I suspected that milk was a health disaster back in the Spring of '94. At that time, while researching an article for Health & Healing, a newsletter with a half million subscribers, I learned that the Food & Drug Administration had approved the use of a genetically engineered hormone called "recombinant bovine growth hormone" (rBGH). The alleged purpose of the hormone, a $500 million investment on the part of the Monsanto Company, is to increase a cow's milk output. Considering the glut of milk for the past decade, economic justification for using rBGH remains a mystery.

Injecting hapless cows with a growth hormone raised a red flag for me. In my 20 plus years of health reporting, I've found that when a company interferes with Mother Nature, this cold-blooded exploitation, invariably for economic gain, brings suffering and disease.

This was clearly the case with the bovine growth hormone. I knew that, over the years, pasteurization and homogenization had destroyed most of the natural goodness of milk. The growth hormone was the supreme insult. As dairymen reported, this hormone made our cows sick, namely developing mastitis, thus requiring enormous doses of antibiotics. For this reason, 95 percent of dairy farmers initially refused to inject their cows with rBGH; later, many caved in under pressure.

A more disturbing consequence of the bovine growth hormone is that it increases levels of a powerful growth hormone, IGF-I. IGF-I is a key factor in the growth and proliferation of cancer.

Despite the health threats posed by the bovine growth hormone, I was one of the few health writers taking a critical view of the situation. Starting in 1994, the media assured us that milk from treated and untreated cows is virtually the same. Here they were dutifully quoting the FDA, the American Medical Association, and the World Health Organization. Few bothered to investigate why a growing number of dairy farmers and environmental watchdogs were bitterly opposed to its use.

I wasn't impressed by these scientific assurances from on high. From reporting on alternative medicine, I knew too well how the medical establishment can lie through its teeth. Mainstream doctors continue to label chelation therapy, a life-saving treatment for heart disease, as "quackery," despite its over 30 year track record as a safe and effective treatment.

What was needed to bring the deleterious effects of rBGH to the fore was an intrepid scientist who could confront scientists from these prestigious organizations, speak their language, interpret scientific data, and reveal the facts about the true nature of the bovine growth hormone.

Enter Robert Cohen, with rich experience in biological research and a risk taker--one of his pursuits is mountain climbing. A call came from Mr. Cohen shortly after my July '94 article appeared. A boyish voice crackling with energy. Cohen divulged his suspicions that the FDA's approval of the bovine growth hormone represented not only collusion between Monsanto and the FDA, but a cover-up of epic proportions by the scientific establishment. His three-year fact-finding journey proved him chillingly right.

Reading this book, you will learn that milk contributes to heart disease and increases your risk of breast cancer. You will learn that milk is a poor source of calcium and why, and that milk is a prime cause of allergies and much more. You will learn that milk can even kill your infant.

Cohen doesn't expect you to accept these shocking findings on faith. He takes you by the hand as he uncovers layers of scientific fraud perpetuated by the FDA, with assistance from JAMA, Science News, and even the Cadillac of scientific publications, Science. In digging for scientific facts, Cohen found that the web of deception concerning the bovine growth hormone involved not only key players--FDA and Monsanto--but reached members of Congress as well as a respected medical authority turned Monsanto lobbyist. At times this book reads like a detective story. Eventually our indefatigable scientific sleuth uncovered the smoking gun--incontrovertible evidence showing that laboratory animals treated with rBGH developed cancer, but he could not induce the FDA to reconsider their approval of the hormone.

My husband, Dr. Henry Heimlich, devisor of the Heimlich maneuver, had a similar experience dealing with the American Red Cross (ARC). Following his discovery that the Maneuver, applying upward pressure to the diaphragm caused the choking object to pop out, he implored the ARC to stop teaching the public to administer back blows to a choking victim, which only drives the object deeper into the airway. Stymied by scientific fraud and bureaucratic blindness, he took his life and death issue to the public.

Robert Cohen has taken the same tack. Reading this meticulously documented book, written in a lively informal style and punctuated with irreverent humor, I feel sure you will be convinced, as I am, that milk is hazardous to your health. Don't worry about what you're going to put on your cereal. Cohen offers plenty of nondairy milk suggestions.

Share the author's findings with your family members and friends. Buy a copy for anyone you care about. Take its message to heart.

After reading this, the webmaster and his wife do not partake of dairy foods; only those nondairy items.