Got milk?

If so, maybe you also got hormones and antibiotics you didn’t know about or want. Food and Water Watch sent me an e-mail about a hormone many dairy producers use:

Known as rBGH or rBST, the genetically engineered hormone is injected into cows to make them produce more milk. Besides the documented increase of infections in dairy cows injected with rBGH, which necessitates increased use of antibiotics, there are ongoing questions about links to cancer in humans.  As a result, most of the industrialized countries in the world don’t allow the use of this hormone, including Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and all 27 countries in the European Union.

Some smart consumers only buy milk that doesn’t have rBGH in it, but now, in Missouri, Monsanto is pushing House Bill 2283 to keep farmers who don’t use rBGH from mentioning that fact on their packaging.

Legislators can’t possibly justify wrapping adhesive tape around the mouths of dairy farmers who do the job right. It’s unconscionable.

Food and Water Watch has successfully gotten activists to halt similar bills in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and New Jersey. Now they’re urging Missourians to take action, and they’ve made it easy for you to send your representative an e-mail protesting this bill.