Backyard Aquaponics
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Protecting Milk from Monsanto

By Laura Sayre
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustaina ... -Milk.aspx

Consumer opposition to artificial hormones in milk is rising, but Monsanto just won’t give up. Injecting cows with Monsanto’s genetically engineered rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) is like injecting human athletes with illegal hormones and steroids. It may have a short-term performance-enhancing effect (in the cows’ case, 5 percent to 15 percent more milk per lactation cycle), but cows treated with rBGH suffer from higher rates of mastitis (inflammation of the udder), birth disorders, hoof problems, diarrhea and other ailments. Because of these concerns, rBGH is prohibited in most industrialized nations, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all of the European Union nations.

Here in the United States, however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved rBGH (also known as rBST, for recombinant bovine somatotropin) in 1993. The Monsanto Corp. — the sole vendor of the drug, trademarked Posilac — promptly launched an aggressive marketing campaign, and by 1998, some 30 percent of U.S. dairy cows were on the stuff.

Hormones and Human Health

Some research indicates that rBGH is not just bad for cows, it’s also bad for humans that consume milk from those cows. The health hazards for humans are twofold, explains Rick North of Physicians for Social Responsibility: antibiotic resistance and a possible link to cancer. “There’s no doubt whatsoever that rBGH use increases disease in cows, which in turn leads to more use of antibiotics,” North says. To treat mastitis, farmers use antibiotics such as erythromycin, amoxicillin and penicillin. The more these are used in agriculture, the less effective they are against human diseases.

And then there’s the cancer risk. Studies have shown that rBGH increases levels of another hormone in milk called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). IGF-1 is produced naturally by both cows and humans, but elevated levels of IGF-1 in people are associated with breast, prostate and colorectal cancers.

Fight for Your Right to Know

The efforts by Monsanto to prevent the public from determining which products are “rBGH-free” have cemented its image as a rapacious corporate bully. In 2003, the company sued Oakhurst Dairy of Portland, Maine, for putting a statement on its cartons that read “no artificial growth hormones.” A settlement allowed Oakhurst to keep their claim if they added a disclaimer saying the FDA has found no significant difference between milk produced with or without rBGH.

Most recently, Monsanto has been pursuing its pro-Posilac campaign at the state level. In October 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) stunned farmers, processors and consumers alike by declaring “rBGH-free” milk labeling illegal. After a flood of protests, the agency withdrew the ban, but not before Monsanto and PDA issued a series of statements claiming that consumers were “confused” by “misleading” labeling and that demand for rBGH-free milk was nonexistent. (At press time, similar events were occurring in New Jersey, Ohio, Kansas, Utah and Indiana.)

The truth is, consumers are making their demand for rBGH-free milk loud and clear, and the dairy sector is responding. For over a decade, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream containers have proudly informed shoppers that their products are rBGH-free. Of the 100 top U.S. dairy processors, 34 have declared themselves either partially or completely rBGH-free, including Kroger, Safeway Dairy Group, Anderson Erickson and Publix Super Markets. Even Wal-Mart has announced that its private label Great Value milk will no longer come from treated cows. Retailers also are getting in on the trend: Starbucks went rBGH-free as of the end of 2007, as did Chipotle Restaurants.

All that shift in demand is having an impact: a 2007 USDA survey found that just 17.2 percent of U.S. dairy cows are on Monsanto’s genetically engineered growth hormone, down from 22.3 percent in 2002. The battle’s not over, but it looks like free speech and the consumer’s right to know may prevail.

Why choose rBGH-free?

1. It’s better for cows. Non-industrial dairy cows can remain productive for eight to 10 years or more. Dairy cows on rBGH have an expected productivity of just four years.
2. It’s better for you and your family. Cows treated with rBGH are more likely to receive antibiotics, exacerbating problems with antibiotic resistance. Milk from rBGH-treated cows also contains a hormone linked to elevated cancer risks.
3. It’s better for farmers. In addition to the expense of the drug itself, rBGH results in higher feed bills, higher vet bills and higher cull (removing cows from a herd due to illness or low productivity) rates. One study found that 25 to 40 percent of dairy farmers who tried rBGH soon gave it up because it wasn’t profitable enough to justify the damage to their cows.

Makes me glad I live here - looks like the use in the US will stop soon as well though.

