Cow's milk, those celebrities with the white mustaches tell us, does a body good. For years the alternative health crowd has disputed this claim, citing dairy products for a host of health ailments, including frequent colds, bronchitis, ear infections, and obesity. Now those concerns are spreading into mainstream circles: A 61-year-old Seattle man has filed suit against the state dairy farmers association and his local supermarket, among others, claiming that he might have avoided clogged arteries and a minor stroke if milk cartons had carried warnings about the dangers of fat and cholesterol.

Indeed, if this growing chorus of critics has its way and the dairy industry is forced to plaster warning labels on its milk cartons, there may not be enough room to list all the potential health risks. Consider this: As Becky Gillette reports in E Magazine (Sept./Oct. 1998), recent studies show there's growing evidence of much higher rates of breast and prostate cancers in people who have elevated levels of insulin-like-growth factor 1 (IGF-1), the hormone that increases milk production in cows treated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). The hormone was approved for use in the United States six years ago after a study conducted by Monsanto (which makes the hormone) found no ill effects in rats. But now that study is under attack. As reported in Mothering (March/April 1999), a panel of Canadian scientists reviewed the study and 'found previously unreported side effects in the data Monsanto had used to gain U.S. approval. Almost 30 percent of the rats had, in fact, developed antibodies to the hormone, meaning it was active in their bloodstreams.' As a result, Canada refused to approve rBGH, making the United States the only major nation to allow its use.

Monsanto denies that rBGH carries any health risks, because the hormone does not accumulate in the cow's body. As company spokesman Gary Barton tells Gillette, 'Milk has always had IGF-1 in it--it's naturally occurring. The critics, who have been out there for at least 15 years, have leapt on these scientific articles and tried to make a link between rBGH, cow's milk, and increased levels of IGF-1, when, in fact, there is no link.'