day again find the author in a chance
encounter and offer a hug for what she has taught me.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3876557056/nm0703182

To buy a copy of Pretty is What Changes:

http://tinyurl.com/6agepp

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Howard Lyman's New DVD Video

I recall the story of Victor Hugo waiting to hear from his
publisher in 1862 about a recently submitted manuscript.
Finally, after many months, Hugo could not wait any
longer. He sent the shortest telegraph in history to
that publisher, Hurst & Blackett:

"?"

Shortly thereafter, Victor Hugo received this response:

"!"

The manuscript was the first draft of a novel the world
would come to know as Les Miserables.

My review of Lyman's newest video contains eleven more
characters than the telegram sent by Hugo's editor:

"Astonishing!"

There is nothing more to say. You must own a copy of
"A Mad Cowboy Lecture: 2007 - Saving the Earth One Bite
at a Time" for your library, for your friends, for your
family. For a copy, go to:

http://www.madcowboy.com

I am a big fan of Howard Lyman, also known as The Mad Cowboy.
I have very few heroes. Howard Lyman is the reason that I
am vegan today. There are many thousands of other people who
could make that same statement.

A few years ago, Howard Lyman appeared as a guest on "Oprah."
The subject that day was meat. Howard discussed E. coli and
salmonella and mad cow disease. Oprah remarked,

"I've eaten my last hamburger."

As American housewives (who comprise the greatest part of Oprah's
audience) heard that message, so too did traders in the cattle
futures market. Word quickly spread. America will no longer eat
beef! Speculators began to sell contracts and cattle futures
plummeted. Fortunes were lost in a few minutes of trading.
By the end of the day, many millions of dollars were lost by
panicking options traders either buying or selling their calls
and puts.

A few of the losers got more than angry. They got even. A suit
was filed against Howard Lyman and Oprah. In America, freedom of
speech is merely an illusion. It is now illegal to criticize an
agricultural product in thirteen states.

This was one case that Oprah could not afford to lose. This was
much more than just hamburgers. This was about an industry
attempt to muzzle the press. Would the media even be tempted
to ever tell the truth if Oprah Winfrey lost to the cattlemen?

Your purchase of this new video will help to continue Howard
Lyman's one-man mission to make this a better world for all
people and animals. The tens of thousands of miles that Howard
Lyman travels each year will be partially subsidized by proceeds
of this video's sale. Do it for yourself, and do it for Howard,
the man who has given so much of himself without ever having
asked for our thanks.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Childhood Meningitis Deaths and Milk

During the first week of April, 2008, meningitis killed a
Jefferson County, Missouri man. Meningitis struck a school
employee in Danville, Ohio. A meningitis outbreak was
reported in Houston County, Minnesota. A University of
Idaho student was diagnosed with meningitis. A University
of North Carolina's Central University was also diagnosed
with meningitis. There are many, many more cases and they
happen every day. Meningitis is a plague which no health
authorities have recognized. Until now.

In January of 1997, scientists noted that a new emerging
bacterium was responsible for meningitis. (Medicine, 1997,
Jan;76(1):30-41.) Dr. Karen C. Bloch, et. al. reported:

"Chryseobacterium meningosepticum is a ubiquitous Gram-negative
bacillus historically associated with meningitis in premature
neonates....there are 308 reports of positive cultures in the
literature...Meningitis was the most common infectious syndrome
among neonates, seen in 84% of cases and associated with a 57%
mortality rate."

Which brings us to April, 2008 issue of the International Journal
of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. (Int J Syst Evol
Microbiol. 2008 Apr;58(Pt 4):1024-8.)

The same Chryseobacterium which has previously been identified
as a causative factor in meningitis has been isolated from raw
cow's milk.

Scientists have isolated three strains of rod-shaped
Chryseobacterium from raw milk samples.

Does pasteurization work to destroy rod-shaped bacteria?
The answer to that question is terrifying.

In the third edition of "Modern Dairy Products" (a textbook
used by dairy industry students) Lincoln Lampert writes:

"Certain bacteria have the ability to transform themselves into
small bodies called spores. The word spore comes from the Greek
word for seed. The spore can often withstand drying, the
temperature of boiling water (pasteurization), and the action
of some germicides. When suitable conditions return, the spore
resumes its vegetative form and the bacterium again returns to
the usual activities of its normal life cycle."

