Vegan actress/activist Pamela Anderson recently penned a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) on behalf of animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Anderson was inspired to write the letter after the United States pushed to weaken the language of a WHO resolution that called on world governments to “protect, promote, and support breastfeeding,” a move that some believe is connected to protecting the interests of the US dairy industry. “Breast is best—that’s why I nursed my own sons, and I encourage other moms to continue this natural practice, which has been essential to human health since the dawn of time,” Anderson wrote. “There is nothing natural about giving human babies milk that is meant for baby cows who have four stomachs and gain hundreds of pounds in a matter of months. In fact, cows’ milk is the No. 1 cause of allergies in babies and children, and it has been linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis.” Anderson is not alone in her sentiment that the US government opposed the resolution to bolster the dairy-based infant formula industry. “What the WHO is trying to do is help women achieve their own breastfeeding goals, and unfortunately those goals conflict with goals of the dairy industry,” Alison Stuebe, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine physician, told media outlet Forbes. “The US decided that the dairy industry is more important than moms and babies.” US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson Caitlin Oakley denied claims that the US was against the breastfeeding resolution, instead stating that the government was acting in the best interest of women by protecting their right to choose between dairy-based infant formula and breastmilk—a right that is not jeopardized by the nonbinding resolution that does not prohibit the sale of dairy-based formula.
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