PCRM Files Class-Action Lawsuit Against Dairy Industry

This PCRM ad ran in the D.C. Metro this summer.

Although 75 percent of the world’s population is lactose intolerant, the U.S. dairy industry spends countless millions each year trying to convince consumers that milk drinking is normal and even essential for good health. As a result, many Americans either don’t realize they are lactose intolerant or think they have to force themselves to drink milk to be healthy. And sometimes doctors—often unknowledgeable about lactose intolerance—may misdiagnose it as irritable bowel syndrome or another problem.

Lactose intolerance is actually a normal condition found in approximately 60 to 80 percent of African Americans, 50 to 80 percent of Latinos, at least 90 percent of Asian Americans and Native Americans, and 6 to 22 percent of Caucasians. People with lactose intolerance are—like all animals—unable to digest the milk sugar lactose after weaning. Side effects include diarrhea, abdominal pain, and other painful gastrointestinal symptoms.

To help raise public awareness about lactose intolerance, PCRM has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all residents in Washington, D.C., who may purchase milk without realizing the serious digestive distress it can cause. Filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on October 6, the suit calls for all milk cartons sold in D.C. to carry labels warning of milk’s possible side effects.

Ten plaintiffs, including a 7-year-old boy and a PCRM member physician, have joined the suit. Defendants include Giant of Maryland, Safeway, Horizon Organic, Dean Foods, Nestle Holdings, Farmland Dairies, Shenandoah’s Pride, Stonyfield Farm, and Cloverland Farms Dairy.

PCRM Online, October 2005

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