Creative Commons Licensed Flickr Photo
Originally uploaded by Mikey aka DaSkinnyBlackMan.

Farmer Bill Timmins may sound over–the–top when it comes to caring for his dairy cows, but he says he’s just doing good business. Timmins invested $800,000 in revamping his dairy farm, and spent $70,000 on installing waterbeds for his cows…yes, waterbeds. The reason? Happy cows produce more milk. In fact since making these cushy improvements, his cows have gained 10 lbs of milk per cow per day. According to Donald Sanders, DVM at Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, happy cows live longer, produce the most milk, and are healthier than other cows.

Perhaps this could be a great alternative to let’s say…rBGH or bovine growth hormone. This hormone, manufactured by Monsanto, causes health problems in cows and increases antibiotic use on dairies. While the effect on humans consuming rBGH milk is not clear, studies suggest that rBGH increases another chemical that is linked to increased cancer risk. As a result, most industrialized countries in the world have banned the hormone, including Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and all 27 countries in the European Union.

Consumers are becoming more aware of the potential health risks of rBGH and are demanding clear labeling of milk that is rBGH–free. Monsanto is catching on, and is now behind a series of state–by–state legislative disputes and is pushing to make this labeling illegal (you can fight this in your state by writing a letter to your governor here). 

We've been pretty busy over here at Food & Water Watch. As many of you have probably been following, a dangerous trend has started with states trying to take away labels that tell consumers whether or not dairy products have been produced with rBGH, a genetically engineered growth hormone. This attempt to make it illegal for dairies to label their milk as rBGH–Free started in Pennsylvania, and has been followed by New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana. 

Well, due to tens of thousands of emails, faxes, and phone calls from our activists around the country, we’ve stopped this trend dead in its tracks, with victories in three of the four states, with our most recent victory coming Tuesday!

Indiana representative Bill Friend introduced a bill that would have made the rBGH–Free labels illegal, and last week the vote passed out of committee with unanimous approval. This is when we heard about the bill, and set our activist network into action. Through our activists, and the joint efforts of many allies and organizations on the ground, as of this week every member of the Indiana General Assembly had been contacted by their constituents!  It was this effort, which turned the tide from what seemed like a grim situation last week, to a victory today, when Representative Friend pulled his bill, saying he,  "didn't want to cry over spilled milk."  This was met with audible cheers from folks on the floor, who knew they had fought for consumers and won. I think we can attribute this victory to the amazing grass roots pressure we were able to mount over the last week. So while this may not be the last we’ll see of these bills,  we've held Indiana for another day!

On January 17th, we had a similar victory, when Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania announced the state was rescinding an earlier rule that would have forced dairies to stop labeling their milk as rBGH–Free by February 1, 2008. Citing once again the overwhelming consumer opposition to this rule. Even earlier in the month the State of New Jersey announced at a milk hearing that they would not pursue limiting these labels on dairy products.

The bottom line is consumers have a right to know what’s in their food, and dairies have a right to tell them.  Consumers overwhelmingly want more labeling not less, so it’s unwise for any state or elected official to try to take these labels away. While Ohio is still on the fence, we hope that they’re learning from the trend of consumer milk labeling victories that are sweeping the nation, and until they make a decision, our dedicated consumer activists will continue to keep the pressure on.

You can do your part by contacting your State Governor, and asking them to protect consumers’ right to know.

. . . while sipping an rBGH free latte?

It's just a week into 2008 and already we've seen reason to celebrate—thanks to the work of Food & Water Watch activists and the work of many of our allies, on January 1, Starbucks Coffee Co. officially went rBGH-free! This means that when you order a latte or any drink with milk in it, you can rest assured that none of the cows that produced that milk were treated with the artificial hormone r-BGH. Now that's a reason to raise your glass!

We're also happy to share with you today a brand new website called H2O Conserve that shows us how to do something about our 1,000-plus gallon-a-day habit. We've worked with our friends at Johns Hopkins University, GRACE, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility to create this one-of-a-kind online tool to calculate your "water footprint." Be sure to try out this useful new tool!

Here's some more of what you can expect from Food & Water Watch in 2008:

• We'll press for more labeling of foods so that we know where our food is coming from and how it's produced, in order to make better choices about what we feed our families;

• We'll campaign around the country to upgrade and improve our nation's public water systems so everyone has access to clean, affordable water;

• We'll work to stop the Bush administration from parceling out our shared oceans to wealthy corporate interests;

• We'll continue to expose the myth of bottled water purity and work with college campuses and restaurants to choose healthy public tap water instead of the corporate-controlled bottled water.

You can stay up to date on all our campaign by signing up here.

Within the past couple of years, dairies across the U.S., including California Dairies Inc., the nation’s second largest dairy cooperative, have changed their policies to no longer accept milk from cows treated with recombinant bovine growth hormone, also known as rBGH. Citing increased consumer demand for dairy products produced without artificial hormones, other large dairy processors, such as Tillamook Cheese and Ben & Jerry’s, have switched to rBGH-free milk.

The growing demand for artificial hormone-free milk has Monsanto, the biotechnology giant behind rBGH, worried. Recently, the company sent letters to the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission asking them to restrict the practice of labeling milk rBGH-free. Luckily, the FDA and FTC sided with consumers by dismissing this request.

Have we heard the last from Monsanto on this issue? Eighty percent of consumers want rBGH-free milk labeled as such. It is also safe to say that the majority of consumers would want to know if the food they are eating comes from cloned animals or was genetically modified. Monsanto doesn’t have a leg to stand on, right? Think again.

Given the recent ban on non-rBGH labels in Pennsylvania, one can assume that Monsanto has a new ally in the state’s secretary of agriculture, Dennis Wolff. In October, Mr. Wolff decided to crack down on this kind of labeling because he believes “it confuses [consumers].” This only makes sense if your mantra is “ignorance is bliss.” Luckily, the average consumer believes they have the right to know. For the results of PA consumer vs. Big Ag, stay tuned.

This week there is even more good news in the campaign to Hold the Hormones - the Federal Trade Commission rejected a request from the corporate behemoth Monsanto Co. to prevent dairy companies from advertising their milk products as hormone-free.

Monsanto, the maker of Posilac^® or rBGH, urged the FTC to restrict labeling milk "rBGH-free", claiming that the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of rBGH back in 1993.  Monsanto's earlier objections to labeling already resulted in the FDA-required label disclaimer below.

However, there are ongoing questions about links between the Monsato-produced hormone and cancer in humans. As a result, most industrialized countries in the world have banned the hormone, including Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and all 27 countries in the European Union.  Although rBGH is not banned in the United States, the majority of American consumers want clear labeling for rBGH-free milk. In a poll conducted earlier this year for Food & Water Watch, 80% of consumers want milk from cows not treated with the hormone to be labeled “rBGH-free”. Some companies have started listening to consumers.

Several large dairy product companies and many small ones no longer accept milk from cows treated with rBGH, citing increased consumer demand for hormone-free dairy products. Consumers are starting to incorporate ethical, environmental, and health considerations in their purchasing decisions and need accurate information - both in advertising and labeling - to make informed choices for themselves and their families.

Starbucks Coffee Company has finally decided to hold the hormones. On Friday, Starbucks committed to make 100% of the chain’s milk supply free of artificial growth hormones by December 31, 2007.

The Starbucks announcement follows nearly two years of pressure from yours truly, which launched the Hold the Hormones Campaign in 2006, asking all of you to demand that the company buy better milk. Thanks to the thousands of emails, phone calls, and rallies by all you consumers out there, Starbucks CEO Jim Donald has decided to do the right thing.

So be sure to don your cow suit and party with all of the biscotti and rBGH-free lattes you can handle! In between lattes, please make it a point to call Starbucks at 1-800-235-2883 to thank Jim for a job well done.

