The Organic Consumers newsletter was a very interesting read this week. Two tidbits that interested me in particular were those about Monsanto’s fight against rBGH labeling (You already know what I think of Monssanto) and the USDA’s fight against beef companies voluntarily testing for Mad Cow Disease. The two headlines really had me scratching my head and wondering about human intelligence.
The RBGH headline is timely because I have been debating dairy practices with members on a local community forum. Some feel that rBGH is perfectly safe or at the very least cannot be proven to be “unsafe”. Of course rBGH is banned in most industrialized nations, including Europe and Canada, due to its links to breast and colon cancer, but the controversial drug remains legal in the U.S. I guess that means nothing. Anyway, Monsanto is the maker of this drug and understandably they are upset that they have seen a drop in profit as more dairy farmers are voluntarily dropping the use of this product to meet consumer demand. You see more and more consumers are saying they only want rGGH free milk and milk companies and milk buying companies like Ben and Jerry’s and Starbucks are finally supporting that. Monsanto is fighting back. They filed a formal complaint with the FDA and Federal Trade Commission, demanding that labeling of rBGH-free diary products be made illegal. Learn more and get involved with OCA’s “Millions Against Monsanto” campaign by signing their petition.
The headline about Mad Cow Disease is even more ridiculous. When Mad Cow Disease was discovered in the US early last year, foreign markets tightened their ban on US beef because the USDA requires only a small percentage of meat to be tested for this disease. So understandably, foreign countries thought US beef was suspect. Well, one US beef company called Creekstone Farms in Kansas wanted to maintain foreign sales so they announced that they would be voluntarily testing all their beef for Mad Cow Disease. Wonderful right? Well, the USDA responded by saying that it is illegal for Creekstone to have such high quality food testing! Creekstone and their lawyers were very confused about how it could be illegal to test food for safety beyond what is required by law. Is it really against the law to go the extra mile where safety is concerned?
Creekstone took the USDA to court and last week a federal judge ruled against the USDA. Finally we see a little common sense. :)
