From: Kas...@a...
Subject: Cub Scout Assignment
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 19:55:59 EST
Why you are receiving this...
My 9 year old son has to email a company he buys stuff from to earn his next
rank for cub scouts. We couldn't find an address for Pepsi or Mountain Dew,
so he chose Milk because it is good for you. :-) Here goes...
Thank you for giving us milk because we can put it in a lot of things and it
tastes good. And you can make a lot of things from it and it is good. And it
is healthy. Thank you for giving us such a good drink. I drink it a lot and I
use it a lot in other things. It is my favorite health drink.
Thanks,
Cory
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 09:51:34 -0800 (PST)
To: Kas...@a...
Subject: Re: Cub Scout Assignment
>Thank you for giving us milk because we can put it in a lot of things and it
>tastes good. And you can make a lot of things from it and it is good. And it
>is healthy. Thank you for giving us such a good drink. I drink it a lot and I
>use it a lot in other things. It is my favorite health drink.
Hello. Guess what? Like many other websites with simple, non-trademarked
names, my site really has very little to do with its name. That is, I have
absolutely nothing directly to do with the dairy industry. Likewise,
monster.com isn't about monsters, blue.com isn't about the color blue, and
lizard.com isn't a resource for our cold-blooded friends.
Of course, because of the name, I've ended up learning a bit more about
milk and the milk industry, just as a bit of a hobby.
In terms of contacting the "people who make milk," I'd say your best bet is
to find your local producer (find the address on your milk carton),
assuming you are interested in actually getting a response.
There *is* a national government organization, the Fluid Milk Board, but
given that they're just a large bureaucracy, I doubt you'd get much of a
personal response from them. They're the ones responsible for the national
milk advertising campaigns, like the "milk moustache" ads, which are paid
for by artificially increasing the price you pay for milk. That is, if they
didn't spend about $110 million a year on milk advertising, then they
wouldn't have to add an extra tax to the price of milk. Granted, it
probably wouldn't amount to much savings (maybe a nickel per gallon), but
every penny counts. Personally, I find many of the "got milk?" ads to be
pretty funny, but I don't think that justifies the government spending
money on advertising, which amounts to a subsidy to the dairy industry. My
take is that if dairy farmers, as a private group, wish to promote their
products, that's their business, but I don't want to be taxed in order for
that to happen.
This is especially my attitude because there's increasing evidence that
cow's milk isn't actually much of a health food. If there were a health
crisis in America which could be solved by drinking more milk, that would
be one thing, but, as it turns out, the only "crisis" is that American
society has started moving away from milk as a staple food, and that left
the dairy industry in the lurch.
In fact, the noted and well-respected MD Andrew Weil is very vocal about
stating that the current official stance that milk is an essential part of
one's diet is ethnocentric at best and racist at worst. It turns out that
caucasians (white people) are almost unique in the world for being able to
tolerate cow's milk. People of Asian and African descent are particularly
prone to lactose intolerance, that is, being allergic to milk.
As for me, I'm caucasian, and I *do* enjoy cow's milk, but I really see it
as a special treat rather than something necessary to have every day. I
especially like chocolate milk, and of course I'm very fond of ice cream.
However, I get my calcium, which is indeed very important to a healthy
diet, in other ways.
As for you, if you're drinking milk and not having any trouble, then, by
all means keep drinking it. However, don't let the official rhetoric keep
you from branching out and trying other stuff, if you're interested, or,
goodness forbid, if you ever suffer health problems from drinking milk.
Take care, and good luck on achieving your new rank!
Dan
