Dear John,

I have an urgent ask. Please take action right now to help animals and to stop the massive waste of your taxpayer dollars. Reading this email and taking action won’t cost you a dime. But it may help millions of kids and millions of animals.

Please call your U.S. Representative at 202-225-3121. The Congressional switchboard operator will connect you to your U.S. Representative if you ask for him or her by name. Then, once you’re connected, politely urge the receptionist to pass on your message that you want your Congressmember to vote YES on the Carter-Mace ADD SOY Act amendment to H.R. 1147.” Notify the receptionist that you are a constituent and a concerned taxpayer. (You can look up your Representative’s name by using this Find My Lawmaker tool, if you don’t know the name.)

A Milk Mandate in Our Public Schools

Each year, the USDA spends $1 billion to reimburse school districts for cow’s milk for the National School Lunch Program—a familiar program for those of us who attended public schools. For eight decades, the federal government has required milk on every tray, and it provides no nutritionally equivalent option to cow’s milk for the kids getting nutrition assistance.

The problem is, we now know that lactose intolerance is widespread in our society. Millions of kids avoid the food staple that makes them sick, or they drink the milk and suffer the consequences.

Up to 75 percent of African Americans, 65 percent of Latinos, and 90 percent of Asian Americans and Native American are lactose intolerant—causing diarrhea, nausea, cramps, bloating, and in severe cases, vomiting. The National Institutes of Health reports the majority of all people have a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy, and lactose intolerance “is also very common in people of West African, Arab, Jewish, Greek, and Italian descent.” Even 15 percent of people of European descent are lactose intolerant.

Of the 30 million kids getting milk on their trays, 10 million kids throw the milk away in unopened cartons. Millions of others take a sip and toss the milk.

The kids are dumping more than 50 million gallons of milk each year down the drain. At this rate, the cost to American taxpayers will be $5 billion over the next decade.

All that sacrifice and labor from the cows, and massive volumes of their milk are tossed in the trash. What a reckless government program!

This kind of waste of money would never be tolerated in the private sector. But this is a government program on autopilot. We can fix it by passing the ADD SOY Act amendment, to be offered by U.S. Representative Troy Carter, D-La., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., to H.R. 1147. That amendment may be considered first thing this week.

That’s why I hope you will make a call to your lawmakers at 202-225-3121 and also send a letter to your Representative and also to your two U.S. Senators urging them to support the ADD SOY Act proposal. This Congressional contact tool allows you to send that letter in seconds:

Giving Kids a Choice, Giving Cows a Break

In September, U.S. Senators John Fetterman, D-Penn., John Kennedy, R-La., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., introduced legislation (S. 2943) to provide a simple, common-sense fix: give kids a nutritionally equivalent, plant-based option. U.S. Representatives Troy Carter, D-La., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., have the companion bill (H.R. 1619) in the U.S. House.

Their bills, the Addressing Digestive Distress in Stomachs of Our Youth (ADD SOY) Act, would require public schools to offer a nutritionally equivalent plant-based milk option to kids participating in the National School Lunch Program and direct the USDA to reimburse schools for the cost of the soy milk provided.

“The majority of children of color are lactose intolerant, and yet our school lunch program makes it difficult to access nutritious, non-dairy beverages,” said Sen. Booker, one of the quartet of bipartisan leaders of the bill. “We must ensure that all children have access to nutrient-rich drink options that do not make them sick.”

“We need to be doing whatever it takes to make sure our kids are fed, including eliminating red tape in our nutrition-assistance programs to expand students’ access to more options. It is totally unacceptable that there are 30 million food-insecure children in our country while a lack of milk alternatives creates $300 million of food waste a year,” said Sen. Fetterman.

“This bipartisan bill will create more equitable nutrition options to keep our kids happy and healthy. Too many children who cannot safely or comfortably consume dairy are being forced to accept containers of cows’ milk on their lunch trays,” said Rep. Carter.

“The federal government is wasting $300 million of our tax dollars a year by mandating that every school kid getting nutrition assistance has a carton of cow’s milk on the tray even though millions of them don’t want it and get sick from it,” said Rep. Mace.

This is a government program that makes no sense for school kids, taxpayers, or the cows. The government is overreaching by subsidizing and promoting milk beyond its natural appeal to consumers. Kids need a choice in the classroom.

Remember, all animals matter, including those raised for food. Let’s never forget about the sacrifices forced upon animals at the front end of our supply chains. What a disgrace that we put them through the labors of production and even confinement and then allow the product to be tossed into the trash because kids who consume it get sick.

For smarter government, better outcomes for animals,

Wayne Pacelle President Animal Wellness Action

Photo courtesy of Andrew Skowron/We Animals Media.