A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 10, 1993
(Continued from Page A 1)
used to stimulate milk production
in dairy cows.
The campaign message is to be
included on a leaflet Howard said
his group will distribute to patrons
at one-third of the MacDonald’s
Restaurants in the United Slates
and Canada on April 17.
In their literature, the organiza
, tion tells consumers to be aware of
BGH in milk and meat and to eat
dairy products and meat coming
only from organizations that go on
record as supporting a ban on BST.
The leaflet also informs con-
sumers that if they want to know
which companies offers BGH-frec
dairy food (there is no such thing,
since it is in all milk and meat) that
consumers should call Pure Food
Campaign’s special 1-900 tele
phone number to listen to a
several-minute recorded message
at a cost of 99 cents per minute.
Any funds raised through the
900 number are to go to offset
costs of the campaign, Howard
said. He estimated a budget for this
year of about $1 million.
The Pure Food Campaign litera
ture is very misleading in that it
fails to make a clear distinction
between milk and meat coming
from cows treated with supple
mental BST, and milk and meat
which comes from untreated cows.
The Pure Food Campaign litera
ture calls for consumers to be con
cerned and seek a ban on all BGH
milk and meat however, by
definition, that includes all cattle
milk and msat.
Also, despite Howard’s claim
that his group is educational, he
and the group’s literature tail to
mention at all that milk and meat
contains about the same, varying
amounts of BST, no matter if it
comes from a cow given supple
mental BST, or if it comes from a
cow producing its own levels.
Howard said while that is true,
that distinction is not important to
him.
And, though Howard said he
understood that BST derived from
biotechnology is identical to natur
al BST and poses no harm to
humans in and off itself, that
wasn’t the point. He said the real
goal is to get mankind to stop the
use of any product resulting from
the use of biotechnology, especial
ly recombinant DNA technology.
“It (BST) does appear naturally
in milk . . . but that is not an argu
ment” for thinking that it is safe to
inject supplemental BST into dairy
cattle, he said.
Instead, Howard said he is con
cerned about the possibility of
antibiotics getting into the food
supply.
That concern was addressed last
week, when it was reviewed by the
FDA’s Veterinary Medicine
Advisory Committee. The com
mittee’s verdict was that the possi
bility of antibiotics getting into the
milk and meat supply would not
change at all because of the use of
supplemental BST.
The conclusion was that with all
the safeguards in place by the
industry and support industries,
the milk supply is safe and will not
be threatened by the use of inject
able BST used to stimulate milk
production.
That position is supported by all
respected organizations which
reviewed the product.
Further, Howard said that while
he does recognize that family dairy
larmcrs the same ones his
organization claims to want to
protect may well suffer losses
in income from his campaign on
MacDonald’s, he said that it would
be the farmers’ fault because they
Anti-Biotech Supporters May Hurt Consumer Confidence
are not joining him in calling for a
ban on BST.
“I think what dairy farmers
should be doing is hold the line and
keep milk BGH-free,” Howard
said.
Pure Food Campaign is small in
manpower, but makes unsup
ported claims of having great
influence and thousands of volun
teers and members.
Howard said that, in addition to
him, the staff is comprised of “two
and a half people.” He explained
that meant two full-time and one
part-time person Howard in
Washington D.C., a part-time
organizer in- Wisconsin and
another full-time organizer in
California.
He said the strength of the orga
nization is its “thousands of volun
teers” ready to distribute 9-inch by
4-inch leaflets at 3,000 MacDo
nald’s Restaurants across the
country.
The restaurant chain didn’t
return calls Thursday for com
ment. However, as of Thursday,
the company managing local Mac-
Donald’s was unaware of an inten
tion for a demonstration or intent
of any protest group to disseminate
leaflets.
Nevertheless, Howard said the
campaign has been seeking to get
large retail and producer organiza
tions, whose livelihoods are staked
in public perceptions about quality
of product, to go along with a ban
on accepting any milk or meat
derived from cattle that have been
injected with BST.
Those organizations which
agree to support Rifkin’s proposal
are put on a list that he plans to
advertise as places for consumers
to patronize because they have,
“BGH-free milk and meat.”
MacDonald’s is not on that list.
However, according to Howard.
MacDonald’s Restaurants were
selected “for a couple reasons.
