What the Media is Saying

[lakenheath]

BST, or rbST, or BGH is the Bovine Growth Hormone which may now be
legally injected into dairy cows. Dairies who elect not to use this
manufactured hormone are allowed to state ONLY that the milk/cheese
etc. comes from animals which were not
treated with the substance,
and cannot state that the products are rbST-free, even though this
would be a true statement.

I was living in Illinois, just seven miles south of Wisconsin, when
he BGH scandal first made the news. According to news reports
there, the USDA had sent agents to approach individual dairies,
offering them the hormone. The farmers were told to expect a 40%
increase in milk yield, BUT the injections were to be kept secret
from the public and from the state's department of agriculture.

All went along fine for the first few years, until treated cows
began to drop dead from extremely agressive forms of cancers to
their female organs. The farmers were unable to get compensation
from the USDA for the cows, and took them to court. Once this
happened, the state's agricultural people, and later the entire
state legislature, figuratively speaking, had a cow. The farmers'
customers switched to non-BGH dairies, and the state went to work on
legislation to require labeling of any products from cows which had
been treated with BGH.

It was a case of David and Goliath, and David lost. Goliath had his
own inspectors reclassify the deaths of the cows, so that there
would be no mention of the hormone injections. The new federal law
means that other states, who may wish to challenge BGH, cannot do
so. So much for "states rights".
The reason why this is ultimately of concern, is that humans are
genetically very similar to cows...that's why we can drink cow milk, and why in times of war, we have used cow blood for transfusions.

Trace amounts of BGH which theoretically could remain in the
products, perhaps if the injections were given incorrectly, would be
consumed by the end user of the product. Artificially manufactured
hormones, which have been linked to fatal cancers, are not the best
idea that I have heard this week!

When we heard the news from Wisconsin, we switched to dairy products
that were from Illinois only. Here in Texas, I've heard that Kroger
plans to carry only non-BGH dairy products. Hopefully, this trend
will continue. No matter WHAT the USDA says, we can VOTE with our
DOLLARS, until this hormone is not used.

[lakenheath]

Parsel, AdamSmith, Fransico and company would propably drink sewage if Monsanto told them it was safe. Lets use some common sense here guys. Why is cancer out of control in North America? When are children hitting puberty at the age of 8 and 9? It is time to wake up and look past theoretical economic models and use some damn common sense. Do you want to feed your child BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone). Fransico says it is just natural (which is propably the stupidest statement I have heard in years). Read the scientific studies on this stuff. It will blow you away.

But oh no, I am fear mongering according to Adam Smith.

[lakenheath]

Traditional small dairies, located primarily in the Northeast and Midwest, are going out of business. They are being replaced by intensive 'dry lot' dairies, which are typically located in the Southwest U.S.

Regardless of where they live, however, all dairy cows must give birth in order to begin producing milk. Today, dairy cows are forced to have a calf every year. Like human beings, cows have a nine-month gestation period, and so giving birth every twelve months is physically demanding. The cows are also artificially re-impregnated while they are still lactating from their previous birthing, so their bodies are still producing milk during seven months of their nine-month pregnancy.
With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, it is common for modern dairy cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day — ten times more than they would produce naturally. As a result, the cows' bodies are under constant stress, and they are at risk for numerous health problems.

Approximately half of the country's dairy cows suffer from mastitis, a bacterial infection of their udders. This is such a common and costly ailment that a dairy industry group, the National Mastitis Council, was formed specifically to combat the disease. Other diseases, such as Bovine Leukemia Virus, Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus, and Johne's disease (whose human counterpart is Crohn's disease) are also rampant on modern dairies, but they commonly go unnoticed because they are either difficult to detect or have a long incubation period.
A cow eating a normal grass diet could not produce milk at the abnormal levels expected on modern dairies, and so today's dairy cows must be given high energy feeds. The unnaturally rich diet causes metabolic disorders including ketosis, which can be fatal, and laminitis, which causes lameness.

Another dairy industry disease caused by intensive milk production is "Milk Fever." This ailment is caused by calcium deficiency, and it occurs when milk secretion depletes calcium faster than it can be replenished in the blood.

In a healthy environment, cows would live in excess of twenty-five years, but on modern dairies, they are slaughtered and made into ground beef after just three or four years. The abuse wreaked upon the bodies of dairy cows is so intense that the dairy industry also is a huge source of "downed animals" — animals who are so sick or injured that they are unable to walk even stand. Investigators have documented downed animals routinely being beaten, dragged, or pushed with bulldozers in attempts to move them to slaughter.

Although the dairy industry is familiar with the cows' health problems and suffering associated with intensive milk production, it continues to subject cows to even worse abuses in the name of increased profit. Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), a synthetic hormone, is now being injected into cows to get them to produce even more milk. Besides adversely affecting the cows' health, BGH also increases birth defects in their calves.

Calves born to dairy cows are separated from their mothers immediately after birth. The half that are born female are raised to replace older dairy cows in the milking herd. The other half of the calves are male, and because they will never produce milk, they are raised and slaughtered for meat. Most are killed for beef, but about one million are used for veal.

The veal industry was created as a by-product of the dairy industry to take advantage of an abundant supply of unwanted male calves. Veal calves commonly live for eighteen to twenty weeks in wooden crates that are so small that they cannot turn around, stretch their legs, or even lie down comfortably. The calves are fed a liquid milk substitute, deficient in iron and fiber, which is designed to make the animals anemic, resulting in the light-colored flesh that is prized as veal. In addition to this high-priced veal, some calves are killed at just a few days old to be sold as low-grade 'bob' veal for products like frozen TV dinners.

[nw9flynn]

lakenhealth,

obviously this information is available to everyone. If one deems the product to be safe people should be allowed to have the choice. This debate sounds very familar to organic's VS conventional farm goods. People on that side of the debate claim that our current state of farm practices is ending the planet. Those people now choose to spend more for organic products. People that do not beleive the argument pay less. Why could they supply managed sector work the same way? People that want a CDN made product without the horomones could purchase these products. If there is a demand the market will fill the need. How can we expect other countries to end their subsidy programs when we are just as bad?

[parsley]

lakenheath,

I am an organic farmer. It is a choice.

Choice is the important issue here.

I don't really have to get into a "mine is better than yours" contest, because that detracts from what is important.

There is safety in diversity.

It can be argued organic milk is hogwash. It can be argued conventional Canadian milk is totally 100% safe. It can be argued American milk will kill every child before the age of three. It can be argued milk should be banned altogether.

So my argument is this, and it is a consistent one, let farmers choose what is appropriate for themselves. Let them serve the markets they know, are comfortable with, and make money from.

If the majority of consumers want aspartame, so be it, if they want to buy milk from Bovine Growth Hormone injected cows, that is their choice.

As long as I can have my choice too, to follow the path I want to take, I must be satisfied that I cannot possibly know all the answers, debunk all the myths, or unravel the sound from the insane.

Monopolies do not entertain, let alone allow, diversity.

Milk monopolies or wheat monopolies or child-rearing monopolies or health-care monopolies all eventually reveal the utter stupidity of man.

Smart people will make sure they choose on their own terms and as your read before in another thread, they will look up from their computer and it is spring.

And they make a smarter choice.

Parsley