Dairy Retailers Fail to Warn Consumers about Lactose
Intolerance
06 October 2005
by Anai Rhoads Ford
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AnaiRhoads.org - A group of
tri-state area residents plan to file a
class-action lawsuit against several dairy retailers, including
Safeway, for failing to provide adequate
warning labels on their dairy products regarding lactose intolerance.
Serious side effects can result in those who are unable to process the
milk sugar, lactose. Those suffering from lactose intolerance
may experience symptoms such as diarrhea and significant abdominal
pain. Labeling dairy products, particularily milk, can help
better educate the public as well as warn against use in those who are
unable to eat dairy.
"Imagine a child of eight or 10 years of age getting sick every day,
and no one knows why," says Dan Kinburn of the Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine's (PCRM), "These children are often
misdiagnosed as having irritable bowel syndrome, parasites, or other
illnesses until someone figures out the problem is milk."
Typically, milk sugars are well tolerated after the age of three.
However, it is estimated that nearly 75 percent of the world's
population is lactose intolerant. The PCRM enumerates that upwards of
60 to 80 percent of African
Americans, 50 to 80 percent of Latinos, and at least 90 percent of
Asian Americans and Native Americans suffer from the inability to
process
milk sugars.
The lactose-illness connection is harder to differentiate in those who
previously ate dairy. Lactose intolerance can be very obvious to more
sensitive individuals, but it can also creep in those who never had
previous problems with it.
"Consumers should be warned about milk's
possible health effects," Kinburn says.
The case is being filed in the Superior Court of the District of
Columbia. The plaintiffs are represented by Kinburn and the defendants
include Cloverland
Farms Dairy; Dean Foods; Farmland Dairies; Giant of Maryland; Horizon
Organic; Nestle Holdings; Safeway; Shenandoah's Pride;
and Stonyfield Farms.
PCRM also plans to address the dairy industry's marketing, citing that
the industry has neglected to discuss the dangers, but yet
have promoted dairy as an essential part of one's diet.
©2005 Anai Rhoads Ford. Reproduction must be authorised in writing
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