UW-Madison's Babcock Hall Continues to Sell rBGH Products to Students, Staff, Faculty, and Visitors Without Their Knowledge or Consent
By: John E. Peck, executive director, Family Farm Defenders
Despite over two decades of farmer, consumer, and student protest, UW-Madison's Babcock Hall continues to serve rBGH-induced dairy products to those on campus without their knowledge or consent. By using the campus as a guinea pig for this questionable technology, UW-Madison has once again bowed to the wishes of the biotech industry. In the past UW Babcock Hall's manager, Tom Blattner, has asserted that there has been "little consumer concern in recent years about the BST issue’ and that it's "difficult for us to obtain the quantity and quality of (certified rBGH-free milk) that we need." Both of these statements are outright false given the latest trend towards rejection of rBGH by all the major dairy processors and retailers in the U.S., and the steady transition of WI family dairy farmers to healthier organic and grass-based systems.
What’s So Bad About rBGH milk?
Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) was one of the first ‘wonder products’ to emerge from the 1980s biotech industry. Derived from a genetically modified organism (GMO), rBGH is produced in large fermentation vats by an altered E. coli bacteria. When injected into cows on a routine basis, it boosts milk yields anywhere from 10-25% - hence its nickname "crack for cows." Contrary to claims from its proponents, rBGH is not the same as its natural namesake, since it also contains extra ‘marker’ amino acids to enable proprietary tracking by its corporate owners. Milk induced by rBGH is also quite different from regular milk - being lower in protein and containing elevated levels of Insulin Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1), a compound active in humans and highly correlated with certain forms of cancer. Cows injected with rBGH suffer up to 50% more mastitis (ie. udder infection) leading to higher rates of often illegal antibiotic use. These drugs in turn find their way into rBGH milk and t
he fastfood hamburger derived from culled dairy cows. Over 80 drugs have been found by the General Accounting Office (GAO) in the U.S. milk supply, yet the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)- charged with insuring the quality of our food supply - only tests for a handful. It takes just one cow on sulfamethazine (a common illegal dairy antibiotic) to contaminate the milk of 70,000 other animals in a large corporate processing plant.
Cows on rBGH require higher protein feed rations containing the likes of poultry manure, blood/bone meal, tallow, and platewaste, and this form of livestock cannibalism is likely behind the spread of Mad Cow disease. Factory farms that use rBGH also "burn out" their cows within 3-4 years, suffering cull rates as high as 20-30%, which means their herds are not sustainable and constantly require fresh infusions of heifers from elsewhere. Following bacterial contamination in 2004, Monsanto had to suddenly cut back its rBGH production by 50% and the subsequent "cold turkey" withdrawal led to even higher dairy herd mortality. Monsanto knows full well the dire health consequences to dairy animals from routine injection of rBGH, which is why its product warning label goes on for over a page and it doles out veterinary coupons. More recent medical research has even linked rBGH to human reproductive problems and this has prompted the nation's largest dairy processor - Deans - and t
he nation's largest dairy retailer - Walmart - to scramble for rBGH-free milk supplies to avoid consumer backlash and possible lawsuits. Other major dairy processors and retailers - Starbucks, Yoplait, Dannon - have quickly followed suit.
The FDA approved rBGH as "safe" for humans in 1994, a decision that has been widely disputed by dozens of reputable scientists and respected organizations such as such as Dr. Samuel Epstein (Univ. of Chicago), Michael Hanson (Consumers Union), Rick North (Physicians for Social Responsibility), among others. At the time of its approval, a former Monsanto employee, Michael Taylor, had just been appointed to the FDA by Pres. Clinton. The U.S. remains isolated in its approval of rBGH, which has been rejected by Canada, the European Union, Australia, Japan, as well as the UN’s own Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Yet, when responsible dairy processors tried to certify and label their products as "rBGH-free," many were sued by Monsanto for ‘food libel’ and other supposed interstate ‘free trade’ violations. Frustrated by the lack of explicit ‘rBGH-free’ labeling, consumers were forced to turn to organic milk in droves. Studies by the UW's own Program on Agricultural Stu
dies (PATS) have shown that the overwhelming majority of both WI dairy farmers and WI dairy consumers continue to reject this technology as potentially dangerous and excessively expensive.
Why is UW-Madison Still Pushing Drugs for the Biotech Industry?
Monsanto, Eli Lilly, Up John?, and American Cyanamid spent over $1 billion on rBGH research projects and field trials at 22 universities involving over 20,000 animals throughout the 1970s and 1980s. One of the land grant colleges which received massive corporate rBGH handouts was UW-Madison. In 1986 a WI dairy farmer, John Kinsman (now president of Family Farm Defenders), blew the whistle, warning the UW-Madison community that they had become unsuspecting human test subjects for Babcock’s field trials. When students asserted their consumer ‘right to know’ and demanded ‘rBGH-free’ milk on campus, Monsanto public relations flaks and UW College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) deans responded by calling critics ‘eco-terrorists’ and ‘neo-luddites.’ Monsanto was later caught buying free lunches to entice WI farmers to rBGH pep talks as part of UW Extension’s Dairy 2020 Roundtables. In Aug. 2008 Elanco, a division of Eli Lilly - purchased the rights to Monsanto's brandname
rBGH product - Posilac - for $300 million. In Sept. 2008 Monsanto also gave UW-Madison $1 million for further support of biotech research on campus.
Of course, the real question remains why agribusiness corporations have been allowed to hijack science at UW-Madison to the detriment of family farmers and consumers alike. Perhaps it is time citizens dusted off the land grant mandate and reminded UW that its primary responsibility is to serve the public good - not private profit!
What Can You Do To Fight rBGH in Your Milk?
· Tell UW- Madison’s Babcock Dairy you will not patronize them until they go 100% ‘rBGH-free’ - better yet, insist they start producing and offering grass-based and/or organic dairy products for sale on campus (we know it can be done...) tel. #608-263-5144 tmblattn@facstaff.wisc.edu
· Contact your elected officials in support of mandatory labeling of all GMO foods, including rBGH. Oppose international free trade agreements that force countries to import, produce, and consume GMO foods against their will. And demand that Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) be expanded to include dairy products.
· Contact other institutions like public schools and community centers to insist that only rBGH-free dairy products be served in their cafeterias. Why not offer organic milk or other healthy alternatives, like organic fruit juices, instead?
· Boycott Eli Lilly, Monsanto, Kraft, Land O'Lakes, and other biotech cheerleaders - let them know you will not buy their stuff until they go GMO-free!
For more information on the dangers of rBGH contact:
Family Farm Defenders #608-260-0900 www.familyfarmdefenders.org
Food and Water Watch #202-683-2500 www.foodandwaterwatch.org
Institute for Responsible Technology #641-209-1765 www.responsibletechnology.org
Organic Consumers Association #218-226-4164 www.organicconsumers.org
Physicians for Social Responsibility #503-968-1520 www.psr.org/chapters/oregon/campaign-for-safe-food.html