In the Notmilk letter of February 28, 2008, I reported
America's not-so-well-publicized meningitis plague. Up until
this moment, no American epidemiologist has made the milk
connection.

At the very least, state and local health departments should
be testing ever truckload of milk for the presence of
Chryseobacterium. The real science now supports that.

Not one additional child should ever again die because of dairy
industry neglect.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

The Boys of Summer & Their Drugs

EVERYTHING you always wanted to know about hormones
baseball players use.

On April 8, 2008,, the number one minor league prospect
for the Atlanta Braves baseball team was suspended for
50 games for having used human growth hormone (hGH).
Outfielder Jordan Schafer violated baseball's drug
policy and will pay the price.

You've read about Balco, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens
and Major League Baseball's steroid hormone scandal.

Steroid hormones cause growth, but they are not as
powerful as protein growth hormones.

Human growth hormone was first discovered by
scientists during World War II. The year was 1943.

Twenty-five years later a more powerful growth
hormone was discovered in the human body. Had
this hormone been discovered first, it would have
been named human growth hormone. Instead, it was
given an intentionally deceptive name: insulin-like
growth factor or IGF-I.

Amino acids are the building blocks for protein hormones.
There are 191 amino acids contained in the structure for
hGH.

There are also 191 amino acids contained in the structure
for bovine growth hormone (bGH). While these two hormones
perform a similar function, the sequence of these amino
acids between GH in the two species (human and cow) differs
by a factor of about 35 percent.

There are 70 amino acids constituting the structure of
human IGF-I. There are also 70 amino acids making up
the structure of bovine IGF-I. The sequence is identical.
IGF-I is the single most powerful growth hormone known
to mankind. That's good news for athletes. Use of this
substance in cow's milk will be impossible to detect
because it is a perfect match for human IGF-I.

When homogenized milk is consumed, IGF-I enters
the bloodstream protected by tiny fat molecules.
One pint of homogenized milk can contain one-trillion
micronized fat molecules. In this way, IGF-I in milk
is evenly distributed throughout the human body.

If IGF-I is injected just beneath the skin in a process
called "skin popping" the powerful growth hormone can
be distributed directly to one muscle so as to influence
muscle growth. Dramatic muscle growth.

Yesterday (April 11, 2008), Cleveland Indian pitcher
Paul Byrd was given amnesty for his past purchase and
use of $25,000 in human growth hormone. Aside to Paul:
Got milk?

There is evidence that the East German women's swimming
team used cow's milk in the same manner. These athletes
are known for their magnificently developed muscles,
particularly in their upper arms and shoulders. There is
also evidence (in weight lifer magazines) that IGF-I is
the drug of choice with Olympic weight lifters. Consider:
Those who inject milk cannot get into trouble. Not only
is such hormonal use impossible to detect, but hey, people,
it's cow's milk, nature's perfect food. Right?

I'll compromise on that one. Cow's milk is nature's
perfect hormone injection for humans. Want growth?
Drink or inject milk. Those hormones do what they were
designed to do!

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Growing Corn-fusion

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."
-Proverbs 29:18

Thanks partly to the unsuccessful ethanol solution to
America's energy crisis, on April 11, 2008, the average
gallon of gasoline in California will cost motorists
$3.75 per gallon. I should count my blessings. In New
Jersey, my gas station is charging $2.98 per gallon.

On Sunday, March 30, 2008, I wrote:

"As the price of corn for ethanol soars, farmers switch
from corn to soy to wheat to other alternatives. Wheat
has now become scarcer, and the price of bread soars.
A delicate system has been undermined. Corn becomes scarce
and the price of other grains climb. Animal feed becomes
scarce and the price of milk soars. All for ethanol,
which is subsidized by taxpayers in search of a very
expensive Band-Aid which does not heal the wound, it
accelerates the bleeding."

The Friday previous to the above column, May corn futures closed
at $5.86 per bushel. Four days after posting my column, corn
futures rose fifteen cents and sprouted through the $6 per
bushel barrier for the first time in history. That fifteen
cent rise represented tens of millions of dollars in profits
for speculators wagering that corn futures would increase.

It's going to be a long summer for dairy farmers who once relied
upon cheap corn to feed cows. It's going to be a long summer
for commuters and truckers who once relied upon affordable
gasoline.