“They ’re one of the largest food
corporations that uses a tremend-
ous amount of dairy food related
products huge amounts of
milk, cheese, butter ... So, we
Experts Give Advice At Northeast Dairy Conference
CORNING. N.Y. The farms
that will survive to the year 2000
“will not only have good farmers
but have good managers as well,”
an ag economics professor said at
the Northeast Dairy Conference,
held this in Coming, N.Y.
Robert Yonkers, an associate
professor at Penn State Universi
ty, noted that dairy farming in the
Northeast had decreased by more
than SO percent over the last ten
years while milk production had
increased.
And family farms that sold out,
he said, did so mainly because far
mers preferred to work in the field
or milk the cows rather than work
on the books. Yonkers equated it
to a McDonald franchise owner
who would rather flip hamburgers
and salt fries, than take care of the
books and manage the operation.
‘To strive in the dairy industry
today and in the future, farmers
arc going to have to become better
managers, implementing better
farming strategies to bring pro
duction up in the Northeast,” he
said.
Yonkers went on to say that
although New York, Pennsylvania
and Vermont are the strongest
dairy producing states in the
Northeast, they still fall short of
states in the western U.S. “How
ever, Northeast productivity is
within striking distance of the
national leaders.”
felt that, in terms of a consumer
education campaign, they serve
about 25 million people a day and
it would be a good way to reach
those customers.”
Howard also said that MacDo
nald’s was also selected because it
is frequented more typically by
families, implying that those who
arc targeted to receive leaflets is a
group of people more reactive to
calls for concern about food
additives.
He said that if the pressure from
the campaign could convince Mac-
Donald’s to sign up with his group,
“This would be a very, very pow
erful signal in the industry.
“For us, success or failure is
(based on) consumer acceptance,
or lowering the opposition (to Pure
Food Campaign), which would be
a success,” he said.
But, according to Howard, Mac-
Donald’s is only the beginning of
efforts to get consumers to reject
patronizing businesses and pro
ducts resulting from biotechnolo
gy. He also mentioned a tomato
variety which has been developed
and for which the patent is owned
by Campbell’s, which hasn’t
announced plans for introducing it
on a commercial level.
“The goal of Pure Food Cam
paign is to turn these two types of
products (which are connected to
biotechnology), dairy and toma
toes, into the Edsels of the food
industry in the 19905. We’re not
opposed to natural foods, but those
derived from this technology we
aim to stop dead in the market.”
Should Rifkin and Howard suc
ceed, the amount of BST in milk
and meat will not change, but
demand for dairy products will
decrease.
Success for Rifkin’s campaign
would also mean more than the $1
million anticipated budget.
The group’s “1-900” telephone
number is already in place and
charges 99 cents per minute to lis
ten to about 4 minutes of recording
of “educational material.”
If the group could get a phone
call from 10 percent of the 25 mil
lion people it intends to “educate”
The tools are here; it’s how “we
use them” to help the Northeast
compete. Yonkers listed several
factors that can have a positive
impact on northeast farmers: tech
nology - not only the ability but
the willingness to see if it fits in
the farm operation; marketing to
the public; leadership, with a
membership supporting and back
ing the leaders they’ve chosen.
These strategies combined with
strong management are what will
see Northeast dairy farmers to the
year 2000, he said.
AG COMMISSIONER
COMMENTS
The dairy industry should not
cave in to scare tactics by groups
opposing technological advances
in agriculture. New York Agricul
ture and Markets Commissioner
Richard McGuire told the 165 far
mers and dairy officials at the
conference.
McGuire commented on bio
technology and in particular, bo
vine somatotropin (bST), which is
being considered for approval by
the Food and Drug Administra
tion.
“The people that scare the publ
ic are the same people that arc
opposed to pesticide use, genetic
engineering and technological
advances,” McGuire said.
Referring to special interest
groups with an anti-farm agenda,
he asked; “Where do they stop?
April 17, they would gross a mini
mum of $2.5 million dollars on one
minute. They have a several
minute message. The overhead
cost for the 900 number was not
available by presstime.
The estimated U.S. population
for 1990 was 248,709,873. How
ard said his group represents sever
al thousand people.
However, if one-half of one
percent of all citizens in the United
States were to call and listen for
one minute, the 900 number would
generate more than $1 million for
Pure Food Campaign.
What the caller would get from
dialing the 900 Pure Food Cam
paign number is a recording of the
names of businesses objecting to
BST in milk or meat.
The businesses that go along
with the campaign’s desires don’t
really have anything to lose, since
any claims for being BGH-frec
can’t be proven or disproven.
