Group
that has fought with the industry before angered by ads saying
milk helps in weight loss. June 28, 2005: 10:50 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An advocacy group that has repeatedly
tangled with the dairy industry launched a new attack Tuesday,
filing lawsuits alleging false advertising for claiming that
milk helps in weight loss.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) said
one lawsuit filed is intended as a class action against the
industry to stop the ads, while a second suit seeks monetary
damages.
Targets in the lawsuits include Kraft Foods Inc. (up $0.14
to $31.63, Research), General Mills (up $0.16 to $50.56, Research),
Danoneunit Dannon and trade groups including the International
Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), accusing them of falsely marketing
dairy milk as good for weight loss, said Howard White, a spokesman
for PCRM. "The dairy industry is looking at falling sales
and is attempting to boost its bottom line by aiming at America's
waistline," White said.
Susan Ruland, a spokeswoman for the dairy group, said PCRM
has no legitimate nutritional criticism and instead opposed
the use of animal products.
"These are the same people who throw paint on people who wear
fur. They've just gotten slicker in their approaches," she
said.
The PCRM has a history of battles with the dairy industry,
and has filed numerous petitions with regulators for what
it has claimed was deceptive marketing.
The suits were filed in a Virginia court on behalf of Catherine
Holmes, who claims she gained weight after drinking milk in
amounts the industry recommends.
Earlier this month, PCRM launched an advertising campaign
in Washington proposing a class action suit on behalf of any
lactose intolerant people.
"You start talking about millions of dollars" in damages if
hundreds of thousands of people who have unwittingly drank
milk and suffered stomach aches and diarrhea agree to sign
on to the lawsuit, said PCRM attorney Dan Kinburn.
Critics, including the dairy industry, have pointed to the
advocacy group's connections with People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA), an animal rights group. They say the relationship
calls into question whether it really seeks nutritional reform,
or animal rights reform.
On its 2004 tax filing, PETA reported $3 million in donations
to a group called the Foundation to Support Animal Protection,
which lists PCRM President Neal D. Barnard as its own president.
"We're not PETA and never will be," White said, "They go their
way and we go ours." White said the PCRM has "dealt with PETA
on issues," but only in the past.
While the group cautions the public about the potential hazards
of drinking milk, it does advocate soy milk.
On its U.S. federal tax form covering the period from August
2001 to July 31, 2003, the PCRM lists a $7,608 donation from
Vitasoy USA, Inc., a division of Hong Kong soy milk producer
Vitasoy International Holdings Ltd.
White acknowledged the relationship. "We're very consistent,"
he said, "We'd love to see people drink soy milk for reasons
that have nothing to do with these lawsuits."
But he claimed possible conflicts of interest involving Michael
Zemel, a professor of nutrition at the University of Tennessee
who has authored studies cited by the dairy industry purporting
to demonstrate how milk can aid weight loss.
"I do accept money from the industry" for studies, Zemel told
Reuters. "But they don't get to control the outcomes or the
reporting of the outcomes."
