What do vegetarians have against milk?

Question

...Those who refrain from milk or milk products. I'm not sure if it's all just lactose intolerence that's behind their argument.

And do they let their kids drink milk? To what age?

Answer 1

Those are Vegans. They don't eat anything that comes from a animal because of inhumane practices in producing it. All dairy products like milk and cheese, and eggs are out too. Instead the like to torture vegetables and legumes.

Answer 2

I'm not vegetarian, but I avoid milk and dairy products whenever possible. I will not give my children (ages 2 and 4) dairy products either. We eat plenty of meat, whether poultry, beef, pork, etc. My decision is based upon research following a discovery that I am lactose intolerant. The dairy industry has had a considerable head start in the matter, and has people brainwashed into believing their product is a wonder food.

Humans are the only animal that drinks milk past infancy, and then it's not even from the correct species! Too many people are still trying to defend milk's supposed health benefits. Unfortunately, they are either using old information or information obtained from research funded by the dairy association. How many people would enjoy a glass of dog's milk or rat's milk? What makes cows special?

There are only two reasons which I've found to support humans drinking cow's milk. We have grown up hearing that it's good for us and we've grown accustomed to the taste and texture. There is absolutely no nutrition that can not be obtained elsewhere, minus the negatives. Calcium seems to be the major claim for milk. It can be found elsewhere in green vegetables, almonds, and many other sources. Where do you think the cows obtain the calcium to put into the milk? Where do other larger animals (elephants, horses, deer, whales, etc) get calcium? Why we continue to drink cow's milk laced with growth hormones, antibiotics, and who knows what else is beyond me.

Since I've given up drinking milk about 5 years ago my health has greatly improved. I suffer fewer allergy problems, asthma and breathing problems are greatly reduced, I'm sleeping better, and I have more energy.

In the '50s smoking was considered harmless but now we realize its dangers. One person at a time and eventually the truth will become widely known that cow's milk is only for baby cows. Milk is indeed the perfect food, but only for infants of the proper species.

Do some research online and decide for yourself.
http://www.strongbones.org/
http://www.notmilk.com/

Answer 3

Vegs don't have anything against milk, it's just that some are against consuming it.

And it's not like you need milk to survive. Cows have milk for the same reason as humans and that's too feed the calf, not the human. So young humans don't need milk either.

Vegans are against consuming milk because:

1. The milk industry treats cows like slaves and forces them to live in small, uncomfortbale spaces. That's animal abuse and vegans are against that 100%
2. The farms inject their cows with steroids, drugs and other chemicals that are unhealthy for humans.
3. It's unnatural for humans to be drinking cows milk.
4. A vegan diet is healthier than a diet that includes dairy
5. There are many other reasons that I can't think up of right at this moment.

In order to avoid all of the above, I buy organic milk that's from farms that treat their cows better, don't juice their cows with 'roids and have an overall better quality milk. It may cost 2-3 times more than regular milk but it's worth it.

Answer 4

Vegetarians need not have anything against the nature's perfect secretion - the milk! Milk is secreted only to nourish the young one. Of course, we the human beings can not have the luxury of human or breast milk after one year or depending upon the decision of the nourishing mother. Hence we have to look at other alternative sources - the next best choice is cow milk and then buffalo, goat milk etc. The problem is that, the milk thus obtained has to be clean, wholesome and free from pathogenic organisms. Strict vegetarians - Beware! Because milk contains WBCs and somatic cells, which in the strictest sense, is considered as a non vegetarian thing.

Answer 5

Sorry to be a pain, but some of you have it wrong. Sure I am vegan , but in our family there is a long history of lactose and protein in milk intolerance's, so after being weaned the babies actually have gone on to soy or rice milk until old enough to have testing carried out. Only humans drink from another milk producing species after being weaned from their mother. which is why numerous people world wide cant tolerate milk and its byproducts. Us vegans,(no not all my family), prefer the lifestyle choice of having nothing that comes from animals, but many vegetarians do have dairy as to them the animal is alive and the produce is ok to drink or eat, Each to their own choice heh?

Answer 6

First, contrary to the propaganda spewed by the dairy industry, milk is actually the worst possible source of calcium. That's aside from the fact that humans are the only mammals that drink the milk of another animal. How much more gross can that be?

Vegans don't use any type of animal products, while vegetarians might use eggs, dairy products or honey.

