CONTACT:
Simon Chaitowitz, Communications Director
tel: 202-686-2210, ext. 309; simonc@pcrm.org

Milk Linked to Prostate Cancer, Doctors Warn
on Prostate Cancer
TV Ads to Highlight Risk; Campaign Launches During Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

Washington, D.C.—The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is launching a national ad campaign that tackles the little-known link between dairy consumption and prostate cancer. The ads—which are tied to September’s Prostate Cancer Awareness Month—are scheduled to begin this week on CNN, ESPN, MSNBC, and other cable networks.

"Until now, most of the focus on prostate cancer has been on detection and treatment. We want men to realize they can decrease their chances of ever getting the disease if they simply trade dairy for healthier fare," says PCRM president Neal D. Barnard, M.D. Prostate cancer kills 32,000 American men each year, one every 13 minutes.

PCRM’s campaign follows a controversy that recently erupted over a billboard by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, featuring a milk-mustached New York City Mayor Giuliani under the headline, "Got Prostate Cancer?" (Giuliani has been undergoing treatment for the disease.) "Those billboards sparked outrage, but what was missing from the debate was a focus on the science," says Dr. Barnard. "The fact is, carefully conducted research studies do link milk to a higher risk of prostate cancer. Unfortunately, this potentially life-saving information has been gathering dust in medical libraries for decades."

The new TV spots feature PCRM member Joel Fuhrman, M.D., a board-certified family physician and author who also specializes in using nutritional interventions to prevent and reverse disease. In the ads, Dr. Fuhrman cites a recent Harvard study showing that having two and one-half servings of dairy a day increased men’s prostate cancer risk by more than 30 percent. The reason, as Dr. Furhman explains in the ads, may relate to how dairy products alter a man’s hormones. Milk-drinking increases a substance in the blood called insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I), which has been linked to higher cancer risk.

More information about the prostate cancer-dairy link and a copy of the ad can be found at www.pcrm.org. To reach Dr. Fuhrman, Dr. Barnard, or other PCRM spokespeople, contact Ms. Simon Chaitowitz, communications director, at 202-686-2210, ext. 309.

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting preventive medicine, especially better nutrition, and higher standards in research.

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