ATTENTION Commodity Traders: Last year, soy farmers were getting
$5 per bushel. This year, they will earn $12+ per bushel. Corn
demands caused soy and other commodities to soar. (Most) farmers
are not stupid. Rather than plant corn to take advantage of
the ethanol craze, many farmers are planting soybeans this spring.
Harvest time coincides with presidential debates. Each candidate
will take credit for supporting ethanol as an alternative fuel.
The price of corn will soar higher than an elephant's eye.

On Wednesday, April 9, 2008, USDA reported:

"U.S. farm operators intend to plant 86.014 million acres of corn
in 2008, down more than 7.5 million acres from last year's crop
of 93.6 million acres. Soybean intended acres were at 74.793
million acres, an increase of more than 11 million acres over
last year's 63.63 million acres."

If government solutions such as phony ethanol subsidies and
import tariffs did not exist, what would be the price for one
bushel of corn? According to a study done for the American
Meat Institute by the research firm Farm Econ, the cost for
one bushel of corn today would be $2.77 per bushel.

We once relied upon Presidents and members of congress to
steer the boat in the right direction. Try to enjoy the
ride. Hope you enjoy roller coasters.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

What Bugs the Cow Today Will Fuel The Car Tomorrow

Humans eat grass and get ill. We cannot digest
grass cellulose. Cows eat grass and thrive. How
do they do it? The answer will astonish you.
Dairy scientists once believed that cows digested
grass because they possessed four stomachs. That
part is true. Cows do have four stomach chambers,
the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. Four
stomachs are not the primary reason cows digest grass.

Credit the enzyme-producing microbes which live
inside of the cow's stomach.

This key enzyme is called cellobiase. It is the third
of three enzymes required to convert cellulose into
fermetable sugars. The three enzymes are endogluconase,
exo-glucanase and cellobiase. Cellobiase is also called
beta-glucosidase. Bovines got 'em. Humans lack 'em.
Cellobiase allows a cow to digest plant fibers into
simple sugars. Those same sugars exist as the key to
converting corn and other plants into ethanol which is
part of the gasoline mix which helps power America's cars.

On Wednesday (April 9, 2009), Michigan State scientist
Mariam Sticklen (professor of crop science) presented
her new invention: a recombinant technique which merges
(genetically engineers) the genetic material from that
cow microbe with corn plants to produce a new plant able
to digest its own sugars after harvesting so as to be
cheaply converted into ethanol. Traditional processing
of harvested corn plants requires expensive enzymes.
This new technology will eliminate that step.

Dr. Sticklen's research will be published in the June, 2008
edition of Nature Review Genetics. The new genetically
engineered corn is called Spartan Corn III.

Professor Sticklen's list of accomplishments with plant
molecules is impressive. Her contact information:

http://www.msu.edu/~stickle1

I spoke with Dr. Sticklen and we had a conversation
regarding many of the issues and controversies
regarding genetic engineering. I was quite pleased
to hear her say:

"I admire the activists. Many of their protests
have been justified and have helped scientists
improve their techniques and demand better results.
In that regard, this demonstrates that people with
contrasting perspectives can work and dialogue
together and make this a better and safer world."

Allow me to become the first person to invent a new
word and new phrase. When scientists combine the
genetic material from microbes living within cows
with corn plants (as they have succeeded in doing at
the University of Michigan) let's call the new GMO
plant: "Udder Corn-fusion" or just plain "cornfusion".

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Is Tuberculosis in Milk?

Whether you are consuming live tuberculosis bacteria in
raw milk or dead tuberculoisis bacteria in pasteurized
milk does not detract from the fact that when you drink
cow's milk you are drinking infected body fluids from
diseased animals.

Is it any consolation to know that when you drink cow's
milk, you consume dead tuberculosis, leukemia, and
bovine immunodeficiency virus? Does milk taste good
knowing that you drink millions of dead organisms with
each sip? Chilled E. coli pus soup?

