Hormones in the Milk – Do You Know What Your Kids are Drinking?

This e-mail came to my box tonight, and I could not help but want to pass this information on to others. School lunch issues are items I feel very strongly about, and have been working on in my own city for the last 11 months. We brought Two Angry Moms to Boise last October, and we’re still struggling to get our school district to take us seriously and implement the changes we want made. Please take the time to read this important infomation. Then, act locally and make a difference in your own community! Our children’s health depends on it.

Although the importance of education about the health benefits of consuming raw, organic milk from grass-fed cows, the word is still in the initial stages of getting out, your children can greatly benefit from this fantastic health food.

Unlike pasteurized milk laden with toxins and chemicals, raw milk from a healthy source is replete with friendly bateria (probiotics), and nutrients important for growth and development. To learn more about raw milk, please read this article Why the Consumption of Milk is Harmful to Your Health.

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The food kids eat today will have a lasting impact on their health.  Unfortunately much of the food kids eat today is produced with harmful chemicals, genetically engineered ingredients, and artificial hormones.  We’ve got a great opportunity to affect what kind of milk is in the National School Lunch Program.  Can you take action now to get better milk into school lunches?

Roughly 15 percent of all dairies (mostly large dairies) in the United States inject their cows with an artificial, genetically engineered growth hormone called recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) that increases cows’ milk production. Besides the documented increase of infections in dairy cows injected with rBGH, which necessitates increased use of antibiotics, there are ongoing questions about links to cancer in humans.

Most of the industrialized countries in the world have banned rBGH. But here in the United States, we’re giving it to our most vulnerable citizens—our children! It is possible that at least 84 million gallons of milk from artificial hormone-treated cows were distributed through the school nutrition programs in fiscal year 2005-2006 – or about one out of five pints of milk offered in school cafeterias nationwide.

The good news is this spring we have a great chance to bring milk free from artificial, genetically engineered hormones into our schools as Congress takes up legislation on the National School Lunch Program.

We are asking Congress to clarify that schools do have the option to purchase milk from cows that are not treated with artificial growth hormones. With nearly 430 million gallons of milk distributed through national school milk programs, we have to take action now to get artificial hormones out of our school milk!

Take the first step in expelling the hormones from school milk by signing our petition. We are working with our friends at Food & Water Watch to collect 50,000 petition signatures to deliver to Congress. Can you help CFS gather 10,000 towards that goal?

Our children should not be subjected to risky, unwanted hormones in their school milk. Please tell Congress to take action today!

Thanks for all that you do for True Food!

– From the office of Center for Food Safety.

The Center for Food Safety has initiated landmark legal actions against the EPA and FDA all in the name of preserving  the integrity of the food we eat. This agency promotes and protects the public health by monitoring and checking processes which affect and control our food supply.