PETA Asks Ben And Jerry’s To Use Human Breast Milk
In a letter addressed to cofounders of Ben and Jerry’s Homemade Inc., Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) called for the ice cream makers to replace cow’s milk with human breast milk.
"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," said a statement released by a PETA spokeswoman.
PETA wants Ben and Jerry’s to make the switch in order to end the suffering of dairy cows on factory farms. Additionally, the group claims that human milk would be more beneficial to 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."
PETA cited that the Storchen restaurant in Switzerland is set to launch a new menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent human breast milk. The human donors are paid in exchange for their milk, according to the letter from PETA.
“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,” the letter reads.
Ben and Jerry’s responded to the letter saying: "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."
—
On the Net: