PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's to use Mother's Milk

This is old news by now, having happened in September, but I spotted it again in the file where I save blog ideas for future- or non-use.

WPTZ reported September 23, 2008, on a request PETA sent to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.

"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," the statement says.

PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit 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."

If it's tough on cows to be constantly giving milk to the ice cream cause, why would PETA want to subject young mothers to similar treatment? Do these people even think?

Ben and Jerry politely declined to follow PETA's suggestion.

"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," said a spokesperson for Ben and Jerry's.

The article has a full reprint of the PETA letter to Ben & Jerry's, and it's a real head-shaker.

By the way, I do not buy Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and I don't recommend that brand for any of my friends. Their company donates a lot of money to hard-left causes "that are organizing for systemic social change," and I don't want my money to support them. If you like hard-left causes, you might want to buy their ice cream.