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Demand Proper Labels on Dairy Products Containing rBGH (rBST)
Below is our targeted email to some of our Tree Members. Some info shows merge fields used in the Alert Email. Join the Tree.
Dear Tree Member,
DEMAND PROPER LABELS ON DAIRY PRODUCTS CONTAINING rBGH (rBST).
You are receiving this because your Senator is on the Senate Agriculture Committee. A hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee has been set for 8:30 AM next Tuesday (Feb. 26) for SB595. I want to make sure this bad bill never leaves the committee.
CALL YOUR SENATOR BEFORE TUESDAY, FEB 26
This alert is for the Kansas Senate Ag Committee. According to our records, below is your district, your Senator, and his/her contact info:
Senate District: <%[StSenate-Sum]%>
Your Senator: <%[S-FirstName]%> <%[S-LastName]%>
You can contact your Senator at:
Capital email: <%[S-CapEmail]%>
Capital phone: <%[S-CapPhone]%>
Home phone: <%[S-HomePhone]%>
MORE INFO:
This bill would ban any type of labeling that enables consumers to know if their dairy products contain rBGH (rBST), Monsanto's genetically engineered hormone that induces cows to produce more milk. Under the guise of protecting consumers from misleading information, this bill actually censors truthful information consumers want and need.
It even extends to all agricultural products. It could limit the use of such terms as free-range, cage-free, all natural, grass-fed, pasture-raised, grain-finished, pesticide-free, farm-fresh, pasture-based, heritage breed, and locally produced, labels which are relied upon by many small Kansas farmers to sell their products.
Please take a minute to e-mail or call YOUR SENATOR on the Committee before Feb. 26 to express your opposition.
Some suggested wording is below, but please feel free to put your message in your own words. And if you have a particular perspective, such as a farmer, business person, mother, doctor, etc., it’s always good to personalize:
Dear Senator ___________________
Please vote NO on SB 595. This bill is anti-consumer and anti-business. (If you’re a constituent of this particular senator, BE SURE TO SAY SO!)
Consumers have a right to know what’s in their food and how it’s produced and dairies and farmers have a right to tell them. Food companies have the right to make factual statements on their labels – this is a freedom of speech issue.
Thank you,
If you’re short of time, that’s all you need to say. If you’d like to elaborate, here are some other good points:
* A Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports) survey found that 88% of people agreed that “milk from cows raised without synthetic bovine growth hormone should be allowed to be labeled as such.” Another professional survey by Lake Research Partners for Food and Water Watch found 80% feeling the same way.
* This hormone increases the rates of 16 different harmful medical conditions in cows and there is substantial scientific evidence that it may increase antibiotic resistance and cancer rates in humans.
* Most industrialized nations of the world have banned rBGH, and the Codex Alimentarius, the U.N.’s main food safety body, concluded there was no consensus that it’s safe for human health.
* Health Care Without Harm, an international coalition of over 440 organizations that promotes safe and healthy practices in hospitals, adopted a formal position statement opposing rBGH. Already, over 100 hospitals throughout the country have declared they will move toward serving rBGH-free dairy products.
* Similar bills or rules have been proposed in other states which have been instigated by Monsanto, the hormone’s only manufacturer, and its supporters. One corporation shouldn’t have the right to take away our right to know and freedom of speech. This bill is not representative of Kansas citizens.
* Again, a personal touch is great – a mother not wanting rBGH products for her kids, a business protecting commercial free speech, a doctor or nurse concerned about health effects, etc.
These are all the senators on the Agriculture Committee –
R - Mark Taddiken – Chair
taddiken@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-7371
R - Roger C Pine - Vice Chair
pine@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-7372
D - Marci Francisco - Ranking Minority
francisco@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-7364
R - Stephen R Morris – Member
morris@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-2419
D - Janis K Lee – Member
lee@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-7366
R - Terry Bruce – Member
bruce@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-7300
R - Tim Huelskamp – Member
huelskamp@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-7359
R - Derek Schmidt – Member
schmidt@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-7374
R - Ralph Ostmeyer – Member
ostmeyer@senate.state.ks.us
(785) 296-7399
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