Farmers wage war over milk hormone

There’s a milk war under way in Pennsylvania, with a hormone known as rbST at ground zero.

Farmers who use rbST say the hormone is naturally produced by cows, does not harm cows or humans and can increase milk production.

Farmers who don’t use rbST say the hormone is injurious to cows and might be damaging to humans.

What has sparked the war is a decision by some dairies to label their milk as rbST-free, thus implying that their milk is safer than milk from cows that are injected with rbST, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for commercial use in 1993.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff sides with farmers who use rbST.

Wolff said labels proclaiming milk to be free of artificial growth hormones are misleading and unfair to competitors, but the Agriculture Department and governor’s office are now reconsidering an earlier decision ordering dairies to stop labeling milk containers as hormone-free. That action was supposed to take effect on Jan. 1 but could be delayed a month or more as officials continue to consider arguments from both sides.

Ethics Is Real Issue Behind Milk-Labeling Controversy

the countries of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and all 25 members of the European Union have already banned the use of rBST/rBHG in the production of milk.

This is a major issues in some circles. The ‘documentary’ The Corporation talks about rbST/rbHG quite a bit… though they worry about and attack the wrong people in the film. Most people are not familiar with the controversy. Then again most people aren’t aware the federal government restricts “the transportation and sale in interstate commerce of unpasteurized milk and milk products.” The claim that people will be confused is without merit. They may not know what it is but you’d hope that either the rbST-free labels say what it is or the places which sell the milk could provide documentation if customers requested. Hell… they could just look it up on Google.com. If they don’t educate themselves so be it. If they regulate anything it aught to be requiring those who do use the hormone to label their products. This is corporatism masked as nanny statism. Both of which are bad for the public and the economy. As Joshua Katz says over at LewRockwell.com:

Now, the state of Pennsylvania has outlawed the labels. This is quite harmful to producers who built organic farms, which are much harder to build and maintain, on the expectation of being able to obtain a higher milk price. Now that the milk is not labeled, there will be no price differential, and soon enough there will be no untreated milk available for sale in the state, I’d wager.

I’d agree. Hopefully this falls through… and then lets work on getting rid of the milk cartel subsidies.