Stores Won’t Stock Milk of Cows Treated With Hormone : Agriculture: Several major grocery chains say they will wait and gauge consumer sentiment. Processors say the drug is safe.
Several of the state’s major supermarket chains said Friday that for now they will not carry products from cows treated with a genetically engineered hormone that makes the animals give more milk.
The grocers say they have not taken a stance on the synthetic bovine somatotropin, or BST, but that their suppliers--dairy cooperatives, creameries and processors--have told them they will not handle milk coming from dairy farms where BST will be used. Many say they are adopting a wait-and-see attitude and will take their guidance from consumer reaction.
St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. began selling its version of BST for the first time Friday, under the brand name Posilac. The company said first-day sales exceeded its optimistic projections, but opponents of the drug seem to be succeeding in staving off its use by many dairy farmers.
Two groups are heading the campaign against Posilac. One, the Pure Food Campaign, is an offshoot of the Foundation on Economic Trends, a Washington organization led by Jeremy Rifkin, a longtime opponent of biotechnology and genetic engineering techniques. The other is Consumers Union, an activist arm of the organization that publishes Consumer Reports magazine.
The two groups say they believe the drug is harmful to human health. Other opponents say they fear it will put small, family-operated dairy farms at an even greater disadvantage against larger, more efficient operations.
However, many retailers and processors say they believe the drug is safe and the milk from cows treated with it perfectly harmless. Scientific tests have shown there is no discernible difference between milk from treated and untreated cows.
California grocery chains Albertson’s, Lucky, Ralphs, Stater Bros. and Vons said they will not at this time carry products from cows treated with BST. The nation’s largest grocery chain, Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., has also asked its suppliers to provide milk that isn’t produced with the hormone.
In California, the opponents are more active in the northern part of the state, where creameries and cooperatives report being deluged with calls from worried consumers. In the southern part of the state, farmers, creameries and grocery stores report few or no calls from consumers on the issue.
At the San Joaquin Valley Dairymen cooperative, Richard Cotta said, “From our perspective, it’s a product that has the approval and blessing of everybody in the country who understands (it) and knows what’s going on, and we just don’t understand what’s the big to-do about it.”
BST Briefing
Facts about the BST hormone that stimulates milk production in cows:
* BST stands for bovine somatotropin, a protein hormone created by the pituitary gland of cows. Traces of the hormone occur naturally in milk.
* Monsanto Co. of St. Louis has created a copy of this hormone by taking a gene from a cow, implanting it in a bacterium and growing it.
* The hormone must be injected in cows because it is destroyed when ingested. Increased production begins within a day or two and reaches its peak after six to eight weeks. Cows must be injected every two weeks.
* An average cow produces about 1,800 gallons of milk a year. By one estimate, BST will increase that figure by about 209 gallons annually.
* The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates drugs for people and animals, has found BST safe for both, although some increase in udder infections was associated with the higher milk production. Monsanto, working with the FDA, will conduct a post-approval monitoring program to check for any unusual increase in infections and antibiotic treatment.
