Doctors Sue Safeway and Other D.C. Dairy Retailers for Failing to Warn about Lactose Intolerance

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Doctors Sue Safeway and Other

D.C. Dairy Retailers for Failing to Warn

about Lactose Intolerance

 

Plaintiffs Want Warning Labels on Milk Cartons; Class-Action Lawsuit Announced

at Oct. 6 Briefing at National Press Club

 

Milton Mills, M.D., lead plaintiff

 

WASHINGTON—Ten area residents, including a 7-year-old boy, will file a

class-action lawsuit today against Safeway and other dairy retailers, calling

for milk carton labeling warning consumers that milk can cause serious digestive

illness. Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest the milk sugar lactose,

a normal process that occurs after the age of weaning. For those who are lactose

intolerant, drinking milk can result in abdominal pain, diarrhea, and other

painful gastrointestinal symptoms. Approximately 75 percent of the world’s

population—including 60 to 80 percent of African Americans, 50 to 80 percent of

Latinos, and at least 90 percent of Asian Americans and Native Americans—is

lactose intolerant.

 

The plaintiffs are suing on behalf of all D.C. residents. They argue that many

area residents are not aware they are lactose intolerant and unwittingly buy

milk, only to suffer side effects after drinking it. They also charge the dairy

industry with deceiving the public into thinking that milk is essential. The

plaintiffs are represented by Dan Kinburn, PCRM’s associate general counsel. The

case is being filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Defendants include Giant of Maryland; Safeway; Horizon Organic; Dean Foods;

Nestle Holdings; Farmland Dairies; Shenandoah’s Pride; Stonyfield Farm; and

Cloverland Farms Dairy.

 

“Imagine a child of 8 or 10 years of age getting sick every day, and no one

knows why,” says Kinburn. “These children are often misdiagnosed as having

irritable bowel syndrome, parasites, or other illnesses until someone figures

out the problem is milk.” Lactose intolerance is often unrecognized because it

comes on gradually and occurs in individuals who were previously able to drink

milk without symptoms. “Consumers should be warned about milk’s possible health

effects,” Kinburn says.

 

News Briefing Details

 

 

WHAT: News conference to announce class-action lawsuit against Safeway, Nestle,

and seven other corporations calling for warning labels on all milk products

sold in D.C.

 

WHO:

* Augustin Cherng, a 26-year-old Maryland resident who discovered his lactose

intolerance in 2004 after consistently experiencing diarrhea and stomach cramps

from consuming milk

* Milton Mills, M.D., an area physician who suffered for a significant period of

time from lactose intolerance before learning that dairy consumption was making

him sick

* Dan Kinburn, Esq., associate general counsel for PCRM

* Paul Sherman, Ph.D., evolutionary biologist, professor of neurobiology and

behavior at Cornell, and co-author of a recent paper on the global distribution

of lactose intolerance

* Neal D. Barnard, M.D., president of PCRM and nutrition researcher

 

WHEN: Thursday, October 6, 10 a.m.-11 a.m.

 

WHERE: National Press Club, Zenger Room, 529 14th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

 

TELECONFERENCE: Credentialed journalists only: Please call 888-343-7265.

 

 

 

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a

nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, especially good

nutrition. PCRM also conducts clinical research studies, opposes unethical human

experimentation, and promotes alternatives to animal research.

 

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Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Ste. 400, Washington, DC 20016

Phone: 202-686-2210 | Email: pcrm

 

 

 

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