"Firms like Hormel and Cargill that believe it is acceptable to endanger consumers if it helps the companies' bottom lines will soon learn that this Congress will not tolerate their  deceptive practices,"

said Congressman Bart Stupak in a press release yesterday. The Democrat from Michigan was congratulating Tysons Food, Inc. for quietly informing the Committee on Energy and Commerce that it will phase out the deceptive practice of treating meat with carbon monoxide to preserve the blood red color associated with freshness – potentially long past meat spoilage.

Tysons, the nation's largest producer of red meat who has gotten a bit of criticism from Food & Water Watch on things like factory poultry farming, can't say we never say anything nice about them again because: Good job Tysons for listening to the 93% of Americans who think the practice is lousy! And unlike Starbucks with it's nebulous phase-out of rBGH, Tysons even set a date! Consumers can expect products produced after September 7th to be produced without carbon monoxide treatment, according to the company's letter to the committee.

February is the month for sweethearts however this coming February, Kroger grocery won’t celebrate by sending customers chocolate and flowers. Rather, the national grocery chain will kick the hormones, ensuring shoppers milk products certified to be untreated with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST). The move comes as a response to customer demands and will go into effect in Kroger’s Southeast and Midwest stores in 2008, the western outlets have already made the transition.

The Food & Water Watch fight for rBGH-free dairy products targets Starbucks as a café touting social responsibility. The Starbucks Campaign has already stirred enough momentum for Starbucks to shift more than fifty percent of store supply hormone-free. But for latte-lovers in locations in a remaining twenty seven states, Starbucks’ foam still carries growth hormone.

Kroger’s has stepped up standards to cater to customer concerns on health and wellness, not only in convenient store locations but across the board. The grocer’s move should sound a cowbell for Starbucks, ringing home the fact that skimming hormones off the half-n-half in Texas wont serve to protect patrons sipping cappuccinos in New York. And café customers, do what’s right for your heart and health. There’s no need to make Starbucks your valentine, just give ‘em a call to get their dairy in line.

Starbucks Customer Service: 1 (800) 235-2883 Mon – Fri 5 AM – 6 PM (PST)

If you've been reading our blog, you know that last month Starbucks indicated that it would increase the amount of hormone-free milk that it uses from 37% to 51%. The announcement followed months of Food & Water Watch lobbying the coffeehouse to completely phase out milk containing rBGH, or Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormones, which harms cows and may harm people.

If you've been listening to our podcast, you know that last week the restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill contacted Food & Water Watch to tell us that they’re aiming to be the first national restaurant in the country to go completely rBGH-free.

Are you listening Starbucks?  That sounds like a challenge.

Last year, Chipotle converted to sour cream that is 100% rBGH-free, and now it says it is working toward serving cheese that is rBGH-free as well.  In a statement on its website, Chipotle says, “We're not scientists, but ingesting hormones with our crispy tacos just doesn't seem like a good idea.”

So Starbucks, anytime you want to set a date for finishing the job and going 100% rBGH-free, you know where to find us (If you forgot, contact us here.)

Creative Commons Licensed Flickr Photo Originally uploaded by animakitty.

VS.

Creative Commons Licensed Flickr Photo Originally uploaded by gisarah.

The gauntlet has been thrown . . . 

If you’ve been in, or walked by, a Starbucks or read the entertainment section of the newspaper lately, you probably know that Paul McCartney will debut his newest album with Starbucks’ Hear Music Label and in Starbucks stores on Tuesday.

Now, since this is a guy who was awarded the Gretchen Wyler Award by the Humane Society for lifelong activism for animals and is on record opposing genetically modified food ingredients, Food & Water Watch has asked him to add his voice to the call for Starbucks to switch to artificial hormone-free dairy. 

We sent a letter to one of his staff with a pretty simple argument:

• RBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) is a genetically engineered artificial growth hormone created to increase milk production in dairy cows. It causes health complications in cows such as mastitis, lameness, and shorter life spans. Cows treated with this hormone get more infections, which leads to more antibiotic use. Overuse of antibiotics in animal production creates antibiotic resistant bacteria, a serious threat to treating people. Additionally, there is a potential link between rBGH and higher risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancer.
• The European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand do not allow the use of rBGH.
• Numerous companies are requiring their milk suppliers to be rBGH-free, including Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Tillamook County Creamery Association cheese.  
  

