The Washington State PTA’s controversial partnership with McDonald’s continues to come under fire. Yesterday, in advance of the PTA’s annual convention in Bellevue from May 3-5, Bothell resident Alba Suarez, parent of a Skyview Junior High student and a Bothell High School student as well as a PETA member, a nurse, a former teacher, and a volunteer with the PTA for the last 10 years, sent a letter calling on the PTA to cancel the partnership, which she says sends the message that the PTA endorses unhealthy foods—which are linked to the childhood-obesity epidemic and to cruel factory-farming practices.

As Suarez explains in her letter, fast-food consumption is a major contributing factor to childhood obesity, and McDonald’s menu is packed with burgers, chicken nuggets, and other high-fat, high-sugar items. In addition, McDonald’s has repeatedly refused to require its chicken suppliers to upgrade to a less cruel chicken-slaughter method, meaning that chickens killed for McNuggets sustain broken wings and legs and are often even scalded to death in de-feathering tanks.

“Despite the revenue from the partnership, I urge you to consider its true long-term cost—the promotion of unhealthy and inhumanely produced foods to our children,” Suarez writes. “I ask that you and the board please reconsider this partnership and keep the PTA focused on the children’s best interests.”

Alba Suarez’s letter to the PTA follows:

Dear Ms. Hobbs,

As a mother, a nurse, and a volunteer with the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) for the last 10 years, I am concerned that the partnership between the Washington State PTA and McDonald’s sends the wrong message—namely, that the PTA endorses unhealthy foods, which are linked to the childhood-obesity epidemic and to cruel factory-farming practices found at the restaurant chain’s supplier farms. Despite the revenue from the partnership, I urge you to consider its true long-term cost—the promotion of unhealthy and inhumanely produced foods to our children. I ask that you and the board please reconsider this partnership and keep the PTA focused on the children’s best interests.

Childhood obesity and its resulting health effects are of great concern to me as a public-health nurse because it is now a national epidemic, with one-third of American children and teens in the overweight or obese categories. There are several contributing factors to this chronic disease, and fast-food consumption is undeniably one of the major ones. Fast-food advertising aimed at children leads them to develop poor eating habits early in life. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) understands the detrimental effects of fast-food ads and has asked Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission to eliminate junk-food and fast-food ads in various media. The PTA should look to experts in children’s health such as the AAP when making decisions that affect our children. The PTA should consider the bigger picture and the long-term effects of its actions.

McDonald’s food items are packed with high fat and high sugar and lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and strokes. Promoting McDonald’s foods and products conflicts with our number-one priority as parents and teachers: to ensure the well-being of our children. Promoting McDonald’s foods is sending the wrong message to our students. As a former school teacher, I know firsthand that teachers make an effort to talk to children about reducing their fast-food intake and choosing healthier options. The PTA must continue to side with teachers and parents and support what we teach our children in the classrooms and at home.

Furthermore, we should not support giving our children animal products that are the result of horrific slaughterhouse practices. We should not support cruelty, period. Chickens killed for McDonald’s sustain broken wings and legs and are often even scalded to death in defeathering tanks. You can see footage of slaughterhouses that use the same cruel killing methods as McDonald’s suppliers here. McDonald’s recently spent a billion dollars upgrading its restaurants but refuses to require its suppliers to upgrade to a less cruel slaughter method that has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and has even been recommended by the company’s own animal-welfare advisers. Is this the kind of business that we want to support?

The PTA can put healthy eating and compassion ahead of profit while still raising revenues through partnerships with more responsible local businesses. I hope to hear that you will act in the best interests of our children by ending the partnership with McDonald’s.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Alba Suarez, Bothell