Starbucks

Friends of the Earth joins the Organic Consumers Association in asking Starbucks to stop using genetically engineered ingredients in their coffee drinks, baked goods, chocolates and ice cream.

Starbucks is the largest coffee brewer in the U.S. and could make a significant difference by brewing organic, shade-grown coffee (not just selling the beans), using milk from cows never treated with engineered bovine growth hormone and pledging to never use genetically engineered coffee beans.

The company also could improve the lives of thousands of coffee workers by brewing Fair Trade coffee meaning coffee that is purchased at a price that ensures a decent wage for coffee growers and reduces the pressure to cut down rainforests.

Unfortunately, Starbucks has only made symbolic gestures to date, offering, for instance, to make non-engineered milk an option when the company should provide this to all customers. Concerns about milk produced with engineered growth hormone (rBGH) are many, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration admission that the use of rBGH in cows may lead to increased amounts of pus and bacteria in milk.

For more information on this effort and why these requests are being made of Starbucks, please see http://www.purefood.org/Starbucks/starbucks.html