Above photo: OCA International Director Ronnie Cummins leads the Ben & Jerry’s protest in Minneapolis. Activists wearing hazmat suits dumped Ben & Jerry’s ice cream cones and served up organic ice cream.
FINLAND, Minn. – The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) held protests today against Ben & Jerry’s, a subsidiary of Unilever, in seven US cities, and Mexico City. US cities are: Austin, Texas; Burlington, Vt., Chicago; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New York; and Washington, D.C.
“Ben & Jerry’s charges a premium for its ice cream based on claims that its products are “natural” and “GMO-Free,” and that the company is committed to a program of “social responsibility,” which includes concern about environmental issues, global warming, fair labor practices, animal welfare, and economic success for all its partners, including dairy farmers,” said Ronnie Cummins, OCA’s international director. “Serving up ice cream made with milk from cows raised on GMO animal feed and contaminated with Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller violates all these promises.
“Ben & Jerry’s contributes to the massive pollution of Vermont and US waterways by supporting industrial dairy which relies on GMO crops for animal feed. By sourcing organic milk, the company could clean up Vermont’s water and support organic dairy farmers who currently are forced to sell their milk at conventional prices because they lack markets,” Cummins said.
On July 25, 2017, The New York Times reported on tests of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream conducted by the OCA. Ten of 11 samples tested positive for glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, and/or AMPA, a metabolite of glyphosate. Three recent peer-reviewed studieslink very low levels of glyphosate—lower than what was found in B&J’s ice cream—to fatty liver disease, cancer tumors, kidney damage and more.
OCA is calling for Ben & Jerry’s to immediately transition to using only organic ingredients, including milk, or face an international consumer boycott.
The Organic Consumers Association is an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)3 public-interest organization advocating on behalf of more than two million U.S. consumers for health, justice, and regeneration.