The Starbucks Campaign is here!
Starbucks, loved and hated alike, has been undeniably successful in selling frothy lattes, towering cappuccinos, and even music. In fact, last year they sold 6 billion dollars worth of goods. And they buy 2% of the entire world‚ coffee beans. The upside of this giant market share is that a small shift by Starbucks toward more sustainable practices can have enormous impact.
Thus, we were dismayed to learn that Starbucks uses milk produced with recombinant bovine growth hormone, known as rBGH or rBST. This genetically engineered, artificial hormone is banned in many countries, including Canada, Australia, Japan and all 25 countries in the European Union. Why? RBGH causes harm to cows- increasing the rate of udder infection by 25%- which leads to more antibiotic use. And as your doctor probably warned you, overuse of antibiotics leads to antibiotic resistant bacteria, which is a serious problem in animal production. These and other concerns about rBGH have led us to kick off a campaign urging Starbucks to stop using rBGH in their dairy products.