Wednesday, September 08, 2010

To Milk, Perchance to Make Profit

Sven loves milk. The verb “love” doesn’t even come close. He can down a half-gallon at one gulp. I buy organic milk for my husband and for Chez Sven’s guests. When I started writing this blog almost five years ago, I never intended for it to provide warnings to consumers about products that could cause cancer, but from time to time, that’s what I feel obligated to do, given the corporate hold on our country. So, please, think about non-organic milk today ...

You have seen the advertising campaign “Got Milk?” and the milk mustaches on celebrities. Actually, these days, rather than “Got Milk?” that campaign should say, “Got Growth Hormones?” People would stop and say, "Eh??" If given a choice, most folks do not want growth hormone in their milk.

The pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly sells both rBGH — also known as rBST, a bovine hormone that may cause breast cancer — and drugs to cure breast cancer. They are playing it both ways.

Breast cancer is no fun. This week, on her blog The Fabulous Geezersisters, my friend Ruth Pennebaker shares an intimate journal, revealing what it’s like to get breast cancer. In this new century, even men get breast cancer. This must stop.

So, please, be you man or woman, visit the Breast Cancer Action Web site and sign the petition to make Eli Lilly as lily-white as their name implies.

Greed, greed, greed. Enough already!

Do you drink regular, raw, or organic milk? What do you think of having bovine growth hormone injected in cows to increase milk production? Have you signed the petition yet?
Posted by Alexandra Grabbe at 6:30 AM
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Zuleme's avatar

Zuleme · 759 weeks ago

my Swede loves milk too. We're lucky to have Oakhurst Dairy up here.
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Living Large · 759 weeks ago

I've been buying organic milk for years, ever since I heard about growth hormones. I also eat Ben & Jerry's ice cream, which reportedly does not use milk with the hormones to make their treats.
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Bev · 759 weeks ago

I have been reading labels for 40 years. For much of that time, I could depend on labels to inform me. I am looking for safe ingredients, for ingredients suited to an herbivore, which I am. But for at least the last decade, the Pharm and Chem-embedded governmental arm of our country has over-ridden our need to know what is in the food we eat. It makes it more difficult to discern, which is exactly what was intended. If the people of this country were actually healthy, Eli Lilly would not profit. Eli Lilly serves their Stockholders, and to serve them best, we have to be one big SICK country.

They move this rGBH around, and slide it into product when we are not looking. The hormonal disruption it engenders in our young, is playing itself out before our eyes. The excruciating pain cows suffer, and shortened life span, of those who are injected, should be shown before all the educators in our schools. I have signed so many petitions on this subject, and now I wonder what does it take to stop the exploitation, short of the death of multitudes?
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Stan's avatar

Stan · 759 weeks ago

I'm a milk drinker, and I fully agree that we should be mindful to eat only healthy foods that are not laden with toxins. However, fears about pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics being present in milk are overblown on purpose by the so-called "organic" milk industry so that they can exploit your bank account for their profit.

Consider that the largest purveyors of organic milk in the USA are very large, industrialized corporations, not local family farms. We must remain vigilant that our desire to be vigilant about our nutrition isn't manipulated and exploited while we're sold "sales puffery." Please check out this link if you buy organic milk !!
http://www.wisebread.com/horizon-organic-milk-is-...
5 replies · active 759 weeks ago
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chezsven 82p · 759 weeks ago

Stan, if you prefer to drink regular milk, that is your business. I do not believe the fears are overblown or I would not have written this post, now would I? Unfortunately, I have lost all faith in the FDA and the EPA. I believe we need to do our best to protect our families and friends. The difference in cost is not phenomenal. I admit I buy the least expensive organic milk I can find. I do not think this is "sales puffery." There are organic milk providers in New England that group small dairies. We had guests two years ago from one of these dairies in NH. These courageous folks explained how hard the life of the dairy farmer is, no vacation, getting up early in all types of weather, etc. I think of them whenever I drink milk. I think it is important for people to reflect on the origin of the products they consume. I am against injecting cows with bovine growth hormone, and I am furious that a pharmaceutical firm would both market bovine growth hormone, which may cause breast cancer, and drugs to treat breast cancer. This does not compute. What happened to moral compass? Gone out the window. So, I am grateful for Breast Cancer Action for bringing this fact to my attention, which is why I wrote this post about milk.
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chezsven 82p · 759 weeks ago