Just like all other parents, vegans raise their children to reflect their own life choices. In the 1970's, a commune in Tennessee called The Farm was started by a group of vegans. They bore children there and raised them as vegans. They also agreed to enrol their children in a longitudinal medical study, to examine the development of vegan children as opposed to the development of omnivore children. When they reached adulthood, the vegan children averaged 1 inch shorter and 5 pounds lighter than did their omnivore cohort. That more than within one stardard deviation, and is therefore perfectly normal.

If you honestly think that a child rasied as a vegan can't be healthy, then look no further than the British clothing designer Stella McCartney. Yes, she's Paul & LInda McCartney's daughter, raised as and is still a vegan, and recently gave birth to her second child. I'd classify that has healthy.

Answer 7

There are a lot of people who choose not to ingest milk. The main reason for most, and in some cases even vegans, is the simple health aspect that milk does NOT do a body good. The dairy farmers of America have seriously pulled the wool over they eyes of Americans with tasty slogans and cute pictures of celebs with milk mustaches.

Once weened from mother's milk, the body no longer requires milk. Humans are the only species that a) consumes milk after weening from mother, and b) consumes milk from another species. Ask yourself why that natural instinct is ignored by humans.

Some other points: Milk does not contain as much goodness as we are led to believe. In its natural state, milk does not have as much calcium and vitamins as many vegetables. The reason milk is "fortified" is simply because it lacks the natural nutrition we are lead to believe it has. Milk thickens mucus membranes, causing sinus problems, and the lactose in natural milk is actually toxic. Ingesting milk in place of water can cause toxicity, dehydration, thickened mucus membranes, asthma complications, and severe and sometimes fatal allergic reactions.

The dairy farmers of America, the FDA and pharmaceutical company's are making billions of dollars each year by turning a blind eye to these proved facts.

And that is what many vegetarians have against milk.

Answer 8

Cows need to have calves to make milk. The calves are shipped off to become meat or to give milk later. Calves don't get to drink their mother's milk because it is sold to humans. Dairy cows are impregnated as soon as possible to make them keep producing milk. Their bodies are spent (useless due to stresses of lactation and pregnancy) in about four years. The spent dairy cows become hamburger and pocketbooks. Vegan kids drink human breast milk until they are weaned and then go to soy if milk to be part of the diet.
Keep in mind how we are brain washed into believing we MUST have dairy to be healthy and how China (one fifth of the world's population) as a country doesn't drink milk. Their bones aren't collapsing. Had a lot of cheese at any Japanese restaurant?

Answer 9

hi im a lactose intolarente vegetarian, no really i am, its vegans that dont have any dairy or any other products that come for animals. i cant have any dairy anything that comes from cows i do however how goats milk ,cheese etc as a replacement. i have a 3 year old daughter and she has dairy produces i would never not give her dairy not unless she became alergice to it or choose not to have it herself its up to her at the end of the day.

Answer 10

Alot of cows are injected with hormones to raise milk production, add to that all the antibiotics used to prevent udder infections from the un-natural amounts of milk they are forced to produce and milk has become a real chemical cocktail. Does anyone think this has to do with rising cancer rates in American children? Breast cancer is also rising in American women, could it be all the hormones in the milk. My son grew up on soy milk and he is a healthy 6'6" 24yr old man now.

Answer 11

Lactose intolerance is one problem.
Recently a study found that milk cancels out benefits that we derive from teas. It seems that casein, the protein found in milk, binds itself to blood cells and slows the flow down, which tea was thinning. Casein is also used to make glue and acrylic paints, because of its binding properties.

Milk interests are so concerned that people are going to start realizing that we don't need milk that they actually sued the soy interests for using the word milk in their products. Soy milk is now referred to as soy beverage, because it isn't actually milk.
Now if we needed someone to point that out to us, we really do need to listen to all that the government tells us to do.

Wake up, read some nutritional information that comes from a health promoter, and not the information we get from the Agricultural Department, they are only concerned with pushing their products.

***I would like to point something out, I see a lot of people are citing Notmilk.com. This is a website developed by a person who has something against the milk industry and against Monsanto. His wife or companion also has a grudge against Monsanto but instead attacks its work in sugars (aspartame, et al.). Their work is not peer reviewed and needs to be questioned just like the work of the milk and meat industries.

I am against the growing relationship between agriculture and chemical giants. I am against Monsanto, but as we question agribusiness, we must also question our sources. What is this grudge this couple has against Monsanto? Why are they so vindictive? These questions need to be answered before we throw all of our support behind them.

And yes, I was vegan, and still prefer my food vegan.