State​ Depar​tment​ Plans​ To Deny Knowl​edge Of rBGH In Milk

[Mrs. Sharon B. Hodge]

State​ Depar​tment​ Plans​ To Deny Knowl​edge Of rBGH In Milk



http://current. com/items/89707535/kansas_dept_of_agriculture_looki...

Now state departments of agriculture are looking into denying consumers the right to know if there is rBGH in their milk. There is a case already pending in Ohio, and now Kansas.
It appears Eli Lilly which was sold the patent to POSILAC for 300 million from Monsanto is carrying on their bullying tradition What gives them the right to tell retailers and farmers that they cannot place a "no rBGH hormone" label on their milk if it does not have it?

And the lie that comes from Monsanto and the Dept of Agriculture heads that there is no difference is just that... a lie. If that is the case, cows given it would not be sick with mastitis. It is also a known fact that POSILAC creates more IGF-1 which is the hormone that allows cancer cells to grow.
It has already been proven by doctors, but yet government continues to lie for Monsanto and now Eli Lilly in order to protect their precious profits over the consumers' democratic right to know and their health

When this came up in Ohio last summer many people wrote into their state legislature to complain and state that they wanted labelling.
The same needs to happen in Missouri now If you live in Kansas and you want your democratic right to know preserved, write to the Dept. of Agriculture and the state legislature or call and demand disclosure.
The fact they would try to keep this off the label is very telling

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Fight over adding hormones,
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Reuters
Tue Dec 2, 2008
By Carey Gillam

http://www. reuters. com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE4B17QH20081202

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Anti-biotech forces turned out in Kansas on Tuesday to argue against a state plan that would limit how dairy products free from artificial hormones can be labeled

The Kansas Department of Agriculture held its final hearing on the matter Tuesday morning, considering a regulation that would ban dairy product labels from stating the product as "rBST free.
" The law would take effect in January 2010

In addition to banning "rBST-free" claims, the rule would require that labels declaring products to have been derived from cows not supplemented with the growth hormone to carry companion disclaimers saying "the FDA has determined that no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBST-supplemented and non-rBST-supplemented cows"

The move comes at a time when consumer and retailer opposition to injecting dairy cows with added growth hormones is on the rise

Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) is a synthetic growth hormone injected into cows to increase their milk production, that some fear harm to animal and human health, including links to cancer

Biotech backers have been fighting back, arguing that artificial hormones help cows produce more milk, do not create health problems for the animals or humans and argue that labels making a distinction needlessly confuse consumers when there is no discernible difference in products derived from cows that receive the hormones and those that do not

"We simply want labels to not be misleading," said Kansas Agriculture Department spokeswoman Lisa Taylor

But opponents claim there are human and animal health risks associated with the artificial growth hormones and they say consumers have the right to know about the products they buy

"This would make a truthful claim illegal and violate the first amendment," said Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen, who testified at the Kansas hearing Tuesday

A coalition of more than 90 groups representing dairy farmers, consumers groups, farm, agricultural and environmental organizations, food processors and retailers submitted a letter to Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to oppose the new rules

The move by Kansas comes after Ohio was sued over a similar measure this summer.
A ruling in that case is still pending

St. Louis-based Monsanto Co, a leading developer of biotech crops, had been the sole producer of the artificial hormone supplement, which it branded as Posilac.
The supplement is produced through recombinant DNA technology

The company began selling FDA-approved Posilac in 1994 as a tool for boosting milk production in cows but sold the unit in October to Eli Lilly and Co for $300 million

(Reporting by Carey Gillam; Editing by Marguerita Choy