You have GOT to be kidding me.
 

PETA asks Ben & Jerry's to use breast milk

22 hours ago

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Ice cream made from breast milk? That's what the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream to consider making.

The Virginia-based nonprofit group sent a letter to company co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield on Tuesday asking them to use human breast milk instead of cow's milk in their products.

PETA said the health of consumers and cows would benefit from the switch.

Ben & Jerry's spokesman Rob Michalak said the company applauds PETA's creative approach to bring attention to an issue, but believes that a mother's milk is best used by a child.

Information from: The Times Argus, http://www.timesargus.com/

From the PETA site:

For Immediate Release:
September 23, 2008

Contact:
Ashley Byrne 757-622-7382

Burlington, Vt. - This morning, PETA dispatched a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of ice cream icon Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace the cow's milk in their products 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. PETA points out to Cohen and Greenfield that such a move on their part would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health at the same time.

"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."

For more information, please visit PETA's Web site Blog.PETA.org or click here.

PETA's letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield follows.

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

I'm for breast milk, but I don't want Ben&Jerry in between. :blush:

There have to be a million breast/ice cream jokes here, but I'm drawing a blank. I even went to B & J's website for inspiration!

B&J Top Ten
1- Obviously Not Cherry, Garcia® Ice Cream
2- Chocolate Tit Cookie Dough Ice Cream
3- Chocolate Fudge Breast™ Ice Cream
4- Chunky Boobie® Ice Cream
5- Half Bra™ Ice Cream
6- Phish Boob® Ice Cream
7- New York Super Boobs® Ice Cream
8- Coffee Breast Bar Crunch® Ice Cream
9- Obviously Not Cherry, Garcia® Low Fat Frozen Yogurt
10- Peanut Boobie Cups™ Ice Cream

Ah....remember Garnet?

*remembers*

ick.

Another that falls into the category of You Have to be Kidding Me.

http://www.houston-imports.com/dirty/dirty.html

@ merc's post: mmmmm, crunchy mental illness, mmmmmmm.....

When I was working as a humane officer I would have to go into places like that about once a month to remove animals (living and dead). One would think the people would always be in terrible shape too, but sometimes they'd appear quite average - except for that pervasive odor that clings to everything. I can smell it again just looking at those pix. Shower time!

Enough to gag a maggot................

I won't eat Ben and Jerry's anyway, because of the Mumia thing.

I won't support PETA because of the egregiously stupid thing.

And besides, I like meat.

So, I was wondering. How much breast milk would be needed to make all that ice cream to sell on the market????

I'd eat breast milk ice cream quite happily, wouldn't bother me.
In fact if it was in the supermarket for the same price and the same or lower in fat as normal ice cream I would make it my preference.

But it's not going to happen.

Then again, I think that's partly PETA's point. First get people talking, second get people asking why it's okay to drink cow's milk if we won't drink breast milk.

EXACTLY!

If their tactics can make our treatment of animals just a little more humane, then I say they are a success. We will always use animals for our needs, but it would be nice if we could minimize their pain and discomfort while we are at it.

Idk bout breast milk ice cream...seems odd to me... I am a vegetarian but i still consume dairy products although my preference is soy based. I agree with Sundae Girl and pico and ME. Just tatics to get people talking. As for the pictures of that house... How could someone live like that?! :greenface:

My only argument would be the breast milk we drank came from our mums... Not some lady we have never met or seen in our lives...if this would ever happen would it be on a voluntary? Certainly they could not force women... But once again i highly doubt it will happen.

in these economic times though, it could be a *koff* cash cow for some moms.

At least they're keeping up with the ironing.

Christina's breasts look like uncomfortable prisoners. Painful, vein-y prisoners.

If you kept puppies in that condition PETA wouldn't be happy...

Sweater puppies?

i think she should set them free. If they truly love her, they'll return.

Just PETA showing their hatred of women again.

Booby farming!! I think it's cruel.

You have to be kidding right? tell me you are kidding so I can think you are a smart person, k?

I just saw this because of Merc's post....

:headshake

Instead of calling Pico stupid, why don't you explain what is wrong with the idea of minimizing an animal's pain and discomfort while still using it?

Or do you think we should go out of our way to cause animals pain while using them? "Hey cow, it's slaughter time, so instead of just shooting a bolt through your forehead, I'm going to use a belt sander to grind your nose down until I reach your brain. Gotta maximize the pain, you know."

I'm offended that people think ladies should be milk factories. That's cruel.

Anything that a woman injests ends up in her milk. Are you all going to do quality control on all these women and make sure they don't eat something they shouldn't have?

I never called her stupid. Only that I thought she was smarter than to think that the terrorist actions of PETA should be in any way supported. If it were not for animals much of the medical research that you and or your family either benefit from now or will benefit from in the future was dependent on that research. Like it or not, that is the way it is done.

Yea, and that is how they slaughter the cow. And most of us still eat a steak or a good burger and enjoy eating it.

At least the women would have a choice about being milk factories. It highlights the fact that it's cruel to treat cows in this way. I don't really mind eating meat - I always try to make sure it is humanely reared and killed, at least as far as I can.

Milk I have an issue with.
I drink a fraction of what I used to because I have issues about whether it is ethical. Cheese is very tricky too (helps that it's high in fat) because I adore it but of course it's still dairy.

I don't make a song & dance about it and I don't tell other people they should share my views - and yes I think PETA are fruitloops - but having read what I've read I'd rather have a bacon sarnie than a pint of milk.

People have come and gone at PETA and some are more froot-loopy then others. I'm not happy with the ones who verbally and financially supported the more violent animal rights organizations like ALF...they did and do a disservice to PETA's cause. But I still support PETA. Mostly they do not participate in violent or destructive actions. Their undercover investigations have revealed a lot of unnecessary abuse that go on in factory farms and research laboratories.