CA joins letter warning Starbucks not to gouge consumers for politics

Consumer Comments, Spring, 2001 by James Plummer

Consumer Alert joined other groups in a letter to Orin Smith, the CEO of Starbucks Co., expressing concern over politically-correct policies certain to raise consumer prices.

CA joined the American Council on Science and Health, the Center for Global Food Issues, Citizens for the Integrity of Science, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National Center for Public Policy Research in sending the letter expressing concern that Starbucks' recent decision to stop serving milk from cows treated with bovine growth hormone would harm both consumers and the environment.

Citing former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's warning to food retailers to be honest with consumers about the safety of bovine growth hormones, CA Executive Director Frances Smith and her fellow epistlers urged Starbucks to act responsibly and provide accurate information to its consumers.

Pointing out that cows treated with rBST produce 15 percent more milk, thereby conserving resources, the letter said: "In the U.S. alone, use of these supplements could reduce water irrigation by 700,000 gallons, save 1.7 million acres of land used for feed and grain, save 240,000 gallons of fuel, reduce nearly one million metric tons of manure and reduce 5.3 million tons of soil loss per year."

Mr. Smith responded to the letter with a letter of his own, rejecting calls to educate consumers and instead asserting that Starbucks would provide "alternative products" for consumers afraid of BST milk and biotech foods. He did not make clear whether conventional milk would continue to be offered.