PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk

[JJR512]

PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk

POSTED: 2:21 pm EDT September 23, 2008
UPDATED: 10:28 pm EDT September 23, 2008


VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.

"PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says.

PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health.

"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."

In a statement Ben and Jerry's said, "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child."

http://www.wbaltv.com/health/175396.../health/17539627/detail.html?rss=bal&psp=news

Copy of PETA's letter (same source as above):

September 23, 2008
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Cofounders
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.

Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,

On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's.

Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits.

Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease-America's number one cause of death.

Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months.

After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.

And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.

The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President

 

[MrBishop]

Nobody expects teh PETA Inquisition.
I wonder where B&J will find all those lactating mothers

 

[2minkey]

well, there is a fairly large adult female population that has resigned itself to being breeding stock, so one would assume their is an ample supply of swollen tits to tap.

 

[MrBishop]

Flash: Ben and Jerry's and Hooters have formed a new business partnership

 

[tonksy]

I wonder what the FDA's view on this will be.

 

[Nixy]

I have two thoughts on this topic...

1 - PETA seems to be saying one reason human milk should be used is because it will make ice cream healthier. WTF...ice cream is largely made up of sugar...you can't make it healthy.

2 - A woman's milk should be for her babies. Assuming one can get over the thought of drinking milk produced by some stranger how the hell would they ever monitor what the women were eating that could affect their milk? It's not like you can tie them up like you can cows.

Finally, I quite like cows that have been ground up into hamburger...

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

it's funny to me that peta is asking ben and jerry's to change, rather than ask those that are bothered by what the animals have to go through for our use to change THEIR ways.
yeah, i have a problem with cows being forcefully impregnated, and all the other things they must go through to make us happy... so i changed what i do, and buy soy ice cream now! (if i served it to you without explanation, i bet you would not know it was soy!). i have also begun eschewing animal products in general. because that's my personal choice. peta doesn't quite understand that piece of the puzzle... that whole bit about the choosing.

 

[Inkara1]

peta doesn't quite understand that piece of the puzzle... that whole bit about the choosing.

I think they understand it perfectly and don't care, and instead go for the "I don't like it so you shouldn't be able to do it" approach.

 

[Professur]

yeah, i have a problem with cows being forcefully impregnated,

Um, how else do you propose to make baby cows? If anything, artificial insemination is less brutal on the cow.

 

[Inkara1]

Maybe she's a bovine voyeur.

 

[GrandCaravanSE]

were in the word is B&J going to find that many mothers to give there breast milk, they coulden't even have a real job or be at home, i really think PETA needs to die, or atleast stop smoking the reefer and think before they speak.

 

[tonksy]

You would have to eat copious amounts of food to produce that much milk and all the frozen cabbage leaves in the world wouldn't save the poor women from chapped nipples.

 

[paul_valaru]

Double D mint chip


mmmmm

 

[Professur]

Putting them on milking machines would safe the nipples, as it doesn't abrade them like little teeth do.

I've seen a couple on jap comics where this was the plotline. Turning wimmen into cows.

Technically, you could employ men for the job, using massive hormonal treatments. Dunno that I'd want to sample the goods, but it's doable.

 

[Nixy]

You people are making me want to vomit...well, Prof specifically. I mean, true, I did have an upset tummy before visiting here...but now I'd like to lose my Cheerios (and I didn't even eat Cheerios this morning).

 

[Professur]

My job here is done.

 

[GrandCaravanSE]

My job here is done.

And that job is a funny one.