Action Alert

Ask the USDA to Stop Promoting Milk and Cookies

At a time when two-thirds of American adults and one in five children are already overweight, the federal government is—believe it or not—pushing Americans to eat more cookies and drink more milk.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture worked with Nabisco and the dairy industry on a $1 million “Dunk and Win” promotion for Oreo cookies. The program is a not-so-subtle scheme to promote milk, which is already the number-one source of artery clogging saturated fat in the diets of American children. Milk consumption has also been linked to prostate cancer and digestive problems.

This month, the USDA launched another sweepstakes: Spell M-I-L-K with specially marked Oreo cookies and you can win $100,000. A “back-to-school” milk-and-cookie promotion aimed at school kids is set to kick off in August.

Had enough? Ask the USDA to get serious about America’s obesity epidemic. Tell Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to worry less about the dairy industry’s bottom line and more about America’s waistline.

The Honorable Ann M. Veneman, Secretary,
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 200A
Washington, D.C. 20250
E-mail: agsec@usda.gov

Posted 06/18/04

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