Perhaps you caught the vegan protesters outside the Starbucks headquarters in Seattle recently.
I was one of them, for a reason most folks don't think about, which I'll get to in a second. Our message was that there are countless reasons to protest the dairy industry, from thoroughly documented abuse of animals and environmental destruction to the billions in subsidies that Big Dairy receives every year.
For me personally, it was also about "normalizing" the consumption of cow's milk and why that's straight up discriminatory.
Sure, we were outside Starbucks to demand that the company drop its surcharge on vegan milk. But as the entire world goes vegan, treating cow's milk as the standard is a major problem, even for America's biggest coffee brewer.
Normalizing cow's milk is inherently racially biased. Some 70% of African Americans are lactose intolerant: In general, people of color are less likely to have the genetic mutation required to digest lactose. But according to the National Institutes of Health, most humans are lactose-intolerant, regardless of race _ 65% of the global population.
There's nothing healthy about drinking the breast milk of a different species. In what world does it make sense to promote the consumption of a product that causes stomach distress to well over half the population?
The dairy industry spends millions on misleading ad campaigns urging people to drink cow's milk when medical professionals have shown again and again that dairy is a health hazard. It's loaded with artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat. Studies suggest that consuming it may also contribute to asthma, recurrent ear infections, constipation, iron deficiency, anemia, juvenile-onset diabetes, and even cancer.
Instead of slapping a surcharge on the majority of the population at risk of being sickened by cow's milk _ many of whom are people of color _ companies should incentivize customers to choose animal-friendly, vegan milks. Thankfully, many coffee chains _ including Tim Hortons, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Noah's New York Bagels, Philz Coffee, and Costa Coffee _ already offer dairy-free milk at no extra charge.
Whether lactose-intolerant or not, consumers who choose plant-based milk should feel good knowing that it comes without animal abuse. The dairy industry inflicts extreme violence on other sentient beings, who are powerless to defend themselves. Dairy farmers tear baby calves away from their distraught mothers in order to keep the milk for themselves and then sell the male calves for veal.
People are often surprised to learn that the dairy industry slaughters cows after only about five years because their bodies are worn out from having been kept constantly pregnant. There is no retirement home for cows. In fact, U.S. Department of Agriculture reports reveal that cows are sometimes still alive and conscious when workers skin and dismember them. No latte or cappuccino can justify that kind of suffering.
You can join us in asking Starbucks to catch up with its competitors and drop the surcharge on vegan milk by signing PETA's petition at PETA.org.
