PETA members may go out on a limb from time to time in their efforts to protect the animals. Vogue editor Anna Wintour probably wasn't too happy when PETA's people decided food would be the perfect accessory for her fur coat. This time, however, they've crossed the line. Messing with a rich woman's myriad outfits is one thing, but now they're trying to mess with our ice cream. Too far, PETA. Too far.

Vermonters are proud of many things: our mountains, our roller-coaster dirt roads, the scarcity of chain stores, the complete lack of billboards, our cheddar (Thank You For Smoking wasn't joking; if you've tasted Cabot, you know this state has nothing to apologize for), our maple syrup and, of course, our Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, PETA's Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman, wrote a letter to Cofounders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, imploring them to replace all the cow milk in their company's ice cream with breast milk. Yes, human breast milk.

The thought takes a minute to digest, so long, in fact, that it simply beggars the question: Does PETA really believe, backed by factual evidence, that something like this could happen?

According to the letter, PETA got the idea from a restaurant in Switzerland that's about to unveil a menu of "soups, stews and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk." Bravo, Swiss eatery. Something like it may end up in Manhattan sooner rather than later. But that's one restaurant. Ben and Jerry's is a multi-billion dollar corporation with worldwide distribution. That's a lot of breast milk.

In the letter, Reiman says that cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, and as a result are artificially impregnated every nine months so they keep producing milk. Over the course of their lives, these cows are forced to produce ten times more milk than they normally would, and are then turned into…well, think about them the next time you're grilling burgers.

If science isn't mistaken, women only produce milk during and after pregnancy as well. Is PETA saying that nursing women should be treated like dairy cows, lined up by the hundreds in huge barns and milked? There are some who may have a problem with that… EMILYS List, the U.S. Congressional Women's Caucus, feminist groups and, oh, people in general.

Few arguments are completely without merit, however. In the letter, Reiman points out that dairy products have been linked to a number of health issues, including juvenile diabetes, obesity and prostate and ovarian cancer. Also, the veal industry could not exist without the dairy industry; when the constantly pregnant cows birth male calves, those calves then become veal.

What the letter fails to realize, however, is that an argument without proper consideration of all angles is misguided. The health issues PETA lists are caused by a variety of factors, and while dairy may be among them, if a person's main source of dairy is through ice cream, there are probably other reasons for things like obesity. In addition, how will the milk be pasteurized? Will a government office be appointed to oversee product safety? Is there even enough supply? And then there are the obvious issues.

On every container of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, the company's trademark cow is featured, sometimes in a party hat, sometimes just chillin', but always there. If the company agrees with PETA and switches its milk source, will the cartons get slapped with an NC-17 rating and only be sold in the back room of the grocery store?

There are times when it's good strategy to go out on a limb and propose something completely outrageous as a way to make a point. Hopefully it will prompt a dialogue and an, albeit more moderate, change. Making huge leaps of logic, however, also comes with huge risk. A group's entire agenda, no matter how logically reasonable, can become a public farce; demonstrations become a play entitled They're Not Listening, But They're Watching, a modern-day take on the Bard's Much Ado About Nothing.

Many issues PETA represents have validity in their own right, and don't need extreme theatrics. Its members should pick their issues wisely and be loyal to them, as Ben and Jerry have been to the state of Vermont.

The trademark cow is the work of local Middlebury artist Woody Jackson. Pints of factory seconds are sold at local general stores for half-price. Vermont milk is used to make the ice cream, bringing consistent business to the state's dairy farmers.

In response to PETA's letter, Ben and Jerry simply said: "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child."

Rachel Feldman, 10/3/08