Non-profit food and farming advocate claims Tillamook cheese decision will harm farmers, consumers and the environment.
Churchville, VA (PRWEB) March 10, 2005 – The latest Milk is Milk" blog found at http://www.milkismilk.com/blog.htm by Alex Avery challenges dairy consumers and industry groups to stand up to misleading activist campaigns which attack dairy farmers and disparage safe and affordable milk.
Avery highlights the recent Tillamook Creamery decision to restrict dairy farmers use of a safe, FDA-approved animal health and productivity product in response to special-interest group demands.
The Center for Global Food Issues (CGFI) charges that Tillamook Creamery, under attack from activists groups funded by the organic and natural products industry, has banned its members use of supplemental bovine somatotropin (rbST – also known as bovine growth hormone), without addressing the serious ramifications for its members, consumers and the environment.
Supplemental rbST is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as safe, and according to such organizations as the American Medical Association and World Health Organization, milk from cows receiving these supplements is the same, safe nutritious milk from all other cows.
CGFI adds that supplemental rbST use, which allows dairy farmers to produce more milk with fewer cows, has measurable positive environmental impacts.
Before these anti-technology, pure-food activists showed up, were any of their actual customers asking for this change? If Tillamook consumers are at all representative of virtually every piece of credible consumer research on this subject the answer would be no," stated Avery. The vast majority of consumers care about fresh, safe, nutritious, affordable dairy products."
The Milk is Milk consumer education campaign run by CGFI seeks to end the disparagement of dairy products through activist campaigns and black marketing – such as labels and advertising, which misleadingly promote absence claims on such issues as antibiotics, hormones and pesticides.
Avery contends that responding to activist demands – and the accompanying false and misleading marketing which often results – limits the tools farmers have to safety produce affordable milk. CGFI asserts this also creates a downward spiral in the market place causing increased costs and reduced demands for dairy products by consumers confused and scared away from dairy products in general.
As a result, Avery claims farmers suffer economic damage while consumers pay more and consume less dairy products.
Once Tillamooks management let the activist genie out of the bottle, it was hard to stop their media and propaganda machinery from threatening the companys reputation and products," said Avery. The activists and those who fund them are the only winners here. Farmers, consumers and Tillamook are the big losers."
The Center for Global Food Issues Milk is Milk" consumer education campaign Blog has created a buzz among the dairy industry and continues to draw significant traffic from media, industry experts and farmers during its first month of existence. The latest entries are at http://www.milkismilk.com/blog.htm.
The Center for Global Food Issues is a project of the Hudson Institute, a tax-exempt non-profit public policy organization, providing factual, science-based information on important food and farming issues.
Other CGFI and related partner resources:
http://www.cgfi.org
http://www.milkismilk.com
http://www.milkismilk.com/blog.htm
http://www.stoplabelinglies.com
http://www.highyieldconservation.org
http://www.earthfarmfriendly.com
Contact:
Alex Avery
Center for Global Food Issues
www.cgfi.org
540-337-6354
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