In my book MILK A-Z the letter "T" stands for tuberculosis:

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

Call toll-free to purchase an autographed copy of MILK A-Z.
$20 includes shipping (continental USA):

888-NOT-MILK (888-668-6455)

"Bovine tuberculosis is a contagious and infectious
disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis. It affects
cattle, bison, deer, elk, goats and other warm-blooded
species and can be fatal. The disease can be transmitted
to humans through direct contact with infected animals
or consumption of raw milk. It is not transmitted through
consumption of pasteurized milk."
--USDA Press Release #0088.08 (April 3, 2008)

Contact: Rachel Iadicicco (301) 734-3255
Contact: Angela Harless   (202) 720-4623

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
announced in last Thursday's Press Release that $16
million in additional emergency funding will be used
in continuing effort to eradicate bovine tuberculosis
in California, Michigan and Minnesota dairies.

Using "newspeak" (try not to laugh), USDA writes:

"The emergency funding will be used to depopulate known
tuberculosis-affected cattle herds..."

Think about that. If these herds are known to be infected,
why haven't they already been depopulated? Why do we (you
and me) have to spend our tax dollars to do what should
have been already been done? Answer: USDA accepts the
fact that retail milk cartons depicting California
happy cows contain tuberculosis bacteria, and justifies
its policy by blindly accepting that pasteurization
makes things better.

If ever you are tempted to eat white cheese, vanilla
ice cream, or really sour cream, repeat this mantra
over and over again:

"Virus, pus, bacteria, in the cafeteria."

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Vegan Cheesecake

My favorite restaurant is Veggie Heaven on Cedar
Lane in Teaneck, New Jersey. The brilliant
innovators who own this gourmet vegan Chinese
restaurant have taken the art of preparing
fake-meat dishes to new dimensions. My favorite
appetizer is a mock smoked chicken dish. Each
of their entrees are wonderful, from eel to
lobster to duck to beef, all constructed from
soy and wheat glutens, but in traditional
American dining fashion, the best is saved for last.

Despite my occasional pleadings, they will not
part with the recipe. They will not even give
me clues. Their vegan cheesecake comes close to
the real thing, and this past weekend, I found a
recipe that produces a real cheesecake taste
while leaving behind the eggs and cream cheese.

On Sunday, I spoke with Chef Jim Hanson at his South
Dakota home. On Monday, I made his cheesecake recipe.
Jim is not primarily a vegan chef, but he can prepare
a vegan menu for you. He is a professional culinary
consultant, and judging by the following, this
man is a winner!

Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
Created by Chef Jim Hanson
(605)212-7980

INGREDIENTS and METHOD:

Pre-Heat the Oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

1) Crush ONE and ONE HALF PACKAGES (not boxes) Graham Crackers
that are not made with Honey.

2) Add, but do not overmix 3 to 8 Tablespoons Butter Substitute.
The specific Brand you use will determine how much is needed to
make a 'wet crumb'...but do NOT make a paste.

3) Press the Graham Crust Crumb Crust into a 10"-12" Springform
pan. Work the crust up the sides of the pan to about half way up.

4) Bake the crust, positioned in the middle of the oven, or one
rack lower, for 8 to 10 Minutes.

5) In the meanwhile, prepare a teapot of water boiling.

6) Puree' together (a food processor works well here)
TWO 12 ounce packages of quickly drained Medium Firm
Tofu, TWO 8 Oz. containers of Tofu Cream Cheese,
ONE can (about 2 CUPS) Pumpkin, 2 1/2 teaspoons Pumpkin
Pie Spice, 1/4 CUP light Agave Nectar.

7) When the CRUST is LIGHTLY browned, remove it from the
oven and add the Tofu/Pumpkin mix.

8) Set the Crust/Springform pan over a large sheet of
aluminum foil. Fold the Foil up to the top of the pan.
Crumple it when needed. The Springform Pan is not water-tight,
but on piece of foil is.

9) Set the foil covered pan onto a LARGE baking pan/sheet.
Put that onto the oven rack pulled part way out of the oven.
Pour...carefully...the boiling water into the baking pan
until it is almost full.

10) GENTLY slide the oven rack into the oven. Close the door,
and bake for 50-60 minutes. The center of the 'cake' will still
look soft, but a wooden toothpick will come out of it almost dry.

11) COOL slowly.

12) Cut, top with Amber Agave Nectar, or Pure Maple Syrup.

13) Eat, Enjoy, Live

We've carefully followed instruction number 13.
We did. We do. We are.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Diabetes & Soy

The results of a four year food consumption study on
people with Type-2 diabetes has yielded encouraging
news for soy advocates.