Stan, you got me to thinking, so I called up Garrelick Farms, which is the brand of regular milk available on Cape Cod. I spoke to Dustin Rath, Quality Manager. Garrelick Farms is a local farms cooperative in Maine. Here's what he said: "We run tests on product and one is for antibiotics and reject anything that show the presence of antibiotics. There is no test yet for rbst. If could screen for it, we would. The farmers that supply the coop have to sign a statement that they do not administer rbst to their herds."
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Stan · 759 weeks ago

Well done, thanks for sharing the info. If I were up north I'd look into Garrelick Farms so I might support the communities in Maine where many of my best friends live.

"Antibiotics are never added to milk. ALL milk is tested to ensure that antibiotics used to treat cows are not present in milk. Antibiotic-free and no-Antibiotic claims are not allowed in animal agriculture. Read the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Information Service guidelines at www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/larc/Claims/RaisingClaims...
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Bev's avatar

Bev · 758 weeks ago

"There is no test yet for rBST"....hmmm..

Sounds like there is no oversight, independent of personal profit.
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Grant's avatar

Grant · 758 weeks ago

One of the problems is that cow milk naturally contains BST, and there's no way to distinguish natural BST from rBST in milk, since they are the same molecule. The difference is whether the hormone is produced by the cow, or in a vat and then injected.
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Stan's avatar

Stan · 759 weeks ago

Actually, I buy local, small farm, glass bottled organic milk; I do so for a myriad of reasons including but not limited to the uncertainty and unproven claims about rGBH (why take chances?). I have several close friends and family that have dealt with breast cancer, one who passed away while I was in Wellfleet this summer. I'm glad you brought the topic up as people need to do their own research and draw their own conclusions about whether something like Dean Food's Horizon brand milk is "superior" in some way to convential milk, despite the misleading labeling and false claims (i.e., upselling us with claims like "pesticide free!" ... when ALL milk is pesticide free!).

I also agree we must do everything we can to protect ourselves from toxins. I'm concered with making effective choices based on the best available information. I cannot simply take Dean Foods' labeling claims at face value. I hope that you continue to encourage readers to educate themselves from multiple sources, not just corporate milk and organic industry lobbying and marketing groups - and yes, unfortunately, they too sometimes employ tactics of salesmanship that defy a "moral compass." Dean Foods is just as concerned with its corporate profit as is Eli Lilly or Monsanto.

Here's some info about the labeling problems on the carton of milk Sven is holding in the picture above:
http://www.stoplabelinglies.com/gallery/Dairy-Mar...

Thanks again for bringing up this topic, it's important and the "truth" is obfuscated by vested interests on many sides of the issue.
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chezsven 82p · 759 weeks ago

Stan, you do stay on top of these things, don't you? Great! Thanks for the info. I think that when a bottle of milk says No Antibiotics, the producers are referring to the cows. When a bottle of milk says No Hormones, I think the producers expect consumers to understand the reference is to bovine growth hormone. I suppose the No Pesticides means that the cows graze on pesticide-free grass, as all cows should. I agree the labels are confusing and that we all need to be vigilant in reading labels on a regular basis.
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ruth pennebaker · 759 weeks ago

Confession: I never bothered with organic milk till I began reading your blog, Sandy. You've made me into a convert.
My recent post Breast Cancer Journals- Part 5
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Jennifer Margulis · 759 weeks ago

I keep meaning to write a blog about the milk scam in America. I haven't started it because it's a big subject and sort of overwhelming but basically cow milk is NOT good for a lot of people, including CHILDREN. We never drink any milk that is not organic (or we try not to). We buy raw milk directly from a dairy and when we run out we drink milk that is organic and comes in glass bottles. If I ever do write the blog I have in mind, I will also write about how heating the milk destroys all the nutrients. The taste is so different too -- the difference between fresh squeezed oj and bottle burnt tasting juice...
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Frugal Kiwi · 758 weeks ago

My Native American genes make drinking milk straight a big no-no, but I do know that BGH is banned here in NZ.
My recent post Friday Freebies- South Island Flowers

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