Consumer, environmental, and social justice activists in 200 US cities and four other nations (UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) will leaflet and stage protests in front of Starbucks coffee shops on Monday and Tuesday, June 25-26. Protestors will call attention to Starbucks’ use of genetically engineered ingredients in their foods and beverages, as well as Starbucks’ refusal to brew and seriously promote Fair Trade, shade-grown coffee as its “coffee of the day.”
Events are scheduled for Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, New York, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Albuquerque, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, London (UK), and scores of other cities are part of an ongoing international campaign against Starbucks which began on March 20.
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Starbucks, the largest gourmet coffee shop chain in the world, has previously indicated that it is considering giving in to at least some of the demands of the Organic Consumers Association, but still has not yet made a firm commitment. This round of Starbucks protests coincides with a convention being held in San Diego of America’s leading biotechnology corporations, the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
In 200 cities local activists will leaflet and protest Starbucks policies, demanding that the company remove recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) and other genetically engineered ingredients from its brand-name beverages, baked goods, chocolates, and ice cream; start brewing and seriously promoting Fair Trade, shade-grown, and organic coffees as its “coffee of the day”; and improve the wages and working conditions of farm workers on the coffee plantations of its suppliers in Guatemala, Mexico, and other nations. “Vague promises and half-measures are not enough. Starbucks must either give in to the demands of consumers and public interest groups around the world for a non-genetically engineered product line, Fair Trade coffee, and social justice, or else they run the risk of further damage to their reputation and bottom line,” stated Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association.
Media can contact Ronnie Cummins for further information at 888-403-1007.
Full details of the Starbucks campaign and a list of protest locations can be found at http://www.organicconsumers.org
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