PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	January 31, 2007

BTF CONTINUES EFFORTS TO BAN TRANS FATS FROM STUDENTS’ MEALS

        BTF President Phil Rumore has stepped up BTF efforts to have trans fats not only banned from school meals but also from school vending machines.

The BTF, which has partnered with The Buffalo Local Action Committee to have trans fats banned from Buffalo schools, has sought the assistance of Senators Clinton and Schumer and Congressmen Slaughter and Higgins.

In addition, the BTF is seeking the assistance of the 3,000,000 member National Education Association, the BTF’s national affiliate, and NYSUT, its state affiliate.

“We are needlessly poisoning our students, contributing to their early demise, and starting them on the path of ill health.

It is our responsibility to ensure that for the thirteen (13) years that we are feeding our students in schools, we are not sentencing them to a life of ill health, “ Rumore stated.

Rumore points out that students in poor district such as Buffalo where 95% of the students are eligible for reduced or free lunches are the most severely impacted by trans fats served in schools.

The BTF calls for “whatever action is necessary to ensure that trans fats are not only eliminated from school breakfast and lunch programs but also no longer sold in our schools.”

Encl: Letter to Buffalo Board of Education
Letter to Congressional Delegation
Letter to NEA President Reggie Weaver