The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed suit last week in D.C. Superior Court demanding that every carton of milk sold in Washington carry a warning label. Using statistics from the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse showing high levels of lactose intolerance among African Americans to be as high as 75 percent and up to 90 percent in Asian Americans the PCRM accused local grocers and dairies of failing to warn lactose intolerant-consumers of the risks of drinking milk.

“The health of Americans of color has been sacrificed on the altar of dairy industry profits,” said Milton Mills, a physician who is black and the lead plaintiff in the case. He also serves on the advisory committee for the PCRM. Once again racism rears its ugly head. I am sure the dairy industry plotted for years how they can kill off their customer base. Note that the PCRM promotes a vegetarian lifestyle and fights to eliminate animal testing in medical labs so they aren’t exactly unbiased in their viewpoint.

This contrasts with a report issues last year by the National Medical Association an organization comprised of black physicians that urged African Americans to drink more milk.

Undaunted by the report and other physicians that study lactose-intolerance that say this isn’t a major health issue the PCRM is forging ahead trying to get the following label placed on every carton of milk in DC. “Warning — Lactose Intolerant Individuals May Experience Bloating, Diarrhea, or Other Gastrointestinal Discomfort From Consuming Milk. Check With Your Physician”

The committee mostly ignores the fact that much of the lactose-intolerance cases stems from a cultural bias. In many minority cultures milk either isn’t readily available or is too expensive. This often results in people not having milk until their teen or adult years. The body has to then adjust to this new source of nutrition and it might take years in some cases to adapt. Or like in the case of my Korean-American niece who was misdiagnosed as being lactose intolerant for years and now happily gulps down a few glasses a day.

In this case the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is being very irresponsible in an attempt to use race to further their agenda.

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