Starbucks markets itself as a socially responsible company and made almost half a billion dollars profit in 2005. While Starbucks recently announced that 51 percent of their dairy products were produced by cows not injected with the genetically modified artificial hormone rBGH, they have not committed to a timeline for completing the switch to 100 percent rBGH-free dairy.

• Paul, a proclaimed lover of animals and people, should take a stand and ask Starbucks to buy better milk in all their stores.

. . . he didn’t write back.

But maybe if you write him too, he'll respond.  (You can also write Starbucks directly if you haven’t already.)

Because even if Paul has a Memory Almost Full problem (name of the album being played in latte central all day Tuesday), he should make a point to remember the cows.

If you were carefully reading the Orange County Register Money section this week, you may have noticed the following line in an article on organic milk:

Slightly more than half of the dairy purchased by Starbucks in the United States is produced without the use of growth hormones, a company official said this week.

You may then have fallen right out of your chair because, the last you heard, only 37 percent of Starbucks' milk was hormone-free.

But, Food & Water Watch has gotten confirmation on this point – though Starbucks is keeping it hush-hush, 51 percent of their milk supply is now rBGH-free.  Conscientious  consumers in the DC metro area (including a few Food & Water Watch staffers who have been in serious Frappachino withdrawal since we started this campaign) and several other states can now buy artificial hormone-free coffee beverages as their local Starbucks.

Does this mean we spend the summer on our porches sipping iced caramel machiattos? Nope, we continue to ask Starbucks to commit to a timeline for converting to 100 percent rbgh-free dairy.

Now, if you live in one of these "parts of" states and want to know if your store is rbgh-free, we think you should call and ask (1-800-235-2883, Mon – Fri 5 AM – 6 PM PST). Then, tell us what they say.

Stephen Colbert, satirist, prankster, and lover of ice cream, recently featured recombinant bovine growth hormone on his hit show, The Colbert Report. A staple of Comedy Central’s lineup, this program spoofs the media talking heads and takes a humorous look at the latest news. Food & Water Watch, and other consumer groups, had been hearing rumors that the program was going to feature rBGH, and last night the segment aired!
 
Check out the video, entitled Milk & Hormones. If you don’t blink, you can see footage from one of our protests outside of Starbucks, where FWW staff and volunteers are dressed as cows. (If you can’t find the segment, look under “Videos” and then “Most Recent” on the sidebar.) This piece is yet more evidence that the general public is concerned about hormones in milk, and their effect on cows, milk quality, and human health.
 
Let’s win this fight against this harmful hormone! Find your rBGH-free dairy products here.

A potentially dangerous drug known as rBGH, may be circulating on the black market thanks to three brazen thieves who are still running free, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

The drug is dangerous because it increases a powerful hormone called IGF-1 that is linked with increased risk of colon, breast and prostate cancer in humans. Another potential danger associated with this substance is an increased risk of mastitis, a bacteria udder infection. While cows are most at risk of this infection, all humans with udders should beware. Also, this increase in udder infections has created an over usage of antibiotics potentially rendering them useless on humans.

The heist has cost E.J. deJong, a dairy farmer, $30,000 in damages.

"I believe it makes money using it," said deJong, whose Hanford dairy is one of Kings County's largest. "But now, with this theft, I'm going to have to discontinue it."

One dairy cow interviewed by the press can’t help but think that these three thieves are disgruntled dairy cows agitated by the horrible mastitis they are suffering due to the drug.

“As if it’s not enough that we have to deal with the cow tipping and the false perception that we are ‘happy cows’ with unlimited pasture access! Having artificial hormones injected into us is the last straw. I’m guessing that a few cows from a large California dairy were driven to this. You go girls!”

Note: The thoughts and emotions conveyed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of Food & Water Watch. Let it be known that FWW does not condone the theft of genetically engineered growth hormones or cow tipping.