Move Would Save Taxpayers Money and Cows From Suffering, Group Says
For Immediate Release:
March 8, 2011
Contact:
Ashley Gonzalez 202-483-7382
Orange, Conn. -- Today, PETA sent a letter to Orange, Conn., First Selectman James Zeoli urging him to comply with the State Board of Labor Relations' order to reinstate free coffee and milk for unionized city workers by switching from unhealthy cow's milk to soy, rice, or almond milk. Zeoli said that he had eliminated the free coffee and milk to save tax dollars, but the union claims it was an act of retaliation for making comments that angered Zeoli. In the letter, PETA points out that cows and their calves suffer every day of their lives on filthy factory farms and that because the consumption of cow's milk has been linked to leading killer diseases, the town could save money on future medical bills by offering the workers healthy and nutritious nondairy plant-based milks.
"Although there's no love lost between James Zeoli and the union, they can at least agree on holding down taxes, promoting good health, and taking a stand against animal abuse," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Dumping dairy products and switching to soy would benefit Orange's human residents and the cows suffering on factory farms."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to Orange First Selectman James Zeoli follows.
March 8, 2011
The Honorable James Zeoli
First Selectman of Orange, Conn.
Dear Mr. Zeoli:
On behalf of PETA and our thousands of members and supports across Connecticut, I am writing to suggest a way that you could turn the recent order to provide Town Hall employees with free coffee and milk into an opportunity to actually save taxpayer money and prevent animal abuse as well. How about giving out delicious, cholesterol-free, healthy soymilk, almond milk, or rice milk with the coffee instead of cholesterol-laden cow's milk? This would both decrease the amount of money that Orange must spend on employee health care (cow's milk is linked to a host of health problems, including cancer) and spare cows a lifetime of suffering on filthy factory farms.
No species naturally drinks milk in adulthood, and no species would naturally drink the milk of a different species. For humans, drinking cow's milk has been linked to cancer, weight gain, diabetes, and even acne. By providing soy, almond, or rice milk instead and by providing free copies of PETA's "'Go Vegetarian, Go Vegan' Starter Kit" to each employee, Orange could save thousands of dollars in health-care costs as your employees begin to take fewer sick days and require fewer cholesterol-lowering medications, chemotherapy treatments, diabetes drugs, and other expensive treatments for diet-related illnesses.
Orange would also do animals a service. Cows used for their milk are typically crowded onto filthy mud lots, kept pregnant, and forced to produce far more milk than they would naturally, often leading to a painful udder infection called "mastitis." To capture the milk for human use, the cows' male calves are taken away from them to be used in the notoriously cruel veal industry, in which calves are often crammed into crates so small that they cannot turn around. For more information on the abuse of cows and calves on factory farms, please watch this video.
We are sure that dairy-free milk companies would be interested in offering Orange coupons for reduced-price or free products. I understand that it was not your decision to reinstate the government-sponsored coffee and milk, but by offering healthy soy milk, almond milk, or rice milk instead of cow's milk, this can be turned into a win-win situation for animals, workers, and Orange's finances. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President