This all sound eerily similar to the whole GM debate

Cyara

Of interest from Wiki :-
"Public officials formerly employed by Monsanto
Justice Clarence Thomas worked as an attorney for Monsanto in the 1970s. Thomas wrote the majority opinion in the 2001 Supreme Court decision J. E. M. AG SUPPLY, INC. V. PIONEER HI-BREDINTERNATIONAL, INC. which found that "newly developed plant breeds are patentable under the general utility patent laws of the United States." This case benefitted all companies which profit from genetically modified crops, of which Monsanto is one of the largest.[69][73][74]
Michael R. Taylor was an assistant to the F.D.A. commissioner before he left to work for a law firm on gaining F.D.A. approval of Monsanto’s artificial growth hormone in the 1980s. Taylor then became deputy commissioner of the F.D.A. in 1991.[69]
Dr. Michael A. Friedman was a deputy commissioner of the F.D.A. before he was hired as a senior vice president of Monsanto.[69]
Linda J. Fisher was an assistant administrator at the E.P.A before she was a vice president at Monsanto from 1995 - 2000. In 2001, Fisher became the deputy administrator of the E.P.A.[69]
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was chairman and chief executive officer of G. D. Searle & Co., which Monsanto purchased in 1985. Rumsfeld personally made at least $12 million USD from the transaction.[69]".

Interesting, Sleepe. No surprise. Such vice grip and malevolent determination requires powerful influence.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

But the voice of the consumer will be heard if the truth is not successfully blanketed in lies. I think the truth is being heard. That article was from Mother Earth News... a very popular magazine. It has taken years but Monsanto's track record is making their greedy intentions obvious now. It just shocked me how powerful they had become. So powerful that they could enforce insane (the FDA must have lost its marbles somewhere!) disclaimers on honest law-abiding citizens for meeting true market demand and thereby threatening their profits.

Always follow the money trail, if you can, its sometimes a lot clearer determining what appears to be irrational decisions by those in government.

Sadly... so true.... big money has become not just mere influenece, but outright "governance" over the last couple of decades...

Those in influence refer to it as the "free market" economy....

Our local milk here in Louisiana is labeled rbgh Free and the local dairy Advertizes their milk as holsom and that they wouldn't give their cows anything that they wouldn't give to their kids! Even the store brands are labeled rbgh free! Our local dairy is a family owned and gives tours to the local elementery schools every year and they really stress to the kids the care taken with their cows.
Selective breeding has worked for thousands of years, why do they have to fool around with hormones and GM???

big money has ALWAYS had governance so far
why else was there opposition against education?
why else does big money buy newspapers and communication media?

the internet gives us a possibility to spread counter intelligence
and the truth
which in the past was always smothered by big money

frank

Everything not states its artificial hormone free. Once a few products go on the shelf that stated hormone free nothing else was selling! No I wonder who is just lying, lol

rBGH causes diarrhea problems in our family so we dont touch the name brands.

I watched a documentary called “Attack on the Male” and one of its topics was rbgh. It was shown to reduce both male reproductive size as well as sperm counts. It also brings on earlier maturity of young girls. The stuff acts like a synthetic estrogen. Here is a link to a similar article http://www.tboforums.com/index.php/foru ... read/5810/
The documentary also covered automotive anti-freeze and Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) PCB’s and others which on the molecular level also acts as synthetic estrogen. It covered a pcb spill in the everglades that reduced the wild alligator reproductive size to where they were no longer functional. An effluent discharge from a plant in the UK completely changed the sex of the fish and frogs to all females. Studies on sperm counts suggest that man as a species will be infertile by the middle of the next century.
This next link is really worth the read!
http://www.copa.org/library/articles/toxcat/sperm.htm
http://www.organicconsumers.org/state/MO.cfm
We may all dissapear before we ruin the planet.

Well, thats one way to get zero population growth, lol.. Oh well, least we can have more fun

Well I have 2 kids and thought that was zero population growth, but I like the fun either way!

say you had your kids at between age 20 and 30, and your life expectation would be 80 that would actually be
you 2 + your 2 + your one child's 2 (only 1 counts, because shared with partner) + your other child's 2 (only 1 counts, because shared with partner)= 6
+ maybe your 4 grandchildren's 8 (only 4 count, because shared with partner) = 6+4= 10
starting from you two that is at least tripling to over quadrupling the population growth before you disappear
and even when you disappear, 4 to 8, which is double to quadruple remains.

disconcerting, isn't it?

frank

Which leads us back to the "sustainability" thread....

Hygi,
It's not the 7th son of a 7th thing, ZPG is when the death rate equals the birth rate.