Exposed: The Dairy Industry’s Toxic Legacy

Photo – Fotolia.com © mark_hubskyi

Have you ever thought about where your milk comes from? In reality, there is more to dairy farming than simply milking a cow and packaging the milk into boxes or bottles. Big farming corporations will try to market their dairy products as a product of the humane treatment of animals, but that is often quite far from the truth.

Will Allen & Michael Colby slammed two dairy corporations in Vermont, Cabot Creamery and the popular Ben & Jerry’s for their agricultural practices: Beyond the clever marketing of happy and healthy cows grazing in open fields comes the reality of cows packed in concrete barriers, fed GMO-corn that has been sprayed liberally with toxic herbicides. These are the same herbicides that have caused panic because their tendency to be absorbed by the human body and cause cancer and other genetic problems. ^[1]

The use of herbicides on plant crops has been in the spotlight for several years because of how they are absorbed by humans who choose to go the non-organic route when it comes to food. One such herbicide is the popular Glyphosate, which has been reported to be the most heavily used herbicide in the world and has contaminated water and air in agricultural areas. Studies have linked this herbicide with cancer, leading to a classification by the International Agency on Research on Cancer as a probably human carcinogen. In a suspiciously retracted article on the Roundup herbicide and long-term genetic toxicity, it was shown that corn crops treated with the herbicide caused the formation of mammary tumors and kidney problems in test subjects. ^[2][3]

In the aforementioned article, the authors cite the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Market’s data that showed Vermont dairy farmers using 2.5 million pounds of metolachlor, atrazine and simazine on the crops fed to cows from 1999 to 2012. All three of these chemicals have been listed as probable human carcinogens, birth defect progenitors, endocrine disruptors and persistent water polluters.
Both atrazine and simazine have been banned by the European Union. Can you imagine the build-up of herbicidal residue in these cows? Can you image the residue that has built up in your own body because of drinking milk for several years? ^[1]

With milk being a very important part of breakfast all over the world, more and more people are being exposed to potential toxicity caused by herbicide residue in their milk. If anything, children are the most at risk because drinking milk is highly encouraged among young children and teenagers to help with growth and development. They are also more prone to genetic damage and cancer because of their immature immune systems.

But take note! These dangerous practices involved in the production of milk and other dairy products do not just happen in Vermont — they happen all over the world. Where there are big dairy farms and corporations, you can find illegal and unsafe practices in dairy farming. Of course, there are organic options for milk in some supermarkets, so be sure to do your research thoroughly on real organic farms and the conditions under which their cows live.