Here's some welcome news: Despite the barrage of deceptive dairy industry propaganda, sales of cow's milk—already in free fall—have plummeted in the U.S. It seems that more and more consumers are getting the message that dairy foods are as bad for our health as they are for the well-being of cows. 

To make sure the downward trend continues, PETA is re-releasing its series of popular ads parodying the industry's "Got Milk?" campaign. Check them out:

1. On dairy factory farms, male calves are of no use in milk production, so they are often taken away from their mothers when they are as young as 1 day old to be chained up in tiny stalls for weeks—terrified and desperate for their mothers—and fed an inadequate milk substitute to make them miserably anemic in order to produce the pale flesh most desired for veal.

2. Female cows don't fare much better: After having their sensitive horn tissue cut or burned away, most are forced into a vicious cycle of nearly continuous pregnancy, only to have calf after calf taken away so that the milk they produce to nourish their young can be consumed by humans instead. And, of course, once they stop producing enough milk to be profitable, they are sent off to slaughter. 

3. Cow's milk is intended for, well, baby cows, not baby humans, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it's not good for our kids, raising their risk for a variety of childhood complaints. 

4. Adolescence is hard enough without dealing with blemishes. Take it from Woody Harrelson—to lose the pimples, lose the milk.

5. It's not just kids who have to worry about milk mucking up their health—men have good reason to dump dairy products, too.

6. Ugh. Would you drink a glass of water to which even one drop of pus from a cow's infected udders had been added? No? Then why drink cow's milk?

What You Can Do

Steer clear (no cow pun intended) of cow's milk and other dangerous dairy products. And since all foods from animals result from suffering, the only way to be truly cruelty-free is to go vegan. 

We've all read the horror stories about people finding fingertips in fast food, bloody bandages in pizza, and a condom in a bag of French fries. But the grossest things in our food rarely make headlines—and chances are good that consumers of meat and dairy products have ingested at least one of them:

1. Arsenic. Farms feed chickens and pigs arsenic to help ward off infections in the filthy living conditions and to turn their flesh the pink shade that is considered appetizing. Because nothing says "appetizing" like poison.
2. Poop. When animals' intestines are torn open during slaughter, feces spill out onto their flesh. So when people buy the meat, they're getting, well, sorry, crappy food.
3. Industrial runoff. Who would head down to the local river, whip out a glass, and gulp down some river water? No one? Well, then people might want to avoid eating fish, who are contaminated with the pollutants that run into waterways from our tanneries, factories, and industrial plants, as well as manure runoff from pastures.
4. Calf stomach lining. Many cheeses are made with rennet, an enzyme taken from calves' stomach lining. Does eating baby stomachs make you sick to yours?
5. DDT. Even though the U.S. banned DDT, it remains in the environment and particularly accumulates in animal fats. Think, "Double-Decker of Toxins."
6. Pus. Cows on dairy farms often suffer from mastitis, a painful inflammation of the udders caused by bacteria. Their bodies try to fight off the infection by producing pus, and guess where the pus goes. Into the milk and into the milk-drinker's mouth.
7. Pink slime. The now famous picture of what looks like the result of a kid smashing all his Play-Doh together is actually mechanically separated meat, a main ingredient in many processed meats such as chicken nuggets and hot dogs. It's made by sending animals' bones through a machine that scrapes off the last bits of flesh and blood, forming the bits into a paste, and then treating the mass with ammonia, dyeing it, and adding flavor to it.

Makes me crave … broccoli.

This week, PETA's cavorting cow has been urging people in cities across the U.S. to dump dairy from their diets with a not-so-subtle hint.

Why's this heifer in a huff?

Last week, PETA released undercover footage of cows who were kept on a Land O'Lakes supplier's factory farm in pens covered with feces. They were denied veterinary care and even kicked or stabbed with pocket knives when they were too weak to stand.

If dairy foods were deadly for your relatives, you'd want people to ditch it, too, right? Well, dairy foods have been linked to a slew of human health issues, including allergies, obesity, prostate cancer, heart disease, and autism.

Written by Heather Drennan

Today, PETA unveiled footage from our five-month undercover investigation of a filthy factory dairy farm in Pennsylvania that supplies milk to St. Paul–based Land O'Lakes, the largest seller of branded butter in the U.S.

