11 Oct 2008, 10:30 am
In response to the message about the bill board of peta I will cut and paste what I wrote them. Just to inform you all.
" Dear all,
I have to say I was quite annoyed and pissed off by your new campaign bill board about the link between drinking cows milk and autism, especially with the 
in the plate with milk. I think it is stupid to use a group of people with 'disabilities' in this way. It would be way better to get in contact, say; 'wrong planet' or other groups who represent or are run by people on the autism spectrum and let us be part, get our point of view, get us support the campaign and us involved in the fight against animal cruelty instead of just making random statements like this, slagging off people on the autism spectrum by showing them as a in a bowl of milk. Why don't you make people with autism count, since we are being put down as outsiders of society many times already? Why would you put us as sad outsiders? And people on the autism spectrum like me can be quite or very 
. It's not only being when you are on the autism spectrum and we are not always too. We are humans just like you, only a bit different or 'programmed' differently, but that doesn't make us less human or that we have to be sad to be different.
I also think it is misleading to put autism as a cause of drinking cow's milk. It is to generalizing on the drinking cow's milk side and also on the autism side.
To be clear with you. I became a vegetarian when I was 7, I hated milk, so that was definitely not part of my diet (it made me produce too much slime as if I had a cold, so no milk for me). I am vegan for more than 10 years now. For your knowledge I 'am' Aspergers, so also on the autism spectrum and hardly ever consumed milk or other dairy products throughout my life...
I actively stand up for animals all my life and would normally support your campaigns too, but this billboard is just blatantly stupid and offensive. Even if there is evidence that cows milk can be linked with autism, you just don't make such an insulting crap billboard with a in a bowl of milk. Just linking milk to autism doesn't give much information. You just generalise all people on the autism spectrum and any idea how big the autism spectrum is???
Sorry 'fellow standing up for animals' people, this campaign poster is a FAIL and you are doing it wrong! Shame on you."
PETA's reply:
Thank you for contacting PETA about our billboard highlighting the link between dairy consumption and the severity of autism symptoms. Due to complaints received from those who saw it, we have agreed to take down the billboard in Newark, N.J.
Our billboard was designed to raise awareness about scientific evidence indicating that milk can worsen behavior associated with autism. We have not claimed that milk causes autism; it does not. However, researchers found that when dairy products were removed from some autistic children’s diets, their behavior improved significantly. Parents who want to protect their children should steer clear of the dairy aisle and choose healthy alternatives, like soy or rice milks. For more information about the link between dairy and autism, please see http://www.PETA.org/feat_autism.asp and http://blog.PETA.org/archives/2008/09/got_autism.php.
The link to autism is just one of many reasons to ditch dairy. Research has linked dairy consumption to higher rates of ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and diabetes. Dairy products have also been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, and obesity.
Cruelty is inherent in the dairy industry, which exploits animals by cramming them onto filthy factory farms for their entire lives. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, farmers forcefully impregnate cows every nine months. The cows are impregnated year after year, but they are never allowed to nurture their calves. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.
Additionally, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can’t produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms. There, they endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment—most calves are chained inside crates so small that they can’t even turn around. To learn more about the lives of cows and calves used for dairy products and veal, please visit http://www.GoVeg.com/factoryFarming_Cows_Dairy.asp.
Thanks again for writing and for your interest in this important issue."
My reply:
"Well thanx you took down the billboard, but I didn't expect such a standard answer since I made clear I am vegan (vegetarian since I was 7 and vegan for more than 10 years) and stand up for animals all through my life, so you really do not have to explain how it all works. By explaining all this I know you only sent me a standard email.
This can mean 2 things though:
1) You got so many complaints that you were not able to write replies that are actually a reply to a specific email.
2) You don't give a f**k and don't pay real attention to an email and just answer every email with criticism in it with the same standard reply, as long as your 'image' is saved.
I hope it is the first though!"
