PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk

[U2Fanatic4ever]

ok, I am all for the ethical treatment of all animals.. but ugh.. this is not something I want in my ice cream...

WATERBURY, Vt. -- 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."

"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," said a spokesperson for Ben and Jerry's.

Read PETA's letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield

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 to17 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

 

[VintagePunk]

Freaks.

Certain diseases and drugs/chemicals can be passed through breast milk. Are they testing every batch they get from every mother for all of those things?

 

[BVS]

 

[U2Fanatic4ever]

 

[Zoots]

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 to17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.

So how will the switch to human breast milk stop the veal industry from taking male calves away? Am I missing something here?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Why do you carnivores always take everything PETA says so bloody seriously?

The purpose of all these "outrageous" statements and stunts is not for something like this to actually happen, it's to get people talking about it and getting the issue into the public conscience...

How many people on here reading that article above knew beforehand that by supporting the Dairy Industry they are directly supporting the Veal industry?

 

[U2Fanatic4ever]

i'm offended being called a carnivore.. I feel so worthless.

oh, elfa i take everything seriously...

was on cnn, thought it was legit enough to post. But my thought is this restaurant in switzerland and are they really doing this? I find it obsurd and ridiculous and yes with this kind of media exposure sure it worked, got people thinking.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

There are far more bizarre and disturbing "exotic" dishes out there, trust me...

Maybe it's my aversion to meat and animal products talking here but how is eating or drinking something containing human breast milk any less repugnant than eating tiger penis or cat or dog meat or snake blood or turtle feet or monkey brains or what ever, the list goes on and on...

 

[Zoots]

*waits for somebody to quote the episode of Friends where Ross tries out breast milk*



Elfa, for a second I forgot you were vegetarian!

I think I'd be way more inclined to try human breast milk than any of those bizarre delicacies you talked about! It's not like we're being asked to try human meat!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

we should start PUTPM... people for the unethical treatment of PETA members.

 

[deep]

I am about due for a career change

maybe I'll work in a milk plant

 

[kafrun]

we should start PUTPM... people for the unethical treatment of PETA members.

 

[Harry Vest]

PETA are a bunch of politically correct vegetarian facists!!! Period.
They even stooped so low as to exploit the beheading of Tim Mclean (remember, the Greyhound beheading in July 2008). These people should just shut up or actually help the animals they can help. Geez.

Having said that I'm sure there are plenty of level headed members as well. Maybe it's just the leadership that spouts this nonsense.

 

[coolian2]

They're worse than Greenpeace, although Greenpeace are doing their best to catch up.

 

[bonoishot]

eating tiger penis or cat or dog meat or snake blood or turtle feet or monkey brains or what ever, the list goes on and on...

*waits for somebody to quote the episode of Friends where Ross tries out breast milk*

If VP is right about certain chemicals/drugs/diseases being passed through human milk am definately not keen on the idea.

 

[dazzledbylight]

OMG!






I consider myself someone concerned about domestic & wild animal care & viable living environments- but this?!??

 

[redhotswami]

does anyone else think it is bizarre that humans are the only ones who consume other animals' milk and drink milk after pregnancy?

 

[yolland]

It is, but on the other hand, our manipulation of the plant kingdom for the same reason, nourishment, is no less 'unnatural'. Both plant and animal agriculture are bizarre in some way or another.

 

[redhotswami]

It is, but on the other hand, our manipulation of the plant kingdom for the same reason, nourishment, is no less 'unnatural'. Both plant and animal agriculture are bizarre in some way or another.

you mean like engineering those square watermelons?

 

[yolland]

Squnkermelons?

Well, I more had in mind grain monocropping, but square melons will do. Then there's those freaky giant vegetables grown in Alaska...

 

[VintagePunk]

Then there's those freaky giant vegetables grown in Alaska...

For a second, I thought this was an allusion to Palin and her mental capacity.

 

[yolland]

Oh great, now I'll have the Uberfrau's hitwomen on my trail.

 

[VintagePunk]

lol

 

[redhotswami]

i think Ben & Jerry's should use sweetie milk instead

 

[U2Fanatic4ever]

i think Ben & Jerry's should use sweetie milk instead

now ur talkin!

 

[No spoken words]

i think Ben & Jerry's should use sweetie milk instead

Holy shit.

 

[unforgettableFOXfire]

On the off chance that PeTA got their way, do they have any proposals in place for what would happen to the animals that no longer serve any purpose? The only logical conclusion of the cessation of the milk industry is that the animals no longer serve a purpose and would be disposed of so that they don't sap resources. They can't survive without handling, at this point, and farmers aren't going to choose to bankrupt themselves over turning profit, so... yeah. Awesome?

 

[UberBeaver]

does anyone else think it is bizarre that humans are the only ones who consume other animals' milk and drink milk after pregnancy?

It's not weird when you consider that we are the one species that knows to make that shit into CHOCOLATE MILK!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

It's not weird when you consider that we are the one species that knows to make that shit into CHOCOLATE MILK!

shit...chocolate milk? eww.

 

[indra]

On the off chance that PeTA got their way, do they have any proposals in place for what would happen to the animals that no longer serve any purpose? The only logical conclusion of the cessation of the milk industry is that the animals no longer serve a purpose and would be disposed of so that they don't sap resources. They can't survive without handling, at this point, and farmers aren't going to choose to bankrupt themselves over turning profit, so... yeah. Awesome?

It isn't as if these animals are caught in the wild and brought into the farm system. They are bred and produced for farming purposes. There wouldn't be massive cow, pig, sheep, chicken herds running around wildly if no one bred and produced them. And logically even if no one used animals for food at all it wouldn't be a sudden cessation of the practice, but something that slowed down and gradually stopped.