If you're a regular reader on this site, you've seen a few posts about Yoplait yogurt. General Mills, who makes Yoplait, apparently thinks it's OK to give a token amount in donations to breast cancer even if their product might cause breast cancer to begin with. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
On her group's website, breastcanceraction.org, activist Brenner charges General Mills with "pinkwashing," or using a product that she says may be dangerous to women's health. Yoplait is made with dairy products from cows treated with bovine growth hormone (rBGH), which has been linked to several health concerns for humans, including breast cancer. Wal-Mart has stopped selling milk from rBGH-treated cows -- but not Yoplait yogurt. General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe said that it's not possible to test for rBGH.
"The economic incentive for farmers to go rBGH-free is increasing, because cows don't last as long," Forsythe said. "Do we want to buy this? No. Is it a headache? Yes. But if there was a safety issue, the scientists would say so."
What a load of bull from General Mills. So many other major corporations have gone rBGH-free that it can't be that hard to do. And there's obviously a huge demand for it as well. Good to see this getting some play in the media, although the article seemed to accept the corporate spin from General Mills a little too readily for my taste. |
