Terry Etherton’s Blog on Hormones, Biotechnology, and Food Safety

Terry Etherton

Another week, another full page ad in the Sunday New York Times from Starbucks. How much do these go for now, $80k, $100k? (Maybe they are getting a discount because of this agreement.) This week’s version touts their relationship with the small farms from whom they purchase their beans—at a premium price, they point out. I wonder if they are aware that American dairy farmers are not getting those same premiums from the processors who supply Starbucks the milk that they are now demanding be from cows not treated with supplemental recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST). Read the rest of this entry »

Cory Meyers, DVM
Marion, PA

Rome was not built in a day. Neither was the dairy industry. Like Rome, the dairy industry has gone through an impressive Golden Age of scientific and technological discovery and development that has significantly enhanced productivity and efficiency. Unfortunately, the parallels continue. The end of Rome began when internal strife and governmental ineptitude disintegrated the social fabric. Internal weakness and strife made the country more susceptible to attack from outside forces which perpetuated the splintering of the empire. Read the rest of this entry »

Terry Etherton

Fix it.

That is what the dairy industry should do. The “stealing your milk money” ploy engineered by some in the cohort of dairy cooperatives, dairy processors and retailers to gouge consumers and cheat dairy producers by creating an organic-lite milk niche, rbST-free milk, continues. Read the rest of this entry »

Dale E Bauman
Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor
262 Morrison Hall
Department of Animal Science
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853-4801

Recently, there have been a number of comments on Dairy-L and occasionally a popular press article, which have proclaimed that Cornell University has developed a test for bST use in dairy cows; the articles have sometimes quoted Dr. R.C. Gorewit, the originator of the “test”, and referred to a 1997 patent he obtained for the test. These articles have led to a large amount of confusion: the following addresses some of the most frequently asked questions. Read the rest of this entry »

Chad Dechow
Assistant Professor of Dairy Cattle Genetics
Department of Dairy and Animal Science
The Pennsylvania State University

The evil “Big Oil” companies are under threat of legislation and Congressional investigation for profiteering because they dare to make an entire 9 to 10 pennies per gallon of gasoline. Imagine the fun Congress could have with the folks selling rbST-free milk. For a mere dollar or two extra, you can now buy a gallon of milk from cows not treated with rbST. Only don’t pretend you’re helping out the hard working farmers who milk non rbST-treated cows. They will receive little or none of that premium. Read the rest of this entry »

Terry Etherton

Anti-biotech activists continue their drum beat of: danger, danger, don’t drink milk because it has hormones, hormones….you will get cancer! The propaganda they have shoveled out linking milk insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I – a naturally occurring protein hormone found in ALL milk) to an increased risk of cancer is an astonishing piece of nonsense. However, no problem – activist groups have never concerned themselves about basing their scare tactics on scientific facts. It saves time to just make it up! Read the rest of this entry »

New Data Show Milk Marketing Claims Are Misleading – Scientific Analysis of Retail Milk Samples from 48 States Shows No Difference in Concentrations of bST, IGF-1 and Progesterone; No Antibiotics Found in Milk

ST LOUIS, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Monsanto announced on January 25, 2007 that new data from a national study of milk show that marketing claims implying that milk from cows not treated with POSILAC bovine somatotropin (bST) is safer or healthier are misleading. Scientific analysis of retail milk samples gathered from 48 states showed no difference in concentrations of bST, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), progesterone or nutrients in conventionally produced milk and conventionally produced milk labeled as coming from cows not supplemented with POSILAC. No antibiotic residues were found in any samples. Read the rest of this entry »

Troy L. Ott, Ph.D., PAS
Associate Professor of Reproductive Biology
Department of Dairy and Animal Science
The Pennsylvania State University

Hold on to your wallets ladies and gentlemen. A number of large dairy processors are getting ready to pull the old “smoke-and-mirrors” trick that will result in you paying more for your milk while at the same time hurting the environment. “How could this be?” you say. Here’s the scam: retailers will sell “rbST-free” milk to you for a premium of about 40 cents to $2.20 per gallon. Read the rest of this entry »

Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D.

Distinguished Professor of Nutrition
Department of Nutritional Sciences
The Pennsylvania State University

As a member of the USDA/HHS Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, 2005, I was a strong proponent of the recommendation to increase milk/dairy product consumption from 2 to 3 servings per day. This recommendation was made on the basis of the contribution that milk and dairy products make to achieving nutrient adequacy. Read the rest of this entry »

REVIEW & OUTLOOK (Published on January 20, 2007; Page A10)

Starbucks advertises itself as a coffee company with a social conscience. These are the folks who created the marketing gimmick of “fair trade” coffee for America’s latte drinkers. So it’s no shock that Starbucks announced this week that it will buckle under to pressure from left-wing activist groups and phase-out its purchases of milk containing artificial growth hormone. Read the rest of this entry »