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Until we start “domesticating” women and breeding them for superior milk-producing capacity, the use of human breast milk will never take to a large-scale market like the dairy industry has.

Anyone who has had a child can vouch that somewhere in the hospital where their child was born, a nurse uttered the words, “The breast is the best.” And guys, get your minds out of the gutter for a second here. We are talking about milk and feeding infants. But now People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants to start using human breast milk for more than just feeding babies.

On Sept.23 the Executive Vice President of PETA, Tracy Reiman, sent a letter to the owners of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, asking them to consider a switch from cow’s milk to human breast milk for making their famous ice cream. But some of what she states in her letter, I think, clearly illustrates just how ridiculous, un-researched, and impractical, this farfetched idea really is.

Before we delve into what was in that letter, let’s look at some basics about milk. All female mammals produce milk during pregnancy and the time period after to provide food for their newborn. Humans are the exception to the rule, being the only species on the planet that consumes the milk from other mammals and past the age of adolescence. And as we know, it is not just cows that give us milk. I’m sure we have all at least heard of goat’s milk cheese, but the list of animals used around the world for dairy product value includes sheep, buffalo, yaks, horses, camels (yes, camels) and even moose milk from some farms in northern Sweden. From what I have surprisingly found, the nutritional value of the milk varies tremendously from species to species. Even more surprising is that people study just how much fat there really is in the milk of guinea pigs, which is about 46 percent if you are wondering, where raw cow’s milk is between 3.5 and 5 percent.

But the main reason for using milk from these animals is to help provide a renewable source of food products able to feed people over the lifetime of the animal. The list of products able to be produced from raw milk is pretty well known, but impressive none the less, and we can see that every time we walk into our favorite grocery store. Virtually every part of raw milk can be produced into something that we now consider staples in our daily diets: milk, butter, cheeses, yogurt, cream and whey products (cottage cheese). But I think that before we make the leap to replacing the cow with lactating women, we need to look at some other facts.

Cows, goats and sheep have been domesticated and raised since before Biblical times. In 1885 it was estimated that milk production from a cow was about 1,700 quarts a year (roughly 425 gallons). By 1995, that estimate leaped to nearly 8,200 quarts or 2,050 gallons, per year per cow.

Now comparatively, a woman produces enough milk to supply her baby with enough milk each day’s needs and she is, like any other mammal, constantly producing milk during this feeding time. Some busy mothers who refuse to feed their baby formula will pump their milk and freeze it for future use. Now we can start to put a needle to the balloon of a fairy tale PETA is trying to tell us. Until we start “domesticating” women, and breeding them for superior milk producing capacity, the use of human breast milk will never make it to a large scale market like the dairy industry has. Let’s look at that last production stat from before. ONE cow can produce over 2,000 gallons of milk each year.

Now for a second let’s ignore the fact that in the United States the sale of raw milk of ANY species (including human) is strictly banned. The sheer number of women that would be needed to DONATE their breast milk to Ben & Jerry’s just to keep up production is absolutely mind boggling. Based on figures from their factory tour, Ben & Jerry’s can output about 172,800 pints of their icy creations each day! Now figure a woman who is breastfeeding can produce an extra 8 to 10 ounces of milk per day (after what her baby eats), Ben & Jerry’s would need to enlist the help of around 300,000 women each day to just to keep up! Now if we are going to start asking women to milk themselves for the sake of ice cream, that number would drop a little, but right there is the “ewww” factor of this whole issue.

I think that in the grand scheme of things the people of PETA really have no clue how the world really works, and are really more concerned with the well-being of animals than that of people. Are cows treated the best in these facilities? Probably not. But let me pose a final question. Reiman, in her letter states that, “Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy. . . Won't you give cows and their babies a break. . .” Have you ever known a nursing mother, and the discomfort they have felt when their milk comes in and their baby is asleep? From my family experience, I think that we are relieving these cows by milking them. And I, for one, will thank the cows each time I scoop into a pint of Chocolate Fudge Brownie!

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