Our investigator documented abuse and neglect of cows and calves at the facility, including that cows who were in terrible pain and resisted standing were electro-shocked and jabbed with the blade of a pocket knife in an effort to force them to move and that sick and injured cows were left to languish—often so weak that they couldn't even get out of their own waste—for days and even weeks without veterinary care. In one case, workers were told to wrap an elastic band around a cow's gangrenous, infected teat in order to "amputate" it. The cow's condition deteriorated for 11 days before she finally died.

It is a violation of Pennsylvania law to neglect animals, deprive sick and injured animals of veterinary care, and deny animals clean and sanitary shelter. Charges against the farm's owners have been approved and filed by a local magisterial district judge. The factory farmers are innocent until proven guilty, of course, but they would face up to 90 days in jail and $750 in fines if convicted.

We have also called on Land O'Lakes to buy milk only from farms that meet our 12-point animal welfare plan, which would prevent much of the suffering we documented at this farm.

For those of you who can't stomach the thought of eating butter after watching that video, take a minute to tell Land O'Lakes to implement our 12-point animal welfare plan. Then check out one of the many vegan butter alternatives that are widely available. My personal favorite is Earth Balance margarine. It's 100 percent vegan and free of trans fat (and pus), and it tastes even better than butter. Best of all, it's also 100 percent free of cruelty to cows and calves.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Claire Parker outraged animal protectionists worldwide with her gruesome, cruel method of making "mad money." Parker, a mother of three, held dogfights in the garage of her Kexby home in England. She and her husband, a convicted drug dealer who died earlier this year in prison, would offer beer and sandwiches for dogfighters who attended the bloodbaths, where dogs would maul each other for up to an hour at a time, all as part of one of Europe's largest dogfighting operations.

We're happy to report that Parker and three of her cohorts are headed to the slammer.

PETA Europe urged the presiding judge, Richard Blake, to throw the book at Parker and the others. It asked that the defendants never again be allowed to own animals and that they receive the maximum jail sentences and attend mandatory psychological evaluations and counseling. Now Parker has been sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and is banned from keeping animals for 10 years. The others received jail sentences ranging from 23 to 28 weeks.

One former special forces soldier who infiltrated the operation reported that one dog was so badly injured that he looked like his face had been blown off by a shotgun. That dog, like many others, died from his injuries.

Judge Blake noted, "There's widespread public objection at these sorts of offences; of the sadistic abuse of animals for entertainment." I'd say that's putting it mildly.

Written by Karin Bennett

blogs.tampabay / CC

If real fur really is frowned upon at furry conventions—as we were recently told by the chair and CEO of Anthrocon, the world's largest furry convention—San Jose's Further Confusion (a.k.a. FurCon) is set to have an awful lot of frowny-faced foxes, bears, chipmunks, skunks, and other cute critters roaming around in January.

FurCon plans to allow real fur to be sold in its Dealers' Room and Furry Marketplace, which immediately raises the question "Do 'fursuiters'—people who love animal characters so much that they adopt their identities—really want to support an industry that skins animals alive?"

Since we're pretty sure the answer to that question is "No," PETA has written to convention organizers asking them to implement a permanent fur-free policy—for the animals' sake.

Furries: As the old saying goes, "When the fur flies—ditch it!" OK, maybe I made that up, but it has a nice ring, doesn't it?

Written by Heather Drennan

nytimes / CC

William Safire, who passed away yesterday at the age of 79, is perhaps best known as the genius who penned the words "nattering nabobs of negativism." OK, maybe he's only most famous for that among English majors. In truth, he is best known as being a pioneering conservative pundit.

Here at The PETA Files, we are longtime fans of his "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine, where he once wrote about the history of vegetarian diets and even gave kudos to the "charmingly crotchety" Donald Watson for inventing the word "vegan."

You had to admire the man's way with words. In turn, he admired others' way with words, most notably in his book, Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History.

In William Safire's memory, we are posting an excerpt from a speech from that book by 19th century Senator George Graham Vest. In his introduction to the speech—which is actually then-prosecutor Vest's closing statement* at the trial of a man accused of killing his neighbor's dog—Safire warns, "If there has ever been a good dog in your life, read this with a handkerchief handy …."

If William Safire had dogs, I imagine their heads are between their paws as I write this. Our thoughts are with them and Safire's family.

Written by Alisa Mullins

*Not surprisingly, he won the case.