5 April 2007

2 minute read

North America

Montano, the sole producer of the hormone, have collected more than 500 letters from concerned individuals and posted them to the Food And Drug Administration, alleging that many milk labels are 'misleading' and portray milk  from rBST dairy to be inferior. It is not the first time that Montano have complained and is a sure sign that they are reeling from the attack

Kevin Holloway, the president of Monsanto Dairy Business says "The people who signed these letters are dairy producers, industry professionals and consumers from across the country who have expressed concerns about specific labels they find to be false or misleading." But the argument is inconclusive.

BST or bovine somatotropin is a naturally occurring protein hormone in the pituitary gland of cattle. However, Monsanto's synthetic version, rBST, is a growth hormone that is injected into a cow to increase milk production.

The hormone, which Monsanto terms a "supplement", is widely used around the US. According to the firm's estimates, about one third of the nation's dairy cattle are given rBST. However, the practice is banned in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and most of the EU.

FDA conducted a thorough review of POSILAC before approving the product in 1993 and determined milk from supplemented cows to be the same as milk from non-supplemented cows. Since then a series of scientific studies have caused hysteria by indicating that rBST might be implicated in causing sterility, infertility, birth defects, cancer and immunological derangements in humans. In cows, it is thought to increase infections in cow udders, leading to more pus ending up in retail milk.

Montano aggressively contend these findings and point towards another more recent study that claims all milk naturally contain the same hormones. Though the findings are hardly conclusive as the main body of researchers were sponsored by Montano itself.

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