Soy conundrum: If it isn't cow's milk, is it milk?

Dear EarthTalk: Is the dairy industry really trying to stop soy milk makers from calling their products “milk?†They must feel very threatened by the preponderance of soy milks now available in supermarkets.

Gina Storzen

Weymouth, Mass.

Indeed, just this past April the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), a trade group representing dairy farms, petitioned the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to crack down on what it calls “the misappropriation of dairy terminology on imitation milk products.†NMPF has been asking for such a ruling for a decade, and argues that the soy industry’s “false and misleading†labeling is now more common than ever.

According to NMPF president and CEO, Jerry Kozak, the FDA has let the issue slide so that the meaning of “milk†and even “cheese†has been “watered down to the point where many products that use the term have never seen the inside of a barn.â€

Furthermore, Kozak adds, the use of “dairy terminology†on nondairy products can lead people to think they are eating healthier than they really are, especially because nondairy products “can vary wildly in their composition and are inferior to the nutrient profile of those from dairy milk.â€

The website FoodNavigator-USA.com reports that on the other side of the Atlantic, the European Dairy Association (EDA) has also called for the term “soy milk†to be replaced with “soy drink.†EDA also suggests other options including “soy beverage,†“soy preparation†and “soy-based liquid.†It’s no wonder the soy industry isn’t quick to give up the milk moniker, given how catchy the alternatives could be!

Jen Phillips of Mother Jones magazine takes issue with the dairy industry’s sense of ownership when it comes to terms like milk, cheese and dairy. “The word ‘milk’ has lots of uses and has been used for nondairy milks like coconut for a long time,†she reports, adding that consumers already know that soy milk isn’t dairy milk. “Instead,†she writes, “the move to ban ‘milk’ from nondairy products is a transparent ploy by the NMPF to hurt the soybean industry that, thanks to increasingly health-conscious consumers and ethanol production quotas, is growing stronger every year.â€

She also disagrees with Kozak’s claim that dairy milk is healthier than soy: “Actually, soy milk and dairy aren’t that different nutritionally, except for that milk is fattier,†she says, explaining that a cup of vanilla soy milk has 30 fewer calories than a cup of 2-percent cow’s milk. And while dairy does have twice the protein, soy milk has 10 percent more calcium. “It’s a bit of a toss-up nutritionally, but I’m lactose-intolerant so I’ll choose the ‘milk’ that doesn’t make me gassy and crampy.â€

Phillips adds that, since 90 to 100 percent of Asians and 50 percent of Hispanics — two of the fastest growing immigrant populations in the United States — are lactose intolerant, “NMPF might want to think less about fighting soy and more about how they’re going to deal with people who can’t drink milk to begin with.â€

CONTACTS: NMPF, nmpf.org; FDA, fda.gov; FoodNavigator-USA.com, foodnavigator-usa.com; EDA, euromilk.org; Mother Jones, motherjones.com.

Dear EarthTalk: Many people oppose dams because they change the flow of rivers and affect the migrating patterns of fish and other species, but aren’t they also a great renewable energy source?

Ryan Clark

Milton, Wash.

Hydroelectric dams are among the greenest and most affordable electricity sources in the world — and by far the most widely used renewable energy sources — but they also take a heavy environmental toll in the form of compromised landscapes, ecosystems and fisheries. Hydroelectric dams have been an important component of America’s energy mix since the powerful flow of rivers was first harnessed for industrial use in the 1880s. Today hydroelectric power accounts for seven percent of U.S. electricity generation — and some two-thirds of the country’s renewable power — according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Globally, about 19 percent of electricity comes from hydroelectric sources. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that China is the world’s largest producer of hydroelectricity, followed by Canada, Brazil and the United States. Some two-thirds of the economically feasible potential for hydropower remains to be developed around the world, with untapped resources most abundant in Latin America, India and China.

Of course, despite the inexpensive and emissions-free power, many environmentalists consider hydroelectric dams to be man-made abominations that prevent salmon and other fish from swimming upstream, divert otherwise natural riparian settings, and fundamentally change the character of surrounding ecosystems. Green groups including American Rivers, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, the Endangered Species Coalition, Friends of the Earth, National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club are pushing the federal government to mandate the removal of four dams along the Snake River in Washington state that help the region have the lowest power-related carbon footprint in the country. The dams have decimated once teeming salmon runs, and upstream forest ecosystems have suffered accordingly.

But the Bonneville Power Administration, the quasi-federal utility that runs the dams and distributes the electricity they produce, says that keeping them going is crucial even as wind plays an increasingly larger role in the region’s electricity mix. Since hydropower can be generated and released when most needed, it is an important resource for backup power when intermittent sources like wind (and solar) aren’t available.

The scheduled removal of two century-old dams on the Elwha River in Washington state’s Olympic National Park beginning in 2011 may well serve as test cases for larger dam removal projects in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Planners hope wild salmon numbers will rebound as a result, and that other wildlife — such as bald eagles and black bears — will follow suit.

President Obama has committed $32 million to modernize existing hydropower dams, increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.

“There’s no one solution to the energy crisis, but hydropower is clearly part of the solution and represents a major opportunity to create more clean energy jobs,†U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu told reporters last year. “Investing in our existing hydropower infrastructure will strengthen our economy, reduce pollution and help us toward energy independence.â€

CONTACTS: U.S. Geological Survey, usgs.gov; U.S. Energy Information Administration, eia.doe.gov; Bonneville Power Administration, bpa.gov.

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Photo by Timothy Valentine, courtesy Flickr

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) would like to stop soy drinks from being labeled “milk,†arguing that the terminology is misleading. Soy proponents argue, however, that consumers know the difference between soy milk and dairy milk, that soy milk is less fatty than dairy milk, and that NMPF’s efforts are a ploy to hurt the soy industry, which is rapidly gaining market share at the expense of dairy products.