Celebrate Breast Cancer Action Victory

We recently celebrated a major victory over General Mills (GM) in the name of women's health. GM (the parent company of Yoplait) committed to making yogurt without the use of the cancer-linked recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). General Mills operates globally with 29,500 employees. Breast Cancer Action has 10 employees. With your help, we pulled together as a community and persuaded this major US food manufacturer to put breast cancer before profits. Now that's what I call working together. This victory has inspired us to take a bold next step to eradicate rBGH from the entire U.S. dairy market. We need all the people we can to support this effort. Share this email with 3 of your closest friends and tell them why you support us. Your donations enable us to protect women's health. Please, send this E-alert to 3 of your dearest friends. Urge them to make a donation. If you received this email from a close friend, join us and keep the momentum going. Donate today. With thanks,

Our publication The Source is online 4 times a year. We preserve trees,avoid toxins in ink, save costs and still keep you up to date. It's easier than ever to access. Go online and read the latest issue.

Write Sebelius

Tell the future HHS Secretary you want accurate labels on your milk!

Last week the Kansas state legislature passed a bill restricting how much information consumers get about the milk they buy. The state legislature of Kansas wants to restrict dairies' ability to label their products as rBGH-free. Tell Governor Sebelius to protect consumers' right to know and veto this bill.

The artificial hormone rBGH has been linked to increased rates of cancer in humans, and consumers have increasingly rejected milk produced with the artificial hormone. So why does a bill in Kansas matter to you? It is part of a national effort to prevent consumers from knowing whether their milk was produced with rBGH.

It's not too late, though, because Governor Kathleen Sebelius can still veto the bill. The governor is President Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, the agency that houses the Food and Drug Administration. Let's make sure that she doesn't give in to big agriculture.

The FDA already has national rules for rBGH-free labeling, and they've worked fine for years. This bill would harm consumers and water down existing national labeling rules by requiring a misleading disclaimer on all rBGH-free labels. Tell Governor Sebelius we don't want her to water down FDA's rules right before she comes to Washington.

This legislation would place a financial burden on small dairy producers. It would also force national producers to have different labels for Kansas than the rest of the country - which could mean many bigger producers simply stop using any rBGH-free labels at all.

Contact Governor Sebelius now to let her know we want our future HHS Secretary to protect consumers' right to know.


Thanks for taking action,

Sarah, Alex, Noelle and the Food Team
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch.org

Can you meet with your Member of Congress?

Sign up to attend a district meeting.

March 20, 2009

Can you meet with your member of Congress to ask them for better school milk?

Last week on National "Know Your Milk" Day, you and fellow activists made over one thousand calls to Congress. We've already heard that this made a huge impact and now members of Congress are ready to listen. Can you meet with your member of Congress to help get better milk into the National School Lunch Program?

From April 6-17, members of Congress are going to be in their home districts for Easter recess. This is the perfect opportunity for you to meet with your member of Congress to ask them in person to support better school milk.

Attending a district meeting is easy and important. We know that milk that has been produced using the artificial hormone rBGH makes its way into the School Lunch Program every year. About one out of five pints of milk distributed through the school nutrition programs in fiscal year 2005-2006 may have been from rBGH-treated cows.

Kids deserve the best nutrition, parents deserve a say in what their kids are fed, and schools need the tools to be able to purchase the best food for their students. Can you ask for a district meeting with your member of Congress?

The more meetings we have, the better chance we'll have to get healthy milk for schools.

Thanks for taking action,
Sarah, Noelle, Alex and The Food Team
Food & Water Watch
goodfood(at)fwwatch.org

Got rbST?

http://www.usatoday.com/money/ industries/food/2009-03-15- dairy-growth-hormone-ban_N.htm

Companies cut synthetic hormone from dairy products

USA TODAY March 15, 2009 By Bruce Horovitz

Got rbST? That's not the latest space critter in a George Lucas film. It's a synthetic growth hormone (recombinant bovine somatotropin) used to spur cows to produce more milk. Many dairies and retailers - including General Mills (GIS) , Dannon and Wal-Mart (WMT) - are nixing it from dairy products in a world of rising food fears....

Hospital Leaders Help Shift Dairy Market

Yoplait, Dannon, & Cabot announce their move to eliminate hormone rBGH

Across the country nurses, hospital food service directors, and administrators have sent letters to dairy producers asking them to eliminate rBGH from the dairy supply chain. The supply chain is beginning to respond.

The controversial industrial animal hormone (rBGH) also called rBST is known to cause adverse health effects in cows leading to the increased use of antibiotics and the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria according to the recent statement released by the American Cancer Society in February 2009. Healthcare systems across the country have been switching their dairy products away from those produced with rBST due to these implications. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and all 27 countries of the European Union have banned its use.

New England's largest dairy cooperative, Agri-Mark , has officially banned rBST from its products setting a cut-off date of August 1, 2009. One of its most popular brands Cabot, is local to Vermont. Nationally, big dairy brands Yoplait and Dannon both announced their intentions to provide only dairy products produced without rBGH.

If your facility is interested in this issue, you can use the Purchasers Guide to Dairy Produced Without rBGH

General Mills announces No rBGH in Yogurt

Yoplait goes rBGH free! We did it!

General Mills announced that they are taking the rBGH dairy out of Yoplait yogurt, something that just four months ago they assured us was impossible.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who wrote General Mills, made a contribution or took any action to support this effort.

See BCA's press release.

---

Dannon follows suit! No rBGH by 2010

Two weeks after General Mills announced they were going rBGH free, Dannon responded to public pressure and made the same promise to consumers.

These two companies represent two-thirds of America's dairy products and their policy change shows a cultural shift.

This is a tremendous acknowledgment of grassroots activism and a victory for all of us.

Give rBGH the Boot from our Nation's Schools

rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) is a genetically engineered variant of the natural growth hormone produced by cows. Formerly manufactured by Monsanto, it is sold to dairy farmers under the trade name Posilac. Injection of this hormone forces cows to boost milk production by about 10%, while increasing the incidences of mastitis, lameness, and reproductive complications.

The federal nutrition programs are a major provider of milk to our nation’s school-age children. According to the National Milk Producers Federation, nearly 430 million gallons of milk were distributed through the National School Breakfast, Lunch, and Special Milk programs during the 2005-2006 school year. Unfortunately, a significant amount of this milk may have been produced with artificial growth hormones.

Take action today and tell Congress to mandate that schools purchase artificial hormone-free milk and organic milk.

>>Learn More