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Food: African-American organization urges FDA to stop deceptive marketing of 'no rBST' milk




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TITLE:  AFRICAN-AMERICAN ORGANIZATION URGES FDA TO STOP DECEPTIVE MARKETING OF 'NO RBST' MILK

SOURCE: PRNewswire, USA

URL:    http://ww2.7online.com/Global/story.asp?S=5815947

DATE:   14.12.2006

------------------ archive:  http://www.genet-info.org/ ------------------


AFRICAN-AMERICAN ORGANIZATION URGES FDA TO STOP DECEPTIVE MARKETING OF 'NO RBST' MILK

NOAAH: Low-Income Consumers Needlessly Paying More for Identical Milk

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Organization for African Americans in Housing (NOAAH), a non-profit advocate for low-income citizens, has called on the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to stop dairy processors from deceptively marketing "no rBST" milk, which is identical to other milk but costs more.

In a letter to the FDA, NOAAH Board Secretary Kevin Marchman said the milk processors making these claims are presenting low-income consumers with a horrible choice: spend limited food money on higher-priced milk that is identical to less expensive products, or serve their families milk which they believe to be lower in quality and less safe than what others can afford.

"We worry that low-income consumers -- fearing 'hormones in milk' but unable to afford the more expensive 'rBST free' products -- will stop drinking milk altogether and opt for less-healthy alternatives," Marchman wrote.

For more than a decade, dairy farmers have been using rBST to increase the amount of milk that their cows provide. Experts say there is no difference between "rBST free" milk and milk from cows given rBST.

Some milk processors, however, recently have begun selling - and charging significantly more for -- "rBST free" milk, Marchman said.

"The expressed position of the Food & Drug Administration and many other government and independent organizations is that milk from cows given rBST is no different than milk from cows not given this hormone," Marchman wrote. "Yet companies advertising 'no hormone' milk are charging as much as a dollar more per carton -- an outrageous act given that they are clearly attempting to get consumers, including low-income people with limited resources, to pay more for something that is of no more nutritional value -- or safer -- than milk that costs less.

"Not only does this deceptive practice impose a needless financial burden on low-income consumers, it is generating unnecessary confusion and anxiety," Marchman added. "It presents a very unwelcome dilemma for our constituency: either pay more for safe milk, or buy what you can afford and risk 'hormones in your milk.'"

Marchman is urging the FDA to put a halt to the "deceptive" practice, saying that it "cheats consumers and raises unwarranted fears."

"On behalf of NOAAH and its members, I strongly encourage the agency to exercise its regulatory authority in taking strong action against dairy processors that are putting profits over people, and scaring consumers about a product so essential to the health of low-income America," he wrote.

The National Organization of African Americans in Housing (NOAAH) is a non-profit organization that provides technical, operational and moral support to its members and offers opportunities for professional skills enhancement, resident training, and economic development.

One of NOAAH's key efforts is known as the Healthy Homes Initiative (HHI). In December 2001, NOAAH established this initiative to investigate environmental hazards in residential and other urban buildings, focusing on the possible negative health effects on African American, low-income and other minority populations in the United States.

This on-going effort brings together a task force of housing producers, consumers, regulators and financial experts from NOAAH's membership, along with public and private sector leaders. The task force identifies key issues and develops strategies for mitigating the unhealthy environmental conditions experienced by at-risk families and children living in America's low-income and public housing.

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