Monsanto Poisons Our Milk - R-U Surprised???

minnikin1 · #1 03/27/07, 09:15 AM

Monsanto - How Now Brown Cow?

Sunday, March 18 2007 @ 07:49 AM PDT
Contributed by: John Peck
Views: 1,534
After decades of being consumed in the U.S., Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) may be headed to the technological dustbin due to human health concerns. Will this be the fate of other genetically modified organisms (GMOs)?

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/articl...70318074922402

texican · #2 03/27/07, 09:37 AM

I somewhat agree with the principles espoused by the "Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility" (socialists)... however, I do wonder what they're plan is for feeding the masses. The price of milk is to some degree ruled by the price of supply and demand, and the economies of scale. Larger operations/cheaper prices... cheaper prices mean po' folks can drink the stuff. Let the whole system crash, I buy oh so very little milk each year anyhow....

Irrelevant in my case... looking to build a room in my barn for the commercial fridge, so we can put all of the extra milk birdiegirl and I are getting each day... goat milk in the morning and cow milk in the evening. No drugs, no bgh, or any other naughty stuff.

Madame · #3 03/27/07, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by minnikin1

Monsanto - How Now Brown Cow?

Sunday, March 18 2007 @ 07:49 AM PDT
Contributed by: John Peck
Views: 1,534
After decades of being consumed in the U.S., Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) may be headed to the technological dustbin due to human health concerns. Will this be the fate of other genetically modified organisms (GMOs)?

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/articl...70318074922402

Lordy, I hope so!

**Terri** · #4 03/27/07, 12:23 PM

Interesting.

Organic milk is really in good demand here in Kansas. I wonder if it was the hormone bit in cattle that sparked it?

It is $2 more per gallon, but the local supermarket is selling a lot of it.

NWoods_Hippie · #5 03/27/07, 12:45 PM

Oh I so hope that ALL GMOs and rBGH disappear completely!!

Anyone ever read "My Year of Meats", by Ruth Ozeki? While it is fiction a TON of research went into the book, one instance is about a little girl growing up on a cattle ranch/feed lot, at 6 years old she had already developed breasts and starting to have her period...chalk this up to BGH!

Margie

haypoint · #6 03/27/07, 01:03 PM

Hate to rain on your parade, but that milk you are drinking came from cows that have BGH in them. All cows do. It is there naturally. It was discovered that if you increase the amount of BGH in the cows, they produce more milk. This makes the milk more affordable so more people can enjoy the healthful benifits of milk.
Since natural BGH amounts vary from cow to cow or farm to farm, there isn't a way to test to see if extra BGH has been given to the cows or not. Because consumers object to BGH being given to cows that they get their milk from, some farm dairy cooperatives have voluntarily stated that they won't give their cows BGH. When given a choice, consumers often chose milk that comes from cows not treated to extra BGH. While there is no way to check milk to be sure, the public is willing to accept the promise from the producers not to use extra BGH. This isn't anything scientific, it is mearly the results of public perception and demand.
If the public prefered yellow butter to pale butter, we'd end up with yellow butter. When the public demand was greater for red apples over yellow or russet apples, we end up with rows of red apples. When the EU uses any excuse to bar our products, GM wheat becomes a lost cause. Doesn't have to have any scientific or even logical reason.
Down goes milk production, up goes the price, whee everyone's a winner.
How about a movement to take all chemically created hormones off the market?

arabian knight · #7 03/27/07, 01:07 PM

That is so much ..

That I can't believe it~! I drink gals and gals of STORE bought milk, and have for the last 40 years. I MEAN Gals too. I just picked up 2 gals today and that will be GONE in about 4 days~! And I live alone~! Maybe even sooner then that if the days stay as warm as they have been.

NWoods_Hippie · #8 03/27/07, 01:26 PM

Haypoint,
Not trying to start an argument here, cause in the past we have had good converstations, but rBGH is different from naturally occuring BGH.

"Since the recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) was introduced onto the market in 1993, a limited percentage of the US milk supply has come from cows injected with the hormone. Since the milk of many different cows is routinely co-mingled in bulk tanks at most of the nation’s dairies, this means that the majority of non-organic dairy products probably contain at least trace levels of rBGH. While Monsanto, the maker of rBGH, claims that up to one-third of US cows have been injected, critics of the drug believe the actual figure is more like 57 percent. In response to rBGH’s introduction into the milk business, several hundred companies now require written affidavits from their milk suppliers that no rBGH was injected into the cows, and label the milk as rBGH-free. Approximately 10 percent of fluid milk in the US is now labeled rBGH-free."

I don't mind something that naturally occures in milk, but I do have a problem with rBGH!

Margie

**Terri** · #9 03/27/07, 01:27 PM

Haypoint, I am aware of this.

I am not, however, satisfied with the research done on whether or not the milk from cows who have been given additional hormones are entirely safe for my developing children.

