Hormone-Free Milk is What the Body Needs

Food Sleuth: Hormone-Free Milk is What the Body Needs

By Melinda Hemmelgarn

Columbia Daily Tribune

December 5, 2007

Available online at: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Dec/20071205Food007.asp

Consumers have spoken. We prefer our milk produced by dairy cows that have not been injected with the artificial hormones rBST or rBGH, which stand for recombinant bovine somatotropin and recombinant bovine growth hormone, respectively.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the artificial hormone in 1993 "to increase the production of marketable milk." According to Cornell University, a treated cow produces about 10 percent more milk.

Both the FDA and Monsanto - the producer of Posilac, the brand name of their injectable synthetic hormone - claim milk from treated cows is safe and no different from milk produced by untreated cows.

In the early 1990s, however, the U.S. General Accounting Office investigated the safety of rBGH injections and concluded that increased milk production resulting from treatment significantly increases the incidence of mastitis, an infection of the cow’s teats, which requires antibiotic therapy. Regardless of whether antibiotic residues remain in the treated cow’s milk, a percentage of antibiotics given to cows and other livestock are excreted in manure, enter our ecosystem and contribute to the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance.

One outspoken rBGH critic is Samuel Epstein, MD, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and professor emeritus of environmental and occupational medicine at the University of Illinois-Chicago School of Public Health. He’s the author of the book "What’s in Your Milk? An Exposé of Industry and Government Cover-Up on the Dangers of the Genetically Engineered (rBGH) Milk You’re Drinking." Epstein believes rBGH milk should be banned because of health risks associated with increased levels of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1," or "IGF-1" in milk from treated dairy cows.

The synthetic hormone is banned throughout the European Union, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In the United States, a warning label accompanies the drug, stating it "is associated with increased frequency of use of medication in cows for mastitis and other health problems."

Dairies, supermarkets and restaurants nationwide have been responding steadily to valid consumer concern and demand. For example, in 2005 Oregon-based Tillamook Dairy farmers voted to support a ban on using the synthetic hormone. Last August, the Michigan Milk Producers Association, Dean Foods and Dairy Farmers of America announced that Michigan dairy farmers will receive a premium beginning in February 2008 if they opt out of using the hormone. Chipotle Mexican Grill began serving 100 percent rBGH-free sour cream last year and before the end of 2007 will no longer serve any cheese made with milk from treated cows.

In a news release titled "First and Free," Chipotle founder, Chairman and CEO Steve Ellis said: "Serving our customers cheese and sour cream without rBGH is the responsible thing to do. It’s better for our customers, better for the animals, and better for the food system."

Despite U.S. consumers’ clearly stated preferences for more transparency in their food system, Pennsylvania’s secretary of agriculture and governor announced that as of Jan. 1, dairy farmers can no longer label their milk as being produced without the artificial hormone. Both the governor and agriculture secretary say "absence claims" confuse consumers. But their rationale is unfounded. Allowing farmers to communicate how they raise their livestock to consumers makes sense. Of the many confusing labels in the supermarket aisle, consumers understand "no artificial hormones."

Pennsylvania dairy farmers and residents are outraged, and those of us in other states should be watching this case carefully. By denying the label, farmers lose their freedom to communicate honestly, and consumers lose their freedom to make informed choices in the marketplace.

Coincidentally, the milk labeling debacle is taking place in Pennsylvania, one of our nation’s first 13 colonies and home of the Liberty Bell, icon of America’s freedoms. I’d say it’s time for another revolution - this time to take back our food system and our democracy.