Group Urges Teens to Break Out of Bad Eating Habits to Keep Their Faces Clear and Cows From Suffering
For Immediate Release:
February 27, 2013
Contact:
Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382
Kansas City, Mo. -- Teens and pimples go together, right? Not necessarily. According to a new study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, there is increasing evidence of a connection between diet and acne, and one of the major villains is dairy products. So PETA is negotiating with Kansas City–area outdoor advertisers to erect a brand-new billboard that shows a teen with a milk mustache and reads, "Got Zits?"—a play on the old "Got Milk?" campaign. It goes on to say, "Studies show: Milk and cheese trigger acne. Ditch dairy." PETA plans to place the billboard at locations near high schools.
"The only people who benefit when teens drink milk from animals or eat dairy-based ice cream are dairy factory farmers and the makers of acne medication," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "With delicious products such as soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, nondairy ice cream, and faux cheeses on the market, kids don't have to sacrifice their complexion and overall health in order to eat the foods that they like."
A previous study by the Harvard School of Public Health—called the Nurses' Health Study II and involving more than 47,000 people—concluded that the consumption of milk and other dairy products significantly raised the incidence of acne. And Liz Vaccariello, fitness guru and former editor in chief of Prevention magazine, wrote that within six weeks of cutting back on drinking milk, her skin completely cleared of the blemishes that had been plaguing her. A dairy-free diet can also lower the risk of cancer, heart disease, and obesity in adults as well as allergies, ear infections, and juvenile-onset diabetes in children.
Teens aren't the only ones who suffer because of dairy consumption. Cows on dairy factory farms are genetically and chemically manipulated to produce unnaturally high quantities of milk, and as a result, many cows contract mastitis, a painful infection of the udder. Newborn calves are torn away from their mothers, and the males are sold to veal farms, where many are chained for months inside crates so small that they can't even turn around or lie down comfortably.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.