Docs Sour Over Bovine Growth Hormone
US - Walk into a Starbucks and order your java "No caf, no whip" and they'll know what you mean. Ask for "no rBGH" and they'll be clueless.
17 October 2007
1 minute read
rBGH? That's short for "recombinant bovine growth hormone" -- also known as BGH. Starbucks management isn't clueless on BGH -- their milk will be BGH-free by the end of the year.
Rick North heads the Campaign for Safe Food in Oregon. He said, "The foundation of this house of cards is consumer ignorance because once consumers find out about this stuff they will understand why Canada, all 25 countries of the European Union, Australia, and New Zealand have all banned the use of rBGH."
Sunshine Dairy in Portland, Ore., was ahead of the curve.
"In 1995 is when we got our first load, our first tanker of milk in -- that we started segregating for certain customers that we're asking for it," Manager Mike Prom said.
In 1998, they got rid of it altogether.
So what's the beef about rBGH?
Made by chemical giant Monsanto, it's better known as Posilac. Injections make the cows produce more milk. Cows then also produce more of a growth factor called IGF-1 into the milk. IGF-1 is identical in both cows and humans.
"Increased levels of IGF-1 are associated with a number of cancers such as breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer," Dr. Martin Donohue, with Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility said.