And, if consumers believe they
need advice about “What you can
do to protect you family against
BGH milk and meat,” those com
panies going along with Pure Food
Campaign would continue to do
perhaps strong business, while
other legitimate companies would
suffer.
Typically, “900” telephone ser
vice is most frequently used as a
money making venture by organi
zations or individuals selling
recorded messages or live conver
sations about sex, adult lifestyles,
horoscopes, conversations with
music or television soap opera
stars, etc.
They are infrequently used by
legitimate fund-raising groups,
who usually maintain toll-free
numbers or at least regular toll-rate
telephone numbers.
In Tact, of the three carriers
AT&T, MCI, and Sprint
Sprint has stopped selling 900 ser
vice lines to any organization that
is not strictly a business for busi
ness purposes, according to a
spokesperson for the company.
According to Robin Pence,
spokesperson for Sprint, the rea-
How far will they go? Where do
they draw the line?”
He encouraged the dairy leaders
to make sound decisions and “not
to accommodate their point of
view because they scare you into
it.”
McGuire also noted that “inter
national marketing is the one issue
that has universal appeal and uni
versal necessity.” With the world
population doubling in the next 40
years, food will be a priority, he
said, noting: “They will buy food
products before technology.”
He added, “If the dairy industry
takes advantage of international
marketing, not only will the pres
sure be relieved from the govern
ment to eliminate surplus pro
ducts, but the farmers will experi
ence both humanitarian and eco
nomical benefits.”
McGuire also commented on
environmental issues. “In a world
of controllable and uncontrollable
problems,” he said, “every farm
situation is different and must be
handled differently.” He en
couraged farmers to be con
scientious stewards of the land in
order to stem any unnecessary
attacks or overreaction by en
vironmentalists.
DAIRY MANUFACTURERS
CHANGE TO COMPETE
With domestic consumption of
dairy products growing slowly,
competitive pressures are driving
son the company went from being
one of the leaders in the 900 busi
ness to severly restricting its ser
vice is because of the misuses
which occured even when strict
guidelines were set.
MCI handles the 900 number for
Pure Food Campaign.
Howard said he couldn’t guess
what kind of caller response he
would get from distributing leaf
lets containing the message of fear
and distrust of BST. He denied that
is was setup for money making per
se.
“We would like this to be a mil
lion dollar campaign. Since we
only have a couple of staff, we’re
not putting money into staffing.
"Five thousand people in the
food industry have joined. We’re
sending them materials, stickers,
decals... we have a drive going
on right now at about 600 food out
lets, both small convential stores
and natural food stores. Our target
is to have well over 100,000 con
sumers sign pledge forms for a
boycott and then mail them out,
and if they want to make a volun
tary contribution ...”
But the campaign has more in its
reported plans.
According to Howard, if the
FDA actually approves Monsanto
Company’s variety of iryec table
BST for commercial use, die Pure
Food Campaign will immediately
start advertising their words of
caution about dairy food safety to
consumers.
“We haven’t finalized tftat yet,”
Howard said of the newspaper ad.
However he said it would probably
be advertised in the Hew York
Times, the L.A. Times, and the
Chicago Tribune.
Also he said they plan to make
public service announcements
about the dangers of BST in milk
and meat and try to have them
receive free air time.
The proposed newspaper ad also
requests money a minimum of
$2 for handling and mailing a list
of “BGH-free companies and
stores, so 1 can protect my family,”
or a tax deductible donation of any
amount.
manufacturers to use technologies
to increase productivity and value,
and to look at larger scale produc
tion to reduce costs.
Larry Jensen, senior vice presi
dent of Denver-based Leprino
Foods, discussed the structural
changes taking place in the dairy
manufacturing sector.
He said, for example, that
Leprino, which operates a cheese
plant in New York’s Southern
Tier in Waverly, is looking at
things like building plants that can
absorb 3 million pounds of milk a
day instead of 2 million pounds in
order to reduce costs in an increas
ingly competitive Italian cheese
market. Leprino is also using and
developing technological
advances to improve the manufac
turing process and better serve
customers like Pizza Hut and
other leading restaurants.
Jensen said that adopting an
attitude of change was imperative
for the industry. The industry
needed “to find ways to make
decisions and react to issues more
promptly,” he said, and to change
if need be, as it faces shifts in con
sumer diet trends and new envir
onmental and food safety
regulations.
Jense asked Northeast farmers
to remember that they arc part of a
national market, and that proces-
(Turn to Pag* A3B)