"Consumer Groups" protest - the whole gang's here!

"The effect will be long-term effects. The best example - and many people are saying this - it's like smoking. You smoke a cigarette; you don't drop dead, but you do develop real problems in 20 to 30 years time." - Dr Arpad Pusztai on CBS News: 60 Minutes, March 13, 2001
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Consumer Groups Protest Starbucks Decision Not to Serve Milk From Growth-Hormone Supplemented Cows

The following press release attacking the Starbucks decision to avoid rBGH milk (rBGH is Monsanto's GE cattle drug) comes from the following 'Consumer Groups':

1. Steven J. Milloy, Citizens for the Integrity of Science
2. Elizabeth M. Whelan, American Council on Science and Health
3. Alex Avery, Center for Global Food Issues
4. Gregory Conko, Competitive Enterprise Institute
5. Fran Smith, Consumer Alert
6. John Carlisle, National Center for Public Policy Analysis

Milloy (1), of “Junk Science” web fame, is a former tobacco industry lobbyist as well as a former executive director of TASSC, a front organisation created by tobacco giant Philip Morris. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (4) and Consumer Alert (5) are also recipients of Big Tobacco funding.

Alex Avery (3) is, of course, son of Dennis T. Avery, both of the biotech-industry funded Hudson Institute (donors include: AgrEvo, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, Novartis, Zeneca) and both at the heart of the attacks on organic agriculture.

The American Council on Science and Health (2) also has big agro-chemical funding (eg Monsanto, Dow, Cyanamid) and controversy has raged throughout ACSH's over twenty-year history over the linkage between its extensive corporate backing and Whelan's (2) tireless crusading against "health scares" and the "toxic terrorists" who promote them.

Finally, The National Center for Public Policy Research (6) is perhaps the most curious 'consumer group' of them all, having been formed in the 1980s to support Reagan’s military adventures in Central America! Its projects include Project 21 funded by R.J. Reynolds while a 1995 memo from a Philip Morris staffer describes the NCPPR president as “a willing ally”!

All in all, just the kind of folk you would trust on HEALTH, SCIENCE, and CONSUMER ISSUES

Monsanto's rBGH (aka BST) is banned throughout the EU and in Canada.

Pics of pro-corporate demonstrators with 'organic bad for the environment' etc. can be seen protesting at Starbuck's decision at: http://y42.photos.yahoo.com/bc/ol_fenian/lst?&.dir=/Starbucks&.src=ph&.view=t

On the Starbucks campaign see an excellent article at: http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/03/03202001/starbucks_42594.asp

On their decision: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010316/bs/starbucks_hormones_1.html
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Consumer Groups Protest Starbucks Decision on Milk
U.S. Newswire
20 Mar 15:04
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0320-139.html
To: National Desk
Contact: Steve Milloy, 301-258-9320 or 301-330-3440 (fax)

WASHINGTON, March 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The American Council on Science and Health, Center for Global Food Issues, Citizens for the Integrity of Science, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Consumer Alert, and National Center for Public Policy Research sent the following letter to Orin Smith, President and CEO of Starbucks Corporation today:

Dear Mr. Smith:

We are writing to express concern about your recent announcement that Starbucks' would begin to serve milk products only from cows not treated with bovine growth hormone. Your action is unfounded, and harms consumers and the environment.

In 1994, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop called upon food retailers to act responsibly in the face of extreme fringe group attacks on the safety of milk from cows supplemented with protein-based growth hormones.

Dr. Koop noted responsible companies could "play an important role by assuring consumers of the safety of the milk supply, by providing the facts on bovine growth hormone to interested customers, or by referring them to credible health and nutrition authorities." Dr. Koop added, "It is necessary to condemn these attacks on the safety of milk for what they are: baseless, manipulative and completely irresponsible." A copy of Dr. Koop's statement is attached.

Starbucks should step up to the plate as a responsible corporate citizen and meet Dr. Koop's challenge. Consumers deserve choice and accurate information.

Starbucks' recently responded to the extreme activists' pressure by noting that you "hope to be able to offer all of our milk products rBST-free." This suggests you may not continue to offer the same safe and affordable conventionally produced milk that you have always provided. We hope this is not true. Please let us know if it is your intention to provide only certified organic dairy products, or if you intend to provide both certified organic alternatives, and the safe and more affordable conventional milk that you currently provide.

Please do not contribute to the vast misinformation campaigns being spread by the extreme activists. Milk from cows supplemented with protein-based growth hormones, which naturally occur in all cows, is the same safe, nutritious milk. In addition, dairy producers who use these supplements are maintaining their economic viability, helping maintain stable, affordable milk for consumers and protecting the environment.

Unfortunately, increasing your purchase of organic milk will increase, not decrease environmental burdens.

Dairy producers who use these supplements produce as much as 15 percent more milk with the same number of cows. That translates to using less water, land and fuel. These producers help reduce waste streams and soil loss. They do this while maintaining their economic viability and supporting stable, affordable milk prices for consumers.

In the U.S. alone, use of these supplements could reduce water irrigation by 700,000 gallons, save 1.7 million acres of land used for feed and grain, save 240,000 gallons of fuel, reduce nearly one million metric tons of manure and reduce 5.3 million tons of soil loss per year.

Your responsible support for this safe product helps protect consumers, the environment and family farmers.

Thank you for your consideration and prompt response.

Sincerely,
Steven J. Milloy, Citizens for the Integrity of Science
Elizabeth M. Whelan, American Council on Science and Health
Alex Avery, Center for Global Food Issues
Gregory Conko, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Fran Smith, Consumer Alert
John Carlisle, National Center for Public Policy Analysis
cc: Dennis Stefanacci, Senior Vice President for Corporate
Social Responsibility
Howard Schultz, Chairman of the Board
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Attachment: Statement of C. Everett Koop On The Introduction of Supplemental BST
February 6, 1994

"Milk from cows given supplemental bovine somatotropin is the same as any other milk. So, there should be no doubt in the minds of consumers that the milk they drink is just as safe, nutritious and wholesome as it has always been. Every issue and every question about BST has been thoroughly and carefully studied by the federal government and several independent scientific institutions. Consumers can continue to enjoy milk and dairy foods with complete confidence.

"Unfortunately, a few fringe groups are using misleading statements and blatant falsehoods as part of a long-running campaign to scare consumers about a perfectly safe food. Their long-range goal is to prevent the benefits of biotechnology from reaching the public. Because dairy foods are an important, widely consumed source of nutrition, it is necessary to condemn these attacks on the safety of milk for what they are: baseless, manipulative and completely irresponsible.

"Even worse are attempts by some persons to use school children as pawns in their opposition to BST. Any suggestion that milk from BST-supplemented cows is unsafe for children to consume at school, or home, is a potential threat to their health and well being. We should be reenforcing the message that all dairy foods, when consumed as part of a varied and balanced diet, are healthful -- and not burden our children with unwarranted fears about food safety.

"Supermarkets and dairy processors can play an important role by assuring consumers of the safety of the milk supply, by providing the facts on BST to interested customers, or by referring them to credible health and nutrition authorities."