Mother’s milk
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Bad news from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: consumers will no longer be able to tell from looking at a milk label if the milk contains bovine growth hormones, antibiotics, or pesticides. State Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff says using labels that read ‘rBGH-free’ or ‘pesticide-free’ only confuse all of us hapless, idiotic consumers because we mistakenly think milk produced from cows who aren’t chock full of drugs is somehow better for us.
Some of the dairies imply their product is safer than others through absence labeling, telling consumers what is not present in the milk as opposed to what is, Wolff said.
Claims such as “antibiotic-free” and “pesticide-free” are misleading, because all processed milk sold in Pennsylvania is tested a minimum of 10 times to guarantee it is free of such substances, which are illegal for milk to contain, he said.
Consumers rely on product labels to decide what to buy and feed their families, Wolff said. The department must approve labels for milk sold in Pennsylvania and there has been more and more marketing that makes it hard for consumers to make informed decisions, he said.
Never mind that rBGH is banned in Canada and Europe, and even the U.S. General Accounting Office and the Consumer’s Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, fully admit that drinking milk derived from rBGH-treated cows is potentially hazardous to humans. Earlier this year, both the U.S. FDA and FTC ruled that rBGH- and antiobiotic-free milk labeling was appropriate and legal. Who would possibly want to know that their milk is rBGH-free?
Sadly, Wawa only recently announced that they will process and sell milk that is free of artificial growth hormones. One has to wonder how this will affect their Pennsylvania stores.
Under the new labeling ban, 16 Pennsylvania companies will have to ‘correct’ their labels by January 1.
Rumor has it that Monsanto, the drug giant that produces rBGH, has been working overtime to pressure Pennsylvania Ag heads to get rid of the ‘confusing’ labeling.
Ugh, this really bothers me. Currently we do a lot of shopping at Trader Joe’s, and all of their milk is labeled rGBH-free. If the dairies discover how to convey this illicit information after the ban, please post about it.
I wonder if they could get away with saying “From rGBH-free cows” instead saying that the milk itself is rGBH-free?
The Center for Food Safety has a campaign to send emails to Governor Rendell and the PA Department of Agriculture Food Safety on this. See: http://ga3.org/campaign/PA_rBGH/wu5nke7rl77wwxm3?
While this is certainly frustrating news and allowing consumers to choose milk free of rBGH, you’ll be happy to know that milk producers/associations themselves here in PA are beginning to voluntarily eliminate rBGH. My family owns a dairy farm and the company that takes our milk and sells it (and does so for a large number of the family farms in PA) has moved to ban rBGH milk in their supply, meaning either the farmers have to stop using it or find another company to take their milk. Educated consumers’ demands for hormone free milk are being heard at the ground level and no amount of lobbying in Harrisburg by a bigshot company is going to be able to stop that if we keep raising our voices as all-mighty consumers.