AntiDairy Coalition Founder Accuses JAMA and Dairy
Industry of Fraudulent Claims About Milk and Colon
Cancer
October 21, 1998
ITHACA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge
Corporation --
Robert Cohen Says Faulty Study Feeds on Fears
Since Darryl Strawberry's Diagnosis
Robert Cohen, author of "MILK - The Deadly
Poison" and founder of the AntiDairy Coalition,
denounced here today the Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA) and the dairy industry
for fraudulently claiming that low-fat milk prevents
colon cancer, an assertion that feeds on fears since
New York Yankees star Darryl Strawberry's recent
diagnosis.
Speaking at Cornell University, Cohen said JAMA
published an article that "enabled the dairy industry
to make enormous erroneous claims about their
product." Immediately after publication of the article,
the dairy industry held a press conference in New
York and made the startling announcement that
"Drinking low-fat milk prevents colon cancer."
Cohen said the article, titled "Modulation of
Abnormal Colonic Epithelial Cell Proliferation and
Differentiation by Low-Fat Dairy Foods," whose
senior editor is Peter Holt, M.D., is based on a
study admittedly financed by the National Dairy
Council. The article is published in the September
23/30, 1998 issue of JAMA.
"At about the same time that this extraordinary
fraud became headline news," Cohen said, "Darryl
Strawberry was diagnosed with colon cancer. The
perception all across America is you can prevent
what happened to Darryl by drinking milk."
Cohen claims that JAMA was aware of participating
in a fraud and tried to cover up evidence of "milk
mustache stains under their noses." An editorial
comment by Dennis Ahnen, M.D. on page 1095 of
the same publication, headlined "Proliferation
Happens," takes issue with the study's validity.
In criticizing the experimental methodology and
conclusions of the Holt study, Dr. Ahnen wrote:
"The fundamental relationship of proliferation
(growth) to carcinogenesis (cancer) remains
unclear...the value of proliferative measurements for
identifying high risk subjects appears to be low...the
reliability of proliferative measurement in the colon is
uncertain." Dr. Ahnen concludes that there is no
way to accurately measure what Holt and the dairy
industry claim to have measured.
Cohen, who was speaking at a special forum of
Cornell Students for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, said he has asked JAMA to follow up on
the 73 laboratory subjects used in the study, people
who had polyps, half of whom were given milk
containing IGF-1, the key factor in the growth and
proliferation of every human cancer. The actual Holt
study, he said, took place in the years between
1992 and 1995.
"The world should know what happened to those 73
people. Did milk actually prevent cancer or cause
it? I suspect that Dr. Holt, who refuses to return my
phone calls, is aware of the truth," Cohen said.
Cohen commented that this is only the latest of a
series of attempts by the dairy industry to
perpetuate the myth that cow's milk is good for your
health. Even if this were true, he said, consumers
are not drinking the same milk their forefathers did.
"One hundred years ago," according to Cohen, "the
average dairy cow yielded just one quart of milk per
day. By 1960, that daily yield had increased to eight
quarts. Today a dairy cow can yield 40 quarts of
milk per day. This change in the production of milk,
specifically through the use of a bovine growth
hormone IGF-1, which has occurred over the past
ten years, has severely affected the milk Americans
drink."
Cohen is not alone in his crusade to shed light on
the dairy issue. The noted Dr. Benjamin Spock,
shortly before his death this year, warned: "Cow's
milk in the past has always been oversold as the
perfect food, but we are now seeing that it isn't
perfect food at all and the government really
shouldn't be behind any efforts to promote it as
such."
During the question and answer session following
Cohen's presentation, one women raised the
question of where to get calcium from, if not from
dairy products. Cohen responded that many foods
contain an abundance of calcium than can better
help prevent bone-crippling osteoporosis. Some of
the foods that actually contain more calcium than
milk are almonds, pinto beans, kale, molasses,
parsley, sardines, sesame seeds and tofu. A
complete list of foods and their calcium content is
found on the AntiDairy Coalition website at
www.antidairycoalition.com.
The AntiDairy Coalition was formed in June 1998 by
top doctors from across the country to open up a
dialogue with the public on the hazards of milk
products. The coalition includes some of the
country's top physicians and health educators: Dr.
Julian Whitaker, author and editor of the monthly
newsletter, Health & Healing; Dr. Vicki Griffin; Dr.
Daniel Twogood; Dr. Richard DeAndrea and Dr.
Richard Schwartz.
This release is available on the KCSA Public
Relations website at www.kcsa.com
CONTACT: KCSA Worldwide, New York | Jennifer
Urezzio | 212/896-1223
[Copyright 1998, Business Wire]
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