AiJi-Lahcaster Farming, Saturday; April ‘24, 1993 Not Many BST Protesters Show For Pure Food Campaign VERNON ACHENBACH JR. Lancaster Farming Staff OAK BROOK, 111. Repeated announcements by spokesmen for anti-beef, anti biotechnology crusader Jeremy Rifldn that at least 20,000 follow ers would stage a massive leaflet distribution protest at more than a third of the McDonald’s Restaur ants in North America turned out to be overstated. While those spokespeople in Pifkin’s Washington, D.C. head quarters did not return phone calls inquiring about the success of the Rifkin-directed leaflet distribution effort, a researcher for McDo nald’s headquarters in Oak Brook, 111., said Thursday that, while not all information was yet in from the field, there was little evidence of a protest at its franchises. Rikin’s directors of Beyond Beef Campaign and Pure Food Campaign had slated for weeks that up to 20,000 supporters would protest against the Food and Drug Administration’s expected approval of injectable bovine somatotropin (BST) by handing out leaflets at more than 3,000 McDonald’s Restaurants on April 17. Although Ronnie Cummings, Rifkm’s director of Beyond Beef Campaign, and Ted Howard, director of the Pure Food Cam paign, said the protest was defi nitely going to happen, spokesmen for McDonald’s said leaflets were handed out at much fewer than 1,000 of McDonald’s restaurants. The credibility of Rifkin’s groups may be an illusion. The groups have never received any support from credible, recognized experts for their positions, and the “facts” the group have been Never Bin Better NC+ Research continues to develop some of the top performing hybnds in the industry Call today for more details and yield comparison data, plus information on our complete lineup of NC+ com, sorghum, forages, alfalfa and soybeans NC+ 5037 ♦ 111 Days, 2475 GDUs ♦ Proven yield power. ♦ Good standabiliiy and rapid drydown ♦ Good disease and sircss tolerance NC+ 6485 ♦ H 6 Days. 2575 GDU’s /M-\ ♦ Extensive testing shows / i high yield capabilities. • Americas>pr 4 Bjg healthy plants have down to earth excellent slandability. seed company ♦ Good corn borer tolerance ♦ Good food com potential. SEE YOUR LOCAL DEALER FOR UNEXPECTED ft LAST MINUTE NEEDS. HE WILL HAVE CORN. ALFALFA. FORAGE SORGHUMS AND SOYBEANS AVAILABLE! GRAIN SORGHUM IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. TRY OUR NVTRICHOICE FORAGE/ GRAIN SORGHUM AGAINST DEER/ For More Information Contact • District Manager, Rod Dodds 717-436-5514 • Territory Sales Manager, Elvln Hursh 717-733-3538 • Territory Sales Manager, Samuel E. Knouse 717-463-2885 • Arthur Auker 717-665-6627 • John Auker 717-933-5224 • Jeffrey Borger 215-381-3785 • Wayne R. Utzenberger 215-847-5563 • Clarence Mull 717-865-2037 • Robert Rlneer 717-284-4658 • Aaron Stollzfus 315-536-4946 including in “news releases,’’ have been consistently proven to be over-stated, or misstated. Nevertheless, Rifldn has appa rently convinced some dairy pro cessors that he has the ability to convince consumers that BST pre sents a danger to their health. According to Rifkin’s spokes people, if restaurants and proces sors don’t sign on as taking Rifk in’s position, then those businesses will be listed as places to avoid. The tactics have forced busines ses to decide how much marketing risk to assess to Rifkin’s threats. The leaflets that were to be dis tributed to “a-million” consumers April 17, contained warnings that consumers should be concerned about “artificial hormones” in milk and meat and to call a 900- tele phone number to gel the names of “safe” places to eat. Earlier last week, a spokesper son for McDonald’s Corporation headquarters had dismissed protest threats by Rifkin’s Pure Food Campaign as a gimmick by Rifkin to sell his anti-beef book and promote himself. The announcement of the pro test initially was made March 31 in statements distributed to media during a Food and Drug Admi nistration (FDA) hearing on bovine somatotropin (BST). Pure Food Campaign, which describes itself as “an international boycott of genetically engineered foods,” joined forces with Beyond Beef Campaign, Rifkin’s other non-profit, fund-raising “aware ness” organization, which has had a program against McDonald’s called, “Adopl-a-McDonald’s,” as a way to protest the consumption of meat and milk. 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