Milk, the white lie
#Melk , the white demolition. Is Joris Three Inter getting sick before? Is milk good for everyone, or should we just leave it? . About interests of industry, governments and scientists. For years, we have been mistakenly told that milk is healthy for you: it would give you strong bones. But research in Japan, where milk is not drunk, shows that the opposite is true: milk increases the risk of cancer, leaking bowel syndrome and acne. And nowhere in the world do so many cases of osteoporosis occur as in the Netherlands where a lot of milk is drunk.
It started in the 1930s, with advertisements directed at mothers to encourage every member of her family to drink three quarters of a litre of milk a day. But the real breakthrough of the dairy campaigns took place in 1957 with the almost fascist prints of big children holding glasses of milk in their hands. They were members of the M-brigade, because they drank three or more glasses of milk a day. Children who followed their example were given a sleeve imblem, a membership card and gifts. Soon a hundred thousand children were members of the brigade.
The Netherlands was a country under construction twelve years after the Second World War, with a need for symbols and national values. The dairy industry played a smart part in this promotion campaign, in its attempt to get rid of the milk puddle that had emerged after the Dutch government had decided that a winter of hunger such as that in 1944-1945 should never take place again. The Milk Brigade was succeeded in 1961 by Joris Driepinter, and then Melk is good for each, Melk Must and Milk the White Motor.
Agriculture has been an important issue since the beginning of European cooperation. For example, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) must ensure that the supply of food is sufficient, that consumers can buy agricultural products at reasonable prices and that farmers have a decent income. In 1984, the European Union (EU) started with guaranteed prices: minimum prices with fully guaranteed sales by the EU.
This scheme led to surpluses: 'milk puddles', 'butter mountains' and 'grain hills'. These surpluses were bought up by the EU at the guaranteed price and offered on the world market at very low prices, making developing countries less able to develop a better agricultural economy. To combat over-production of milk, the EU introduced new measures in the 1980s: the production quota and the superlevy. Thanks to these campaigns, whole generations of Dutch people were told that milk is good for young people, and especially for our bones. Milk is indeed rich in calcium, and calcium is needed for bone build-up. Due to the growing range of alternatives, the consumption of milk has fallen in recent years, but partly thanks to the bone motto, dairy consumption in the Netherlands is still on average about two servings per person per day.
