[looks like the protest worked! that was quick! I'll bring it up as a shareholder of Peet's Coffee too - Will] http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/xseap/20010316/lo/starbucks_hormones_1.html Friday March 16 10:27 PM EST Starbucks To Change Milk Product By ALLISON LINN, AP Business Writer SEATTLE (AP) - Starbucks Coffee Co. has begun efforts to serve only milk free of genetically modified ingredients such as bovine growth hormone, the company president said Friday. The Food and Drug Administration has said milk containing bovine growth hormone is safe for human consumption. But the company was more concerned about public perception than health concerns, said Orin Smith, Starbucks' president and chief executive. ``If I've got 10 percent of my customer base that's concerned about this issue, I'm concerned,'' Smith said in an interview late Friday. Starbucks, a coffee and specialty drink maker, is one of the largest milk users in the country, with 2,758 stores nationwide. Six groups wrote a letter to Smith last month, demanding that the company take all genetically modified organisms out of its food ingredients. Ronnie Cummins, campaign director for the Organic Consumers Association, said Starbucks was targeted because it uses so much milk in its products and the groups are confident Starbucks customers are concerned enough to respond to their campaign. Activists still planned to target the company Tuesday, the day of the Seattle-based coffee maker's annual shareholders meeting. Regarding Starbucks' annoucement, Cummins said, ``It sounds like a good first step. I'd love to see that in writing.'' He said the organization will continue to fight for all Starbucks products to be GMO-free and organic. ``I think their customers are going to demand it, and if they don't do what we're asking them to do, they're going to suffer in terms of their reputation and eventually in terms of their bottom line,'' Cummins said. Bovine growth hormone, also known by the scientific name of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), is injected in cows to increase the amount of milk they produce. Critics off such biotech products hold that too little is known about their health and environmental effects. The FDA has tried to ease public anxiety by proposing a mandatory review process for new genetically engineered foods. The new guidelines would require companies to notify the FDA of new biotech products at least four months before they are to be put on the market. Smith said the company was hoping customers would be given the choice of growth hormone-free milk by late this summer. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
