Washington, DC – Monsanto’s announcement that it is
“repositioning” Posilac, its artificial growth hormone used in
milk production and more commonly known as rBGH, is good news for
consumers but not the end of the struggle for food safety
advocates, warned the national consumer rights organization Food &
Water Watch today.
“News of Monsanto’s divestment of Posilac is one more sign that
no-one wants the growth hormone rBGH used in milk production, not
even the company that makes it,” said Food & Water Watch Executive
Director Wenonah Hauter. “In the last year we’ve seen retailers
including Walmart, Kroger, and Starbucks fall like dominoes in the
race to meet consumer demand for artificial growth hormone-free
milk. “
Food & Water Watch contends that the last several attempts by
Monsanto to salvage rBGH’s profitability have been underhanded.
Just last month, a widely publicized study came out with the claim
that rBGH was good for the environment. Much coverage of the study
failed to note that the lead researcher was in fact a Monsanto
consultant and another researcher was the company’s technical
manager for rBGH.
“RBGH is not used by small-eco-friendly farms. The artificial
hormone has contributed to the growth of mega-dairy operations
that cram together thousands of cows generating mountains of waste
that are toxic to us and to our environment,” explained Hauter.
At the same time Monsanto tried to fix the image of rBGH, the
company has been trying to limit consumer information on the
artificial hormone. Faced with consistent resistance in the
marketplace and a failed attempt to get the U.S. Food & Drug
Administration to restrict “rBGH-free” labels even more, through
the group AFACT, Monsanto started going to state governments to
limit “artificial hormone-free” labels.
“Monsanto has been urging state agriculture departments and
Governors to deny consumers the right to whether or not rBGH was
used on their milk and that threat is very real no matter who is
manufacturing the hormone,” continued Hauter.
In Ohio, the consumer opposition to limiting labels was simply
ignored by the state agriculture department. Using a Freedom of
Information Act request, Food & Water Watch obtained all official
comments submitted to the agency. Of the handful of supporters of
the rule, every single one of them was connected to the dairy
industry, meaning they had a financial stake in the outcome of the
rule.
“The bottom line is this is another victory for consumers against
artificial hormones in milk,” concluded Hauter.
Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer rights organization
that challenges the corporate control and abuse of our food and
water resources. The fact sheet rBGH: Anything But Green can be
found at
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/foodsafety/dairy/rbgh-not-green