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Cherry Garcia, Phish Food, and Mother’s Milk?

by Leah Koenig · September 25th, 2008

Oh friends, I feel a rant coming on. Animal rights organization, PETA, has gone and done it again. And by “it” I mean advocate for animal welfare, while simultaneously being entirely offensive to women.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently mailed a letter to Ben & Jerry’s, suggesting that they replace the cow’s milk dairy in their ice cream products with human breast milk. They got the idea from a Swiss restaurant owner who plans to replace 75% of the cows milk at his restaurant with milk from nursing mothers.

According to a letter sent by PETA’s Executive Vice President, Tracy Reiman: “Using cow’s milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer’s health…[insert some cruel facts about the conventional milk industry here]…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.”

PETA absolutely and frighteningly misses the point.

Okay, deep breaths… There’s no question that the conventional dairy industry is heinously cruel to animals, and seeking out cow’s milk alternatives for ice cream is a fine use of time. Goat milk ice cream, for example, is lovely (though of course, that wouldn’t fly for PETA either). And while I can’t personally stomach most rice or soy creams, if Ben & Jerry’s offered a vegan line, I think it’s safe to assume that hungry vegans everywhere would line up around the block to buy a pint. But swapping cows milk for breast milk is an absolutely, insultingly, beyond comprehension, ridiculous idea.

Yes, a human mother can in theory choose whether or not she wants to sell some of her milk to a company for food – whereas a cow has the decision made for them. But even if the idea of pumping extra milk for profit was appealing to breast feeding mothers (something I personally shudder to think about), this scheme would still simply replace cows with women in the industrial food chain. If PETA had their heads on straight, they’d realize their idea essentially advocates that we enslave new mothers as our personal wet nurses…for ice cream.

I regularly question PETA’s ethical narrow-mindedness/blindness, and have been angered before by their advocacy for animal rights at the expense of human (and particularly women’s) rights. For example, their series of naked veggie testimonial PSAs where female stars who happen to be vegetarian – Alicia Silverstone, and Dita Von Teese etc. – writhed around naked on camera to promote animal rights and a vegetarian lifestyle. In other words, swapping one piece of meat for another. But this newest idea goes way beyond the line. And the notion that this letter was endorsed, and possibly authored, by a woman – with kids! – is beyond me.

Ben & Jerry’s spokespeople, way too graciously, responded to the letter by with the statement: “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.“ One can only imagine the actual thoughts that ran through B&J’s CEO’s head while reading the letter. Swing and a miss for potential coalition building.

PETA’s supporters, were a little more vocal about their disbelief, as evidenced in blog comments on PETA.org:

Ya know, PETA. I no longer buy Hormel products or KFC because of your investigative nature. I love that. This, however, is ridiculous. Humans don’t produce nearly the amount of milk that a cow does. How cost effective do you think this will be? Are we going to be paying $15 a pint for Ben and Jerry’s? Where do you think you’re going to find enough “wet nurses” to support this idea? – Monica Munro

While I applaude (sic) the suggestion of alternatives to cow’s milk, I find the idea of using human breast milk ridiculous. Anyone who has breastfed knows how demanding it is both physically and emotionally. Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of mothers who cannot produce enough milk for their infants. Something so valuable to infants should be donated to those who need it if there’s an excess, not used to make ice cream. – qhbugs

Amen friends. And what a sad and strange amen it is.

(hat tip to Hazon CFO, Jonathan Fish)

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12 Responses to “Cherry Garcia, Phish Food, and Mother’s Milk?”

Michael Croland Says:
September 25th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I realize that I’m not addressing the main points in your post, but just for the sake of accuracy:

The link for “naked veggie testimonial PSAs” didn’t open. I’m pretty sure that of the PETA “veggie testimonials” series you mention (check them out at http://veggietestimonial.peta.org), only one — the Alicia Silverstone ad — has included nudity and “writh[ing] around naked on camera to promote animal rights and a vegetarian lifestyle.” Dita Von Teese (who wears fur and probably isn’t a vegetarian) appeared in print ad for PETA (to promote spaying and neutering), in which — say what you will about her attire — she isn’t naked.
Leah Koenig Says:
September 26th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Thanks Michael – I fixed the link. As to your other point, you know I respect your opinions deeply, and I appreciate the clarification, but I don’t think it’s really worth quibbling over Dita Von Teese’s personal ethics or whether or not she was actually naked or clad in a corset and fishnet stockings. The point is the same – PETA exploits women to spread their message about animal advocacy. And that’s just not cool.
JT Says:
September 26th, 2008 at 9:25 am
You’re missing the point Leah. Do you actually think PETA was suggesting that B&J’s switch to breast milk? They are trying to make a statement by showing how ridiculous it is that we are drinking cow’s milk. If we find drinking breast milk strange – which came from our own species – isn’t it even stranger to drink the milk of another species??

