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
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717-463-2885
• Arthur Auker 717-665-6627
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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.
While one of Rifkin’s groups
calls for not eating meat, the other
seeks to ban the consumption of
“BGH-milk and meat,” which, by
definition, is all bovine milk and
meat.
According to a newsletter from
the National Milk Producers Fed-
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STANLEY WENSEL, JR.
General Contractor
We Box 24, Barree, PA 166151 24 Hr
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eration, the BST issue is gaining
attention from top White House
officials and there is speculation
that another hearing may be held
by the Food and Drug Administra
tion on BST this one concern
ing the request by the anti
biotechnologists to ensure that any
milk or meal derived from cattle
injected with supplemental BST be
labeled as such.
Since there is no difference in
milk or meal from treated and
untreated cattle, the labels would
be meaningless, according to a
x \ .4* '
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i
AGRICULTURAL
* EQUIPMENT STORAGE
* DAIRY & LIVESTOCK
CONFINEMENT
(215) 445-7897
number of experts
Also, according to NMPF CEO
Jim Barr, “We support the right of
consumers to have meaningful
information about the foods they
consume, but labeling a product
that is the same as it has always
been serves no one. Further, pro
ducers of products that have been
subjected to food scare campaigns
have told us that labeling leads to a
decrease in sales, not an increase,
as labeling for the sake ol labeling
proponents claim.”
337 Panorama Dr.
Denver, PA'17517
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