Is it OK ... to drink cow's milk?

First, I don't buy this stuff about cow's milk not being designed for us. I can't stand being told, "It's for calves to drink until they're weaned and not for humans so it's unnatural, wrong and unhealthy." Unless you are a fan of Intelligent Design, there is no food apart from breast milk that is specifically for the human species: we have just guessed, sampled and mixed and somehow gone from nuts and berries to marinated pork served with truffled potatoes.

So three big issues remain: our health, the cow's health and the economics of milk. The first is a personal decision: we now know that milk is full of fats and hormones that may affect us in unknown ways. It is worth noting that osteoporosis - a loss of bone density, which can be prevented by taking calcium-rich foods - actually occurs far more widely in the milk-drinking west than in the rest of the world. The recent report by the Vegan and Vegetarian society on milk lists dozens of illnesses that may be connected with milk consumption: asthma, eczema, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, coronary heart disease, dementia and even ear infections, to mention a few. On the plus side, full-fat organic milk (and to a lesser extent non-organic) does contain a bundle of vitamins, anti-oxidants, and essential fatty acids, including the all important omega 3s.

Whether we drink it or not is up to us, but the cow doesn't get much say in it: intensively farmed dairy cows do not have wonderful lives. De-horned at a young age, they are impregnated as early as possibleby artificial insemination or by the more painful embryo transfer method. After birth, calves are removed within a day and if male, shot, or shut in a dark crate, destined to be turned into veal. If female, according to Compassion in World Farming, they are left in isolation for a few weeks, supposedly to prevent infection. But cows are social creatures and the calves create mother substitutes - sucking at bits of their pens.

Gordon Tweddle's mother runs an animal sanctuary: he has worked on dairy farms and says the treatment of the cows themselves is good, because that is where the milk comes from. He used to get upset by what happened to the calves, which he ended up stealing and taking to the sanctuary. "In the end we just felt it was not sustainable," says Tweddle, now one of the leading lights of the organic dairy industry.

His family's operation, Acorn Dairy, based in Teesdale in County Durham, employs 21 people: the milk isn't just produced there, it is bottled and delivered locally. "The staff get a lot more satisfaction out of it. It's a far more pleasurable way of farming".

The Soil Association suggests (but it is not a rule) that calves stay with their mothers for a minimum of two weeks or until they are naturally weaned. Organic dairy cows are milked on a far less intensive basis and given proper rest periods: they aren't given all the antibiotics and hormones routinely shoved into the industrial cow to increase milk yield and deal with the multiple infections that they are prone to, such as mastitis. "If you give them a bit space, a bit of light, let them be with their calf, they don't get ill anything like as much as the intensively farmed cows," says Tweddle.

Biodynamic farmers are even more careful with their cows: they are not de-horned partly because, according to the biodynamic International Demeter Standard, "the horns of the ruminant have significance for the development of life forces". These farmers are unusual, but their standards require that animals be looked after "lovingly", as "domesticated animals are ensouled". The animals have good lives and the most stress-free deaths possible.

Environmentally, it can be shocking to discover that cows are the cause of 19% of global warming. According to an EC study, they are responsible for 20% of methane gas, which accounts for 19% of global warming. On the whole, milk distribution is now concentrated in the hands of a few huge companies, such as Dairy Crest, which receive massive European subsidies. Centralisation of the industry also creates extra food miles.

So if you still want to drink milk, the ideal source would be a small, local organic or biodynamic farm, which concentrates on leaving a light footprint, miniminises waste and treats its animals well. I am, I must admit, considering drinking my tea black.