Sing it with me now: I want my rBGH-free! OK, so it’s less catchy than the Dire Straits song, but whatever.
This special report from the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility (via Organic Consumers Association) has some cheering news for those of us who prefer milk free of Monsanto’s synthetic hormones, the long-term effects of which have not been adequately studied. (rBGH is a genetically engineered drug, designed to increase milk production, that has been banned in Europe and Canada due to its indication of increased risks for breast and colon cancer and antibiotic resistance; recently it has been linked to an increase in twin births. Roughly 18% of U.S. dairy cows get injected with the drug, and their milk goes into the general pool — including in Starbucks products.)
Appears consumer demand has caused a shortage of rBGH-free milk, and Dean Foods, Wal-Mart and Kroger, and possibly others, are on a nationwide search for the pure stuff. Running scared, Monsanto has cut prices on rBGH!
Note to those looking for milk in the hinterlands over the summer: Tillamook, the second largest producer of block cheese in the U.S., is rBGH-free these days. So is Eberhard Dairy, Central Oregon’s largest dairy processing plant; Alpenrose Dairy in Portland; Garelick, a large East Coast dairy processor; and Meadow Gold and Darigold Farms, Montana’s largest milk producers.
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