My neighbor Dave doesn't drink milk. He calls it cow pus, and doesn't hesitate to remind me in mid-chug that I'm sucking on the foul tit of another species.

I'm also reminded of a friend in Vermont, Marc, who once ran for some political office there. Marc got major press coverage for openly dissing Ben & Jerry's for being a heavy polluter in that state.

Ben & Jerry's people were outraged. They maintained that Ben & Jerry's practices were pure, and demanded a retraction saying the claim was false. After all, they're anti-pollution! Marc disagreed publicly. The whey from the ice cream making process plops into a local lake. The stuff dissolves quickly, causing little, if any problems. Whether it actually HURTS anything by being there, in Marc's mind, is beside the point. It's all about truth though, right?

Well, it seems Ben & Jerry's has someone new gunning for them: Steven Milloy, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute and publisher of JunkScience.com. Apparently, Ben & Jerry's has recently introduced a new ice cream called "Organic Ben & Jerry's" and promises its product is made "without use of conventional pesticides or growth hormones," and Milloy is seething.

"Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's is scamming consumers with a new campaign that just may land the company in deep fudge brownie," he says.

According to Milloy, these claims are false and misleading.

"These statements incorrectly imply that other dairy products have had pesticides, antibiotics or hormones added," Milloy notes. "Antibiotics are never added to milk."

"Sick cows (even 'organic' cows) may be treated with antibiotics, but by law their milk may not be sold and is discarded while undergoing such treatment. Pesticides are also never added to milk. Some cows may eat organic feed, but the Department of Agriculture's standards for organic labeling allow farmers to use 'organic' pesticides, some of which are, in fact, manmade."

And hormones?

"All milk contains hormones--over 25 different hormones. Vitamin D3, which is added to milk, is in fact a hormone." The bottom line, Milloy says, is that even though "organic" milk costs consumers a lot more, milk is milk.

"Ben & Jerry's and many other organic producers violate the law when they make claims to the contrary. Ben & Jerry's will learn this fact the hard way."