They’re flopping around like a freshly caught trout on a fishing pier, those who believe we should not eat dairy or anything else that comes from animals.

Once again we’re staring down the barrel of a smoking gun aimed by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the PETA shills whose exploits I’ve discussed here before. Now they want the FDA to forbid processors from making weight-loss claims on their product packaging, while brandishing some new Harvard study that says kids who drink too much milk get fat.

I don’t think there’s anyone else who insults my intelligence more on such a consistent basis as these folks. Their struggle to keep their twisted belief system afloat as science keeps throwing road blocks in front of them puts me in mind of Col. Nathan R. Jessep, as portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the movie “A Few Good Men,” who bellowed the memorable line, “You can’t handle the truth!”

The truth is that calcium-rich dairy foods have been shown to help some people burn fat and more easily maintain a healthy weight, even more effectively as part of an active, calorie-controlled regimen. This was not the result of some fly-by-night industry-financed scam, as PCRM/PETA would have us believe, but rather the findings of several years of careful research. Industry folks have told me flat out, the care and timing was deliberate to ensure accuracy and a firm basis for future marketing strategies.

That’s supposed to be overturned by a study showing that kids who drank more than the recommended daily intake of milk wound up heavier than kids who consumed less. Do we really need a study to tell us that? Consuming too much of anything is bad for you – especially bilge from PCRM/PETA. And what else were the kids in this study eating? Furthermore, the Zemel studies involved adults and make no claims regarding weight control in children, toward whom none of the new marketing messages are aimed.

The truth is, PCRM/PETA would say or do just about anything to push its radical agenda to get the world to stop consumption of all animal proteins. They’ve tried to link milk to cancer, heart disease and countless other ailments. But dairy has on its side studies showing milk consumption to lower the risk of colorectal cancers, heart disease and stroke in men, and Type II diabetes; and milk contains the anti-carcinogenic fatty acid CLA, prompting researchers to find ways to get cows to produce milk with higher CLA levels.

Milk is wholesome and nutritious, and dairy foods are symbols of a high quality of life. And PCRM/PETA hates that.

This issue is one of the many topics that vie for my attention in this space every month. As an outlet for expressing a wider variety of opinions, DF has launched a Weblog, the first we’re aware of from a food and beverage publisher. Read the blog at www.dairyfield.com; we welcome your input.