USDA’s Dairy Ad Violates Federal Laws, June 02, 2023:
https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/usdas-dairy-ad-featuring-aubrey-plaza-violat es-federal-laws-physicians-complaint
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service unlawfully approved an ad last month that features The White Lotus actress Aubrey Plaza mocking plant milk. The now-viral “Wood Milk” ads violate laws forbidding federal agricultural promotions from depicting products in a negative light, according to a complaint filed today with the USDA Office of Inspector General by the Physicians Committee, a nonprofit public health advocacy organization.
Using a fictitious product named “Wood Milk” as a stand-in for plant-based milks, the ads deride plant-based milks.
The “Wood Milk” campaign violates the statutory prohibition against advertising that is “false or misleading or disparaging to another agricultural commodity” and the regulatory prohibition against “unfair or deceptive acts or practices with respect to the quality, value or use of any competing product,” the Physician Committee’s complaint says.
It also violates a federal law that says USDA milk advertising dollars can’t be used to influence legislation or government action or policy. On February 23, 2023, the FDA announced new proposed guidelines that would allow plant-based milks to be labeled using the word “milk.”
The agency invited the public to submit comments by April 24, 2023, before final guidelines would be established. The “Wood Milk” ad campaign was launched before that comment period closed. On May 1, 2023, the comment period was extended to July 31, 2023. The “Wood Milk” campaign has run continuously since then.
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service administers the federal commodity promotion and research programs, commonly referred to as “checkoff” programs. The USDA approves all “checkoff” advertising and is responsible for reviewing and verifying all nutritional claims.
The Physician Committee’s complaint requests that the Office of Inspector General issue a recommendation that the “Wood Milk” ads stop and that the milk “checkoff” issue corrective advertising that explains the benefits of plant-based milks.
“The ‘checkoff’ is a government program,” said Physicians Committee President Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, adjunct professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine. “It is one thing for it to promote cow’s milk. It is quite another thing to mock the products that many non white Americans choose for health reasons.”
Neuralink, May 26, 2023:
https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/physicians-committees-statement-neuralink-r eportedly-receiving-approval-human
On May 25, 2023, Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink shared via Twitter that it had received approval from the FDA to begin human clinical trials. It is important to remember that such FDA approval is not an acquittal of Neuralink’s well-documented track record of animal cruelty and sloppy scientific studies. The approval is also not a guarantee that a Neuralink device will someday be commercially available as a significant number of medical devices that begin clinical trials never reach the market. In addition, Neuralink will likely continue to conduct experiments on monkeys, pigs, and other animals even after clinical trials have begun. Past animal experiments revealed serious safety concerns stemming from the product’s invasiveness and rushed, sloppy actions by company employees. As such, the public should continue to be skeptical of the safety and functionality of any device produced by Neuralink.
According to a March 2023 news report, which cited Neuralink employees, the FDA itself “raised safety concerns” related to “device’s lithium battery; the potential for the implant’s tiny wires to migrate to other areas of the brain; and questions over whether and how the device can be removed without damaging brain tissue.”
The Physicians Committee continues to urge Elon Musk and Neuralink to shift to developing a noninvasive brain-computer interface. Researchers elsewhere have already made progress to improve patient health using such noninvasive methods, which do not come with the risk of surgical complications, infections, or additional operations to repair malfunctioning implants. Noninvasive devices are already
demonstrating the ability to improve quality of life for older adults and elderly patients, translate brain activity into intelligible speech, and assist paralyzed patients.
The Physicians Committee was the first group to obtain internal records detailing painful, deadly experiments conducted on monkeys by Neuralink in partnership with the University of California, Davis. Since those records were released, three federal agencies have launched investigations into the company and additional botched experiments were revealed by reporters. Most recently, in February 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) began investigating Neuralink for violations of federal hazardous material laws after documents obtained by the Physicians Committee revealed that untrained company employees transported “contaminated” devices that had been removed from the brains of “infected” monkeys without safely packaging them.
“Musk needs to drop his obsession with sticking a device in our heads,” says Ryan Merkley, director of research advocacy with the Physicians Committee. “If he cared about the health of patients, he would invest in a noninvasive brain-computer interface.”
“Winners Don’t Drink Milk” Proclaim billboards warning that dairy milk can wreck your health, May 23, 2023
https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/winners-dont-drink-milk-proclaim-billboards- warning-milk-can-wreck-your-health
INDIANAPOLIS—“Winners Don’t Drink Milk,” proclaim three billboards that went up near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the Indianapolis 500 on May 28. The billboards, sponsored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, mock the phrase “Winners Drink Milk,” used by the American Dairy Association Indiana, Inc., for the marketing campaign in which a bottle of cow’s milk is given to the winning driver of the Indy 500. The doctors group also wrote to Douglas Boles, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to urge him to provide the winner with plant milk or water instead of cow’s milk.
“Winners don’t drink milk. That’s the message Indianapolis 500 should be sending to its millions of viewers instead of promoting cow’s milk, which can increase the risk of prostate and breast cancers, among other health problems,” wrote the Physicians Committee in a letter to Douglas Boles, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “This year, the Indianapolis 500 should ditch the dairy-industry marketing tactic of giving
the winner a bottle of milk and instead provide a healthful alternative like plant milk or water.”
The letter was also sent to Richard Thomas, president of the American Dairy Association Indiana, Inc., and Indiana State Health Commissioner Kris Box, MD, FACOG.
The tradition of the Indy 500 winner drinking milk dates to 1936 when a cameraman captured Louis Meyer sipping from a bottle of buttermilk. “It is understood that an executive in the dairy industry saw the footage and enthusiastically requested that milk ... be made available to the winner each year,” according to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Research shows that dairy products including milk increase prostate cancer risk, recurrence, and mortality. High intakes of dairy products including whole and low-fat milk increase the risk for prostate cancer, according to a meta-analysis that looked at 32 studies. Inanotherstudy,menwhoconsumedthreeormoreservingsofdairyproducts a day had a 141% higher risk for death due to prostate cancer compared to those who consumed less than one serving.
Drinking milk also increases breast cancer risk. A study found that women who consumed 1/4 to 1/3 cup of cow’s milk per day had a 30% increased chance for breast cancer. One cup per day increased the risk by 50%, and 2-3 cups were associated with an 80% increased chance of breast cancer.
Scientific evidence also shows that milk and other dairy products increase the risk of ovarian cancer, asthma, cognitive decline, heart disease, and early death, and offer little if any protection for bone health. Many Americans also suffer from lactose intolerance, which causes bloating, diarrhea, and gas.
A recent review by the Physicians Committee that compares the nutrient content of dairy and nondairy milks concluded that there is no apparent health rationale for recommending cow’s milk over plant-based milks.