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rBGH milk sweeping the nation, despite health concerns

Despite evidence that it may be harmful to human health, recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) milk is spreading across the nation.

rBGH is injected into about 30 percent of the nation's cows, according to Monsanto, the company behind the controversial hormone. Extracted from cows' pituitary glands, rBGH increases milk input by as much as 20 or 30 percent. rBGH milk is added to cream, cheese, yogurts and baked goods, but is not labeled.

While Monsanto claims that rBGH milk is just as safe as regular milk, experts say dozens of studies show otherwise.

Dr. Samuel Epstein, professor of environmental and occupational medicine at University of Illinois School of Public Health in Chicago, told MSNBC that some studies indicate that insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), a protein found in slightly higher levels in milk from hormone-treated cows than normal milk, has been linked to cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration gave its stamp of approval to rBGH in 1993, dismissing safety concerns. Two FDA scientists cleared rBGH in an article appearing in the journal Science. In Canada, however, government scientists came to a much different conclusion. Shiv Chopra of Canada's Health Protection Branch and four of his colleagues found evidence that the FDA had overlooked, or even suppressed, studies showing adverse reactions to rBGH in rats, Chopra says.

"Although the paper published in Science gave the product a clean bill of health, the U.S. FDA ignored the harder information, a 90-day study of rats showing that the hormone did indeed get absorbed into their bloodstreams, and that it produced antibodies and lesions," Chopra told MSNBC. He added, "I'm afraid to say that despite all that is known about the adverse reactions that cows have to the drug, and the ample evidence of human health concerns as well, that the U.S. government took an expedient route to approval with this drug."

In 1999, Canada decided not to approve rBGH milk.

Ben & Jerry's ice cream, which has an arrangement with its dairy supplier to purchase only non-rBGH dairy products, has a web page devoted to its arguments against the hormone. According to Ben & Jerry's, some studies report a 79 percent increase in mastisis (infection of the udder) in cows, resulting in the need for greater use of antibiotics, reduced pregnancy rates, cystic ovaries and uterine disorders, digestive disorders and lacerations, and enlargements and calluses of the knee.

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