School milk protest suspended

Milk protesters are no longer targeting schools

Campaigners who want to discourage children from drinking cow's milk are no longer distributing information outside schools.

Animal rights campaigners, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), say that they have stopped handing out cards which claimed that milk was bad for children's health.

The organisation said that encouraging children to talk to strangers handing out the cards "might create such a panic that their message about the harmful effects of the dairy industry on human and animal health would be lost".

The cards claim that milk can cause obesity, wind, phlegm and spots - and they feature cartoon characters called Chubby Charlie, Windy Wendy, Phlegmy Phil and Spotty Sue.

An earlier version of the anti-milk cards had been ruled to have broken guidelines set by the Advertising Standards Authority.

'Exaggerated'

The National Farmers' Unions in England and Wales and Scotland, the Dairy Council and the Royal Agricultural Society of England had lodged objections to the cards.

The advertising watchdog concluded that the claims made by the cards were exaggerated and could cause anxiety among schoolchildren.

After the ruling by the ASA, the animal rights group had promised to continue giving a revised set of cards to pupils. But this now seems to have been abandoned.

Instead of targeting schools, Peta now says it is turning its attention to lobbying politicians.

In a letter sent to MPs, Peta says: "Our milk addiction is bizarre and unnatural, as odd as encouraging our children to suckle the family dog or to add the mammary secretions of a giraffe to their morning cereal."

According to Peta, cow's milk is unhealthy for humans and the dairy farming process is bad for the cows.