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Show 4 . SIROCCO TIMES - JUNE 1994 Trust-z COMPANIES ssu. BGH-FREE mowers. Please support them: “Nature’s Most Perfect Food” Now Biotech? Since February, some supplies of antibiotics in milk also. “BGH is like ‘crack' for cows,” says the Pure Food Campaign group. “It puts great stress on the cow’s system.” What can we do? We can boycott 7-11 Chain Stores (ALL stores) Alta Dena (Moab Co-op) Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Brown Cow (Moab Co-op) Darigold Farms Tillamook County Creamery Wild Oats (Boulder CO) infant formula, and beef have come from cows injected daily with a Bovine companies refusing to give assurance thattheydonotandwill notuseBGH, and we can call them (SEE BOX) and THrsE costumes ssu. Growth Hormone (BGH). This hormone, according to its opponents, has not been tested adequately to see if tell them why. We can support companies rejecting BGH milk. We can urge our local school district to boycott will not purchase milk, dairy, or long-term use would be dangerous to consumers. Monsanto Chemical and Eli Lilly Co., plus other biotech laboratories, BGH milk (Los Angeles City Schools have already done this.) We can put pressure on City and Best Value have convinced the Food and Drug Shelby Kesterson, speaking for City Market in Grand Junction says, milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt, Administration that their latest invention is safe, that dairy and beef products containing it need not be labeled, AND that products with N0 growth hormone can NOT be labeled "BGH-FREE." Many people are wondering why. Consumer groups such as the one led by Jeremy Rifldl’l are protesting the ban on labeling, saying that the public has a right to know what is in their food, and that their voice should be heard in the market place (Time, May 1993). The hormone is injected so cows will produce up to 20% more milk, but there is already a glut of milk and farmers are already given price supports. Why do we need 20% more milk? The US Federal Office of Management and Budget estimates that increased milk production will cost US taxpayers $116 million in increased price supports. One way equilibrium may be restored is through reducing the total number of dairy farmers by 25% to 30%. It will probably be small farmers who are eliminated. Consumer Reports and the US Accounting office have warned the public about the health hazards connected with BGH products. Such milk may contain more saturated fat and less protein, a bad bargain all around. This March Catalyst, the Salt Lake City monthly, ran an extensive article outlining many BGH hazards. BGH is not good for cows either. It is known to cause udder infections, which even the FDA admits could lead to increased pus and bacteria in milk, and increased infections mean more Markets not to carry BGH products. “We have m that the Western Dairyman's Association does not use BGH milk, and the WDA has mm that their suppliers do not use BGH.” There is no testing or enforcement to see whether these requests are honored. At present City Market carries many products containing BGH. There is a larger question here: Do we want our food genetically engineered? Do we want a tomato crossed with an antarctic flounder to create a frost-free tomato? Campbell Soup Company research department BGH-ADDED mowers. Please call them and say that you beef products unless they provide you with written assurance they DO NOT and WILL NOT use BGH in their products: Bordens, 1-614-225-451 1 Damon, 1-800-321-2174 Haagen Daz, 1-800-767-0120 Kraft/Phillip Morris, 1-800-323-0768 Kroger, 1—800-632-6900 Land O’Lakes, 1-800-328-4155 McDonalds, 1408-5756198 Nestlé/Camation BGH Hotline, 1-800-927-2484 Pizza Hut, 1-800-262-1744 Safeway, 1-510—891-3000 Yoplait, 1-800-967-5248 For a more complete list, call 259-3839, Maria Loe. has one, but Campbell has been waiting to see how the public reacts to the idea before they begin its use. (Business Week, June 1993). Do we want scientists inserting human genes into animals, and animal genes into other animals and plants? The US Patent and Trademark Office has now granted the first patent on a genetically engineered animal. What (or who) is next? This is very scary stuff, but there is money to be made for companies more worried about the bottom line than about genetic integrity in the future. Get involved. Call and express your concerns to your state and federal Canyonlands Llamas ANN BENGE representatives. Remember, assurances that BGH foods are safe and genetic engineering exciting come to us from the same government that gave us radioactive fallout in Utah, toxic waste piles, agent orange, and the tamarisk! For more information and printed literature on this subject, call me at 259-3839. —Maria Loe CVSR 1911 Moab, Utah 84532 (801) 259-5739 |