‘Not Your Mom, Not Your Milk’ Message Counters Rep. Stefanik’s School Dairy Bill
For Immediate Release:
May 31, 2022
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
Before school winds down for the summer, PETA has plastered buses and bus shelters near schools in U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s hometown with a reminder: Cow’s milk is for baby cows! The message comes after Stefanik—whose 21st District accounts for around 25% of New York’s dairy farms—infamously sponsored a federal bill that would require schools to offer chocolate cow’s milk.
“Rep. Stefanik wants to stock schools with a sugary product that is cruel to cows and the calves who are taken from them and adds to the methane levels that are causing the climate catastrophe and which lactose-intolerant people literally can’t stomach,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages families to choose vegan milks, cheeses, and ice creams, which are better for children, animals, and the Earth.”
A PETA exposé of a facility in Stefanik’s district found workers electroshocking a cow in the face and hitting cows with poles and a cane, among other forms of abuse. It’s standard industry practice for cows to be artificially inseminated—workers insert an arm into the animals’ rectum and a metal rod to deliver semen into their vagina—and to be sent to slaughter once their bodies wear out.
Cow’s milk is one of the leading causes of food allergies among children, and millions of people—roughly 65% of the global population—are lactose intolerant. Soy milk has the same amount of protein as cow’s milk, but it’s free of saturated animal fat and cholesterol and has 2 grams of fiber (cow’s milk has none). In addition, vegan chocolate milk has nearly half the sugar of chocolate cow’s milk.
PETA’s ads are located on area buses as well as on bus shelters at Wolf Road and Newbury Plaza, 80 Wolf Rd., Central Avenue and Colonie Center (near Colonie Central High School, Forest Park Elementary School, Roessleville Elementary School, and Sand Creek Middle School), and Route 7 and Vly Road (near Birchwood Elementary School and Forts Ferry Elementary School).
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview that fosters violence toward other animals. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