Journal: Diabetes Care (April, 2008; 31: 648-654)

Scientists measured the effects of long-term soy
consumption on diabetes, kidney function, and
cardiovascular risk.

All of the subjects were diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes.

A control group was given a diet containing 0.8 grams
of protein per kilogram of body weight. That protein
consisted of 70 percent animal protein and 30 percent
vegetable protein.

The test group was given the same 0.8 grams of protein
per kilogram of body weight, but their protein consisted
of 35 percent animal protein, 35 percent textured soy
protein, and 30 percent vegetable protein.

(There should have been a third group to receive
70 percent soy protein and 30 percent veggie protein.)

RESULTS

The group eating the soy protein had lower fasting plasma
glucose levels, lower LDL cholesterol levels, lower total
cholesterol levels, and lower serum triglyceride levels.
The authors write:

"Significant improvements were also seen in proteinuria
and urinary by consumption of soy protein."

The following may not cure your diabetes, but it will
cure whatever hunger pangs you might have:

INGREDIENTS

2 Quarts Freshly Made Soymilk
(If you do not own a soytoy, you can probably purchase
unflavored soymilk from your local Asian grocer.)

2 Cloves Garlic (minced)
2 Shallots (minced)
1 12-ounce Package White Supermarket mushrooms (minced)
2 Large Portobello Mushrooms (minced)
Handful of reconstituted dried shitake mushrooms (minced)
Optional: 1 Pkg. Dried Cepes or Chanterelle mushrooms
Veggie Bouillon Cubes to taste

METHOD

Bring everything to a boil, lower heat & simmer for 15 minutes

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Death by Protein

A Notmilk reader was concerned that soy products
might contain too much protein. The World Health
Organization recommends that the average adult
consume 28-35 grams of protein each day. The average
American delivers well over 100 grams of protein to
his or her body each day, and that might be the reason
for our high rates of cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis,
asthma, and diabetes.

As for soy...a 100-gram portion (3.5 ounces) of Mori-Nu
silken soft tofu contains 4 grams of protein. A 100-gram
portion of firm tofu contains 7 grams of protein. The
same amount of cheddar cheese contains 25 grams of protein.

Soy products are a good source of protein for vegans.
They contain a full range of amino acids incluing the
9 essential aminos which are often difficult to get
in a soyless/beanless vegan diet.

As for protein deficiency, visit any U.S. hospital and ask:

"How many patients occupy beds here because they
do not eat enough protein"

The answer you will get is, "Zero."

Hospitals are filled with Americans who have eaten too
much dietary animal protein. It is nearly impossible
to live in America and not satisfy your protein needs.

In 1988, Dr. C. Everett Koop, the Surgeon General of
the United States issued his Report on Nutrition and
Health, which concluded:

"The average man in the US eats 175% more protein
than the recommended daily allowance and the
average woman eats 144% more."

The Surgeon General had to had to have been aware of
these five additional scientific facts:

(1)

"Osteoporosis is caused by a number of things, one of
the most important being too much dietary protein."

Science 1986;233(4763)

(2)

"Countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis,
such as the United States, England, and Sweden,
consume the most milk. China and Japan, where
people eat much less protein and dairy food, have
low rates of osteoporosis."

Nutrition Action Healthletter, June, 1993

(3)

"Dietary protein increases production of acid in
the blood which can be neutralized by calcium
mobilized from the skeleton."

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1995; 61

(4)

"Even when eating 1,400 mg of calcium daily, one
can lose up to 4% of his or her bone mass each year
while consuming a high-protein diet."

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1979;32

(5)

"Increasing one's protein intake by 100%
may cause calcium loss to double."

Journal of Nutrition, 1981; 111

One year after the Surgeon General's comments, the
European Journal of Epidemiology (1999 Jul, 15:6,
507-15) reported:

"Animal food-groups were directly correlated to
mortality from coronary heart disease, defined as
sudden coronary death or fatal myocardial
infarction and vegetable food-groups (except
potatoes) as well as fish and alcohol were
inversely correlated with CHD mortality.
Univariate analysis showed significant positive
correlation coefficients for butter (R = 0.887),
meat (R = 0.645), pastries (R = 0.752), and milk
(R = 0.600) consumption, and significant
negative correlation coefficients for legumes
(R = -0.822), oils (R = -0.571), and alcohol
(R = -0.609) consumption. Combined vegetable
foods (excluding alcohol) were inversely
correlated (R = -0.519), whereas combined
animal foods (excluding fish) were directly
correlated (R = 0.798) with coronary heart
disease death rates."

