In London, on May 24, 2006, The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation will be launching White Lies, a campaign to raise awareness of the health risks of consuming dairy products. Why You Don't Need Dairy, an event to mark the beginning of the campaign, will feature Heather Mills McCartney, wife of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, as a speaker who will call for milk to be dropped from the nation's diet.

Other speakers include Professor Jane Plant CBE, a geochemist, who fought breast cancer three times and went into remission after giving up dairy products. Plant is the author of the best selling books ‘Your Life in Your Hands - Understanding, Preventing and Overcoming Breast Cancer’ and ‘Prostate Cancer.’

On March 1, the foundation called for a total ban on all imports of milk that contain raised levels of a growth hormone linked to cancer. Tests confirmed that milk from the US is being imported into the EU, dosed with the synthetic growth hormone, rBST, recombinant bovine somatotrophin. According to The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation, one of the effects of this hormone in milk is to increase its levels of the naturally-occurring growth hormone IGF-1 as much as fivefold.  IGF-1 has been strongly linked to certain cancers.

In a related post, drinking milk can lead to ovarian cancer, we shared news on a Harvard School of Public Health report which indicated a 19 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer for some women who drink milk. Included in the post is the Nutrition Resource Centre of the Ontario Public Health Association, Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium, available as a PDF document online, with non-dairy food suggestions that offer plenty of calcium.

In 1956, Paul McCartney lost his mother, Mary, to breast cancer. His first wife, Linda McCartney, died on April 17, 1998 from breast cancer.