Your Right to Know: Does your Milk have Artificial Hormones?

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CITIZENS for HEALTH

 

 

Dear Supporter,

As you know, we at Citizens for Health are committed to ensuring consumers

have access to the information they need to make their own decisions about

their health and wellness. A critical measure of this access is the degree to

which products are fully and truthfully labeled to reflect what they do - or do

not - contain.

Several large dairy producers and food companies have made news recently by

getting rid of recombinant bovine growth hormone, also known as rBGH or rBST,

from their milk supply. This is great news for consumers, since this

genetically engineered growth hormone is known to cause harm to cows and may

pose

health risks to humans.

In yet another attack on consumers' right to know, Monsanto, the company

that makes rBGH under the trade name Posilac, has asked the Food and Drug

Administration to restrict the use of labels identifying " rBGH-free " or

" rBST-free " dairy products. Monsanto claims such labels are " misleading " to

consumers,

and infer that dairy products without such a label are inferior.

We know better. Sales of products that are rBGH-free have increased

dramatically in recent years, and continue to grow. As mentioned above, dairies

and

food companies around the country are leaping to satisfy the demand. Naturally

- pun intended - this makes Monsanto nervous as sales of its hormone have

fallen. This move by Monsanto is nothing more than an effort to protect its

financial bottom line at the expense of consumers' right to know.

TAKE ACTION:

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_Send an email reminding the FDA that their first responsibility is to

consumers, not corporate special interests!_

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For over 10 years, rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), also known as

rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin), has been a staple in the dairy

products consumed by Americans. Since these products are not required to be

labeled

as containing rBGH / rBST, most consumers have no idea that a growth hormone

intended to induce dairy cows to be more productive is in much of their milk,

cheese, and yogurt.

After approving the use of rBGH in 1993, the Food and Drug Administration

has turned a deaf ear to the pleas of consumers, food safety organizations and

scientists to reverse its approval of the hormone, or even to simply require

labeling of foods containing rBGH. Even a legal challenge by the Center for

Food Safety could not force FDA to reexamine the health threats of rBGH. The

FDA's decision stood despite regulatory bodies in both Canada and Europe

rejecting the hormone due to numerous animal and human health concerns.

_Send an email today to preserve your right to know tomorrow!_

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The FDA approved the use of voluntary labels more than 12 years ago at the

request of dairy companies seeking to respond to customer concerns over the

use of the genetically-engineered hormone. Since the FDA refused to require

mandatory labeling of dairy products from cows treated with rBGH, voluntary

labeling of dairy products that do not contain rBGH is the only resource

consumers have to make informed decisions about what to feed themselves and

their

families.

If Monsanto succeeds in convincing the FDA to restrict rBGH-free labeling,

consumers will lose valuable information about how their food is produced and

will be less able to make their own decisions about their health and

wellness.

_Protect your right to know - send an email to the FDA today!_

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