I wish this blog would stop criticizing PETA and commend them for all the investigative journalism they do. I myself may not agree with all of their PR tactics, but I do respect their willingness to put themselves in harms way to get the truth out there. (do you have any idea how dangerous it is do go undercover in these slaughterhouses?) Afterall, don’t you want to know where your food is REALLY coming from?
Debra Waldoks Says:
September 26th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Whoa. As a woman who breastfed her son, and as a professional who works in the breastfeeding/public health field, I find this very insulting. Formula companies have spent years trying to convince women that their milk is not worth their own time to feed or pump it for their own children. Many women have believed this. Public health professionals are now trying to help women realize that their milk is in fact the best milk for their babies and is worth the extra time, effort, and if necessary, a session with a lactation consultant. Women are now buying expensive breast pumps and spending time (real and emotional) to pump milk at work, and PETA thinks this precious liquid gold should go into ice cream!!?? Did PETA forget about the need to test for HIV, the many premature babies who need the milk much more so than the ice-cream eaters, and the MANY mothers who still are choosing not to breastfeed their own children? If a woman is going to realize that her milk is worth something and has she has the time to build-up her milk supply and take care of her health, I hope she realizes that there are better uses for it. It does not even sound like PETA thought about where this “HUMAN breast milk” came from. This is an unbelievable prioritization- PETA clearly does not care about the women and families who would pump their milk or the people who would eat the ice-cream.
Leah Koenig Says:
September 26th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I think, JT, that regardless of whether PETA was actually recommending that B&J’s switch to breast milk, the very suggestion shows a complete lack of respect and sensitivity for women.

For the record, I don’t always bash PETA:

http://jcarrot.org/j-peta-a-ko.....ndercover/

…but enough is enough.

FYI, here is the full letter from PETA to B&J’s

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
Debra Waldoks Says:
September 26th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Okay, it would make complete sense if this letter was a PR tactic. Honestly, when I first read the post, I thought- “This can’t be real.” But…its difficult to tell frm the letter and I believe the restaurant thing is real.
AMG Says:
September 26th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Or mothers who are willing to pump can contribute to a milk bank to help babies whose mother’s can’t breastfeed. http://www.milkbankne.org/
Judith Says:
September 26th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
As a former English major, PETA’s letter reminds me of Jonathan Swift’s short satire A Modest Proposal. He proposed that the peasantry might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for the wealthy.
By absurdly suggesting something so blatantly inhumane as cannibalism, Swift drew attention to the actual oppression that was the very cause of the dire poverty in the first place.

By shockingly suggesting that we eat ice cream made from women’s breast milk, PETA draws attention to the plight of dairy cows. That’s what they do, that’s their mission.
Elad The Great Says:
September 27th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I remember when I went to college, PETA compared the treatment of chickens at KFC to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust, along with some very graphic comparisons. Needless to say, as someone who was a vegetarian at the time and a Jew, I was offended beyond measure.

To be honest, I think these sorts of things happen when someone focuses one’s entire morality on one particular area instead of realizing the big picture. Yet another reason Judaism rules. Helps us see the real stuff.

Great blog,
Elad

http://eladthegreat.wordpress.com
shev Says:
September 27th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
When I read this letter I was stunned and revolted. It seemed to be the result of a perverse sense of justice combined with our sick food industry.

Satire or otherwise, it hasn’t done any good for PETA, so who exactly has benefited?
lauren ahkiam Says:
September 29th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I agree with JT that this is a satire. Of course an organization that advocates against animal suffering would not be advocating FOR human suffering. They are, as JT writes, intending to make people think about why it’s not weird to drink factory farmed cow milk but it would be so shocking to suggest drinking factory farmed human milk. In their eyes, animals and people are equal, and the comparison is not problematic, hence also the comparison of chickens to the horrors of the Holocaust (and though I’m a vegetarian and committed animal rights advocate, I don’t entirely agree with them).

I think the female exploitation tack is more complicated. Leah, it brings up the whole 3rd wave feminist thing! When is it that they’re exploiting women, and when is it that the women, like Dita von Teese or Alicia Silverstone, are merely simultaneously expressing their views on animal rights while celebrating their own sexuality? Especially someone like Von Teese who has built her career on burlesque; she is clearly, if anything, exploiting herself.

But I agree that it’s problematic to even lend the appearance of privileging animal rights over women’s rights, and I wish they would at the very minimum use an equal amount of male nudity, to be fair :).

p.s. Michael, they did actually have a video press release where a spokeswoman stripped naked while giving a year’s review of animal rights issues. Not sure of the need for that, but there it is.
Leah Koenig Says:
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I hear your points Lauren…and I definitely (and with embarrassment) admit for falling for the satire. Though in my defense, I think it’s telling that PETA’s direct action tactics have been so extreme in the past, that it could actually be possible for someone to think they were serious in this case.

But I don’t completely buy the third wave feminism argument, or I agree with your third para. Yes, Dita and Alicia could be choosing to “exploit themselves,” but it is still offensive and problematic for an organization to foster one type of exploitation, while calling for the end of another.