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

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Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Two "Show Me" Dairy States

This is the story of two "show me" dairy states.

Missouri's State motto is not to be confused with
its nickname, although when it comes to dairy,
both phrases are suitable.

Missouri's State Motto: Salus populi suprema lex esto.
(The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.)

Missouri State Nickname: The Show Me State (due to the
stubborn and very logical nature of Missourians)

How are the nickname and motto related?

Missouri's dairy industry is in a freefall. The number
of cows and dairy farms continues to drop, year after
year as Missourian's drink less milk per capita.

After World War II Missouri had 1 million dairy cows.
By 2000, that number had dropped to just 154,000 cows.
Today in 2008, Missouri dairy farmers milk just 112,000
cows.

In 2000, Missouri produced 2.3 billion pounds of milk.
This year the state will produce 1.6 billion pounds.

I have done my best to show all Americans the dangers of
associated with milk consumption. Missourians have
listened. They said "show me" and I have done just that.
In fairness, their attitude to the milk marketers was
also "show me." The dairy industry has been fighting
a losing battle.

Missourians have taken their state motto to heart:

"The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law."

The second "show me" dairy state is Idaho.

Last week, members of the Idaho state legislature were
ready to vote on a bill to name milk as its state beverage
as many other state politicians have blindly done to appease
dairymen and collect future votes. Idaho shocke the dairy
industry. Representative Tom Hall summed up the unexpected
controversy:

"There was something of a backlash from people who don't
like confined animal feeding operations. I received about
50 negative e-mails accusing us of pandering to the dairy
industry, or challenging the health benefits of milk."

The bill was withdrawn before state representatives had the
opportunity to vote. We applaud this continuing trend. As
they say in Idaho, "Esto perpetua" (May it endure forever).

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Oh, What a Beautiful Mourning

****************************************
March 31, 2008 Headline: Saudi Arabian Prince announces
plans to erect a mile-high super-skyscraper triple the
height of New York's Empire State building.

Ask yourself who will pay the construction costs, then
look into the mirror, then fill your car with $3.29
per gallon gas (average American price on April 1, 2008).

See: Photos of a Saudi Prince:

http://tinyurl.com/294pwz

http://tinyurl.com/paoyz

and one of a Saudi Prince & an American President:

http://tinyurl.com/2svo28

****************************************

When two planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade
Center, and a third plane struck America's Pentagon
while a fourth went down in a Pennsylvania field, few
people imagined that this single day of domestic terror
would become the first domino in a long cascading line
of dominos that would affect the economy and well being
of all Americans.

Depleting war resources. Soaring cost of fuel. Lost jobs.
Inflationary prices. Scarcity of food. Scarcity of fuel.
Scarcity of leadership. As one domino struck another and
fell, the rippling affect increased like a Doppler sound
wave until things began to crash and smash and shatter.

The key domino: Corn

"All the sounds of the earth are like music,
All the sounds of the earth are like music,
The breeze is so busy it don't miss a tree,
And an ol' Weepin' Willer is laughin' at me."
--Oklahoma, 1943
Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein; Music: Richard Rodgers

First there came corn. It became the backbone of
America's food supply. From breakfast flakes to
food and soda sweeteners to vegetable proteins added
to processed foods, to vanilla flavorings, to starches,
to xanthan gum thickeners, to feed used to fatten farm
animals before slaughter. Corn was king and it cost
$2.77 per bushel for many years prior to the ninth
month of 2001.

I do not possess the economic insight of Adam Smith,
John Stuart Mill or John Keynes, yet, how much
acumen did one need in order to predict the same
collapse I predicted after President George Bush
declared corn ethanol to be fix-all that would
insulate Americans against rising fuel costs? This
was a program designed to fail, and it has.

On Monday, March 31, 2008, USDA announced its
early estimate farm report warning that farmers
will be planting 8% less corn this spring than they
did in 2007. Last year, corn prices increased so rapidly
that wheat and soy also became scarce, and farmers
are now planting crops that will return greater
financial rewards.

