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Sierra Club Tells Kraft to Get Rid of
rBGH & GE Food Ingredients

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 24, 2001
CONTACT:
Laurel Hopwood 216-371-9779
Neil Carman, PhD 512-472-1767

Sierra Club kicks the Marlboro Man in the genes

The Sierra Club, the country's largest grassroots conservation
organization, has called on Kraft/Philip Morris, the country's largest
food manufacturer with over 7,000 products, to phase out the purchase
of transgenic agricultural products across all of its product lines. The
Kraft/Philip Morris' shareholder's meeting is scheduled for April 26.

In a letter to Kraft/Philip Morris, Sierra Club asked Geoff Bible (CEO if
Philip Morris, Inc) and Betsy Holden (CEO of Kraft Foods, Inc) to stop
the use of the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone in all Kraft's
dairy products. The letter states, "While there is no consensus, there is
evidence that this genetically engineered hormone, given to increase milk
production, also increases production of IGF-1 in the milk, which has been
shown to promote breast, prostate and colorectal cancers."

Canada and the EU have banned the use of rBGH. Recombinant BGH is
used mostly in large factory scale dairy operations and is a factor in
squeezing smaller dairy farmers off the land. Laurel Hopwood, Sierra
Club's Chair of the Genetic Engineering Committee, states, "the use of this
genetically engineered hormone represents a wrong turn for America."

Sierra Club also made a request to move to production that is free of
products containing or produced from genetic engineering. A Kraft customer
representative told Sierra Club's Genetic Engineering Committee that Kraft
has been receiving comments from many consumers saying they are trying to
get genetically engineered food off their tables. In addition, numerous
surveys have shown that the American public does not want genetically
engineered food.

Kraft is genetic engineered free (GE-free) in Italy, under the Kraft
Jacobs Suchard name. "We believe that we here in the United States
should be treated the same way," states Hopwood.

On the verge of the Kraft/Philip Morris stockholder's meeting, Sierra
Club cites the class action lawsuit filed against Kraft (10/30/2000).
Sierra Club raises the fact that the British Medical Association has serious
health concerns about genetically engineered foods and has called for a
moratorium. Sierra Club believes there will be more liability issues as the
data comes in linking disease with consumption of genetically engineered
food and warned Kraft "it would serve your stockholders to turn off the
spigot now, rather than later."
###

AMENDED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT
Plaintiffs, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated,
complain as follows:

Nature of Action
1. This case is a class action by purchasers of Taco Bell Home
Originals taco shells (the "taco shells") and other foodstuffs against
Kraft Foods, Inc. ("Kraft") and Azteca Milling, L.P. ("Azteca"), arising
from the defendants' knowing or reckless participation in the production
and distribution of taco shells and other foodstuffs that illegally
contained trace elements of a genetically engineered corn marketed by
biotechnology company Aventis under the name of Starlink. Starlink corn's
genetic modification enables the corn to produce its own pesticide that
contains a potentially harmful protein known as Cry9C.

2. Defendants knowingly or recklessly participated in the production,
advertising, marketing and selling of millions of boxes of these taco
shells (Taco Bell Home Originals 12 Taco Shells, Taco Bell Home Originals
18 Taco Shells, Taco Bell Home Originals Dinner) and other foodstuffs which
omitted disclosing that they contained trace elements of Starlink and which
plaintiff and the class members unknowingly purchased and ingested. The
taco shells are sold by Kraft and made with corn flour supplied by Azteca.