Jennifer Mueller – (202) 797-6553
jmueller [at] fwwatch.org
Leslie Hatfield , (212) 481-3909
leslie [at] sustainabletable.org
Consumers Urge Starbucks To Hold The Hormones In All 50 States
Starbucks Makes A Move Toward Artificial-Hormone Free Dairy After Last Month‚ “Hold The Hormones” Campaign, But Consumers Want More
New York — Immediately after Food & Water Watch’s nation-wide “Hold the Hormones” campaign culminated in a National Call-In last month, Starbucks announced an increase in rBGH-free dairy in several states, amounting to 37 percent of their total supply. Several news organizations recently reported that the coffee giant now has plans to go 100 percent hormone-free, an announcement that Food & Water Watch’s Wenonah Hauter described as “encouraging” but said “we would like to see Starbucks commit to a timeline for completely switching over to hormone-free milk.”
New York-based nonprofit Sustainable Table, which has been promoting the campaign by urging consumers to write, call, and leave letters at Starbucks, is now circulating an updated letter encouraging Starbucks to convert fully. The site also hosts an interactive map where consumers can find a state-by-state listing of rBGH-free dairy suppliers, as well as the Eat Well Guide, an online directory of small farms and other sustainable food outlets. The Meatrix II: Revolting, the second in the Meatrix series, centers on dairy production and hosts an action alert advising viewers to take part in the campaign.
RBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone)Â 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, and there is concern about a possible link to cancer in humans.
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Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.