To make matters worse, the projected corn scarcity has
collapsed the commercial ethanol production market. On
the same day that USDA predicted a smaller corn crop for
2008, shares of publically traded ethanol corporations
plummeted. Simultaneous to that, commodity prices for
May, 2008 corn futures rose nearly 26 cents cents to
$5.86 a bushel on the Chicago Mercantile exchange.

Cows eat the corn. Gasoline engines eat the corn.
People in nations plagued by famine now go hungry.
Americans pay a far greater price for corn and wheat
and soy because government leaders have run amok
with illogical unworkable solutions. Corn to feed
tractor engines and cows to feed people? How inefficient!

"All the cattle are standing like statues,
All the cattle are standing like statues,
They don't turn their heads as they see me ride by.
But a little brown mav'rick is winking her eye."
--Oklahoma, 1943
Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein; Music: Richard Rodgers

Riddle: When it comes to the Oval Office, USDA, and
American farms, what one thing do these three entities
have in common? Fill in the blank:

"The ______ is as high as an elephant's eye,
And it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky."

Answer to riddle: http://tinyurl.com/2laup7

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Don't Work

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

In the Notmilk column of December 31, 2007,
in lieu of New Year's Resolutions for 2008, I
offered my "Top-Ten Dumb" list. Number 2:

"Living your life as the average American does while
eating the Standard American Diet (SAD Diet) and
consuming the same cholesterol from cheese and ice
cream every single day as is contained in 53 slices
of bacon and then accepting your doctor's assurance
that Lipitor will prevent heart disease."

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Perhaps you saw this Associate Press headline
on Monday, March 31, 2008:

Cholesterol drugs may not work
A study finds Vytorin and Zetia, both popular
cholesterol drugs, failed to treat heart disease.

"CHICAGO - Full results of a failed trial on Vytorin, a
medicine taken by millions of people to lower cholesterol,
left doctors stunned...

'A lot of us thought that there would be some glimmer of
benefit,' said Dr. Roger Blumenthal, a Johns Hopkins
University cardiologist and spokesman for the American
Heart Association."

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

In the Notmilk letter of July 15, 2004, I wrote:

Doctors and scientists should have learned their lesson
after the first wave of cholesterol-lowering drugs worked
to cause more problems and negative health reactions than
they prevented.

They should have paid attention and observed that nature's
perfect plan had been violated. In complete arrogance,
these men and women of ignorance label the body's solution
of dealing with heart damage by calling the body's own
medicine "bad cholesterol." Does the original architectural
plan for the human body contain a fatally designed flaw?

Is there really such a thing as "bad cholesterol?"

The manufacture of low density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol
is the human response to continuous heart damage.

The internal production and secretion of this so-called
"bad cholesterol" is the manner in which the body repairs
its own damage. I call LDL cholesterol the body's own
spackle. When picture hooks cause holes in your walls,
you simply go to a hardware store to purchase a can of
spackle. That fills the hole. Many events are responsible
for heart damage.

The largest heart study in American history (Castelli's
Framingham Heart Study) has identified sulfur based amino
acids (from eating animal protein) as the key to identifying
what causes the greatest amount of damage. So, the body's
antidote to Atkins Diet insanity is to neutralize the damage
by making more LDL cholesterol.

The higher the cholesterol reading, the greater is the damage
that must be repaired. So, what do naive meat eaters do when
faced with high cholesterol rates? They seek doctor's advice.
Doctors prescribe cholesterol lowering drugs which accomplish
the following:

Cholesterol lowering drugs take away the body's mechanism
by which the damage is repaired. In other words, cholesterol
lowering drugs make things worse. Why not simply eliminate
those factors which cause the damage? Animal protein (meat
and dairy) contains an abundance of sulfur-based amino acids.
The worst foods to eat (the highest levels of sulfur) are
chicken and eggs. You do not want the rotten egg smell of
eggs infusing into each of your body's cells. One must
neutralize the resulting acid. To do so, calcium is leached
from where it is stored: in the skeletal system. For this
reason, those living in meat-eating nations have the highest
rates of bone disease.

So, what can you do if you have high cholesterol?
Do one of two things. Take cholesterol lowering drugs
to mask the symptoms and take away the body's innate
ability to repair the damage that you do by eating
caustic animal proteins.

Or...change your diet and furnish your body with clean fuel.

Heart disease is America's number-one killer. The
choice is yours to either be a victim, or have a
change of heart and let food be your medicine.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com











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