I am willing to pay more for my peace of mind, and I do.

wyld thang · #10 03/27/07, 02:26 PM

Here in Oregon it is easy(at least in my town) to find labeled milk with no rBGH from local dairies, the price is no different. We've been buying it since they started labeling(it seems like it's been 7-8 years?). We go through 6-7 gallons a week

anniew · #11 03/27/07, 02:29 PM

JUst like they found out that women taking hormone treatments maybe isn't such a good idea, I don't think adding rBST to cows is any good either. I think they got their alloted share at birth and we shouldn't play with mother nature.
Milk prices are not set by supply and demand. If so, the farmers would be getting more dollars per hundredweight than they are. When the price of milk goes up, the farmers still get the same amount. It's all the middlemen and the regulated price rigging that changes the retail price.
Another related issue is the failure of our legislators to require labeling. We don't know what we are getting most of the time unless we buy organic. In the supermarket we have no idea if regular milk is all from hormone added cows or a mix or nothing, unless it is organic.
In fruits and veggies, we often don't know if the stuff came from the US or some other country where the regs for pesticides, for instance, are so different. Unfortunately, the only healthy choice is to buy organic, when a little labeling might make things earlier to choose wisely. Some will say that organic doesn't mean much, but in most cases it does, although some of the conglomerate produces constantly try to water down the regs.
We are in a terrible food mess. But then, isn't everything the government touches a mess!
Ann

haypoint · #12 03/27/07, 03:01 PM

I'll have to continue to research this. It is my understanding that you can't test milk to see if rBGH has been injected into the cows. That is why the processing plants require signed afidavids. They just have to go on the word of the farmer.
The milk I buy is from a dairy that has its farmers agree to not use rBGH. Each gallon of milk has a label that reads "Farmer Certified from cows not treated with rBGH" then after that is the disclaimer, "No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBGH treated and non-rBGH treated cows." In other words they realize the public doesn't want their milk from rBGH injected cows and dispite the lack of difference in the milk, chose to apease the consumer.

texican · #13 03/27/07, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arabian knight

That is so much ..

That I can't believe it~! I drink gals and gals of STORE bought milk, and have for the last 40 years. I MEAN Gals too. I just picked up 2 gals today and that will be GONE in about 4 days~! And I live alone~! Maybe even sooner then that if the days stay as warm as they have been.

Somehow? I 'read' gals and gals correctly as 'gallons'... later when you said you just pick up 2 gals, I 'read' it as 'two females'.... and I had to read it several times to get 'er straight. I was wondering there for a while how you went thru two gals so quickly.

...oh well... had to come in for a snack, and couldn't resist reading the latest updates...

Dirtslinger · #14 03/27/07, 04:27 PM

BGH was always known to cause problems, it hasn't been allowed in Canada in years. I never understood why it was allowed in the States.

sammyd · #15 03/28/07, 06:44 AM

Quote:

a little girl growing up on a cattle ranch/feed lot, at 6 years old she had already developed breasts and starting to have her period...chalk this up to BGH!

If it is a ranch/feedlot which is for beef, how do you make the connection to BGH which is a dairy thing?

Quote:

Milk prices are not set by supply and demand. If so, the farmers would be getting more dollars per hundredweight than they are. When the price of milk goes up, the farmers still get the same amount. It's all the middlemen and the regulated price rigging that changes the retail price.

Really? Then why are some co-ops getting together to do a herd buyout to help prices stay up? Why do milk prices go down when there is a surplus?
I'll agree that sometimes dairy farmers don't get what they should but the market is supply/demand driven. On the other hand I've been paying really low prices for milk at the store (1.75/gal, just went up to 1.89 yesterday) and milk prices (for class III)have been pretty decent-over 14/hdwt for a while now which is almost 2 dollars better than last year (http://hoards.com/market_news/priceClassIII.htm).
But milk prices are hard to gauge by what you pay for a gallon of milk as the price also has much to do with cheese and butter prices.

haypoint · #16 03/28/07, 07:36 AM

This is one of this topics where people are going to believe what they want. I'm sure that when the first organ transplants were done, many were agast at the prospect of medical science creating Frankinsteins. But today it is common and safe. Same way with pig valves in humans. Floride in our drinking water has proponents and opponents even after 50 years in thousands of cities and hundreds of studies. Any discussion on rBGH seems to be people of opposite viewpoints expressing their views in a number of differerent ways, with neither side really believing the other. Wouldn't be so bad, but each side wants to convert the other, "I like it so everyone should have it" or "I don't like it so no one should be allowed to have it." I could site study after study, I could explain why rBGH doesn't get into humans, I could list the overall benifits, but why? Not one person is going to change their mind no matter what facts are presented. In this country we all have a choice. Most areas have milk from cows not treated with rBGH available. If that's what you want, buy it. What I don't understand is people that don't want it in cows they get their milk from, but want to impress their beliefs on the industry at large, so no one can have a choice. Here is a bit of Wicapedia info:
The sequence and 3D structure of the bovine growth hormone protein are significantly different from the human growth hormone protein.
While specific information about the production of rBST is proprietary, the technology is commonly used to produce other proteins such as human insulin.
Cows that receive rBGH are not genetically engineered. rBGH is the same as other treatments such as insulin that are used in humans.
The FDA states that all milk contains hormones and "milk cannot be produced in a way that renders it free of hormones."
The first rBGH drug to be approved is POSILAC®, made by the Monsanto Company. Its active ingredient, sometribove, is synthesized not by a cow but by coliform bacteria. Because rBGH is different in composition from natural bovine growth hormone, testing can distinguish milk from POSILAC®-treated cows; yet the FDA has, so far, declined to require this test.

arabian knight · #17 03/28/07, 07:52 AM

The pricing of milk is really dumb. It was started many years ago that the Further away you lived from, Now get this Eau Claire, WI. the MORE you got for your milk. In other words those dairy farmers right in my back yard, as I live 16 miles South of Eau Claire Got Less for their milk then anybody else in the country. Say in Iowa, they got more for their milk then folks in WI. but those in AZ. and CA. got even More then those in Iowa and so on~! Now that geographical point has been Moved into the North East. Now the further away from I think it is Boston but don't quote me on that, but now that city is the "marker". How many people KNEW that now????? This move was just done a couple of years ago too......