Gore Vs. The Environment
US - According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, which regularly surveys the cost of food, the average price for a half-gallon of milk from cows not supplemented with bST, a protein used to stimulate milk production, was $3.01, 36 percent higher than a half-gallon of regular milk ($2.22), while the average price for a half-gallon of organic milk was $3.65, or 65 percent higher than a half-gallon of regular milk.
1 August 2007
2 minute read
(The protein, produced naturally by a cow’s pituitary gland, is one of the substances that control its milk production. It can be made in large quantities with gene-splicing techniques. The gene-spliced and natural versions are identical with no detectable difference in the milk itself.)
The use of bST is environmentally responsible in several important ways. For every million cows supplemented with bST each year, 6.6 billion gallons of water (enough to supply 26,000 homes) are conserved.
The use of bST is environmentally responsible in several important ways. For every million cows supplemented with bST each year, 6.6 billion gallons of water (enough to supply 26,000 homes) are conserved. With much of the nation enduring a drought and many cities in the West experiencing water shortages, this is a significant benefit.
The amount of animal feed consumed each year by those million bST-supplemented cows is reduced by more than 3 billion pounds. This helps keep the lid on corn prices, even as much of the nation’s corn harvest is diverted to producing ethanol for cars. And the amount of land required to raise the cattle and grow their food is reduced by more than 417 square miles.
At the same time, more than 5.5 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel (enough to power 8,800 homes) are saved, greenhouse gas emissions are lowered by 30,000 metric tons (because fewer cows means less methane produced by bovine intestinal tracts), and manure production is decreased by about 3.6 million tons, reducing the chances of runoff getting into waterways and groundwater.
Ironically, the opposition of Mr. Gore and his staff to bST (as well as other applications of biotechnology) prolonged the FDA’s review and delayed for years the approval of gene-spliced bST. Largely as a result of pressure from them and several members of Congress, the regulatory review of bST took nine years, while the evaluation of an almost identical product for injection into growth hormone-deficient children had taken a mere 18 months.
