Edie Falco slams New York governor Andrew Cuomo's Nourish New York Initiative. | Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Vegan actor Edie Falco just slammed the state of New York for supporting the dairy industry.
Last month, Gov. Cuomo launched the Nourish New York Initiative to help bail out the struggling dairy industry.
Falco criticized the governor’s decision in an op-ed published to the New York Daily News entitled “Gov. Cuomo, Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk: Edie Falco Says N.Y. Shouldn’t Prop Up Dairy Farmers.”
Falco wrote: “I’ve looked to Gov. Cuomo’s decisive leadership during the coronavirus crisis. But his Nourish New York initiative, while well-intentioned, is a step in the wrong direction. With federal funds stretched to the limit, why would the governor squander $25 million to bail out the dairy industry, which is rife with disease and cruelty?”
“Not only is dairy not ‘essential,’ factory farming, including dairy farming, is a breeding ground for disease. If the current pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that raising and killing animals for food is a global health risk,” she added.
Due to a drop in demand for dairy products as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, dairy suppliers have begun dumping excess milk. Gov. Cuomo launched the Nourish New York initiative in order to limit milk dumping in New York.
Under the new plan, the state will buy $25 million worth of milk and dairy products, such as cheese, yogurt, and sour cream, and donate them to food pantries.
In the op-ed, Falco lambasted Gov. Cuomo’s decision to support Big Dairy. “People growing real food, vegetables, and fruits that keep us healthy, deserve help. Milk, cheese, and other dairy products have been linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and an increased risk of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers,” she wrote.
She added: “The dairy industry has long bombarded schools with misleading marketing. So most of us grew up not realizing what milk really is: breast milk produced by mother cows to feed and nurture their calves. Cows, who are smart and inquisitive, are also excellent mothers, given the opportunity. Their maternal instinct is just as strong as ours is.”
Falco continued: “On dairy farms, they never get the chance. They’re artificially impregnated and then forced to watch helplessly as their terrified babies—whom they carry for nine months, just like us—are torn away from them.”
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