Government officials selected for investigating charges of misleading advertising in the milk-mustache campaign are the same officials who administer the dairy promotion, reveals the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in a letter recently sent to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

PCRM called for the investigation last July when it filed a petition with the FTC detailing the many false health claims made by the federally run "milk mustache"/"got milk?" campaign. Unfortunately, the FTC referred the case to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for investigation.

"It's a classic case of the fox guarding the henhouse," says PCRM attorney Mindy Kursban, referring to Ken Clayton, associate administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, and Richard McKee, deputy administrator of Dairy Programs. "No wonder the FTC hasn't suspended these deceptive ads yet. Those in charge of investigating our charges are the very same people who work with the dairy industry to implement the milk-mustache campaign."

Given such an inherent conflict of interest, PCRM asked the FTC to pull responsibility for the investigation from the USDA and appoint an independent scientific panel. The FTC refused. Although the USDA says it has assigned a panel of experts to review PCRM's petition, it refuses to make those names public. "With its long history of pandering to the meat and dairy industries, the USDA is unlikely to come up with anything close to an impartial scientific review," says PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D.

PCRM argues that many of the milk-mustache ads, including ones featuring Elton John, Marc Anthony, and Britney Spears, violate federal law by misleading the public with false health claims.

Some of the ads, for example, make health claims for heart-clogging, high-fat products. Others claim that milk prevents osteoporosis, despite studies such as the Harvard Nurses' Health Study which showed just the contrary. What's more, all ads fail to disclose even one of the many health problems associated with dairy consumption.

Studies link dairy consumption with higher rates of many diseases, including

• prostate cancer
• heart disease
• diabetes

The dairy industry spends approximately $180 million per year on its "milk-mustache/got milk?" campaign.

A nonprofit healthcare advocacy group, PCRM has been educating the public about the risks of dairy consumption since 1985. PCRM is comprised of 5,000 physicians and supported by more than 100,000 laymembers.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Media Advisory - April 17, 2001

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

My network really only includes individuals who have known the dangers of milk for many years. However, occasionally I have to pinch myself and wake up to the reality that many people still believe that milk is healthy for you. Ideally, milk would be healthy, if it were consumed "organic" and not full of recombinant bovine growth hormone which has been associated with breast cancer, as well as antibiotics and pesticides. But even if you were to secure "organic" milk it will still be pasteurized and homogenized, and this process damages the milk significantly and contributes to a large portion of the problems that we observe with milk ingestion, although most of these problems are usually attributed to other causes.. PCRM is on the right track with their efforts here and I commend them, dispite the fact that I do not agree with them on some issues pertaining to diet. If you are not familiar with the problems with milk, please review the articles below. Related Articles: Worrying About Milk Milk and the Cancer Connection Don't drink your milk Does Milk Really Look Good On You? Don't Drink It! Milk Linked to Autism, Schizophrenia Cow's Milk May Raise Type 1 Diabetes Risk