Food safety, consumer and health advocacy organizations blasted Eli Lilly subsidiary Elanco for claiming that prominent health organizations had endorsed use of the controversial artificial growth hormone rbGH,(rbST) on dairy cows when, in fact, they have not. Elanco’s report, from eight experts and academics in medicine and dairy science, said that groups such as the American Cancer Society, American Association of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association affirmed the safety of rbGH. In fact, none of these three groups have endorsed it.
An article in the Feb. 22 issue of the online Bioscience Resource Project cited one of the co-authors as admitting several of the endorsements were “technically untrue” and that “we counted endorsement as a failure to oppose rbGH.”
“The notion that failure to oppose something constitutes an endorsement makes no scientific sense,” said Dr. Michael Hansen, Senior Scientist at Consumers Union. “By this logic, the American Automobile Association and the Federal Reserve Board have endorsed the safety of rbGH.”
Bioscience Resource Project received written confirmation from the American Cancer Society that it had “no formal position regarding rBGH.” A spokesperson from the American Association of Pediatrics wrote, “I can confirm that AAP does not endorse the safety of rBGH.” The American Medical Association also has no formal position on rBGH and its past president recommended to AMA members in 2008 that hospitals serve only rBGH-free milk.
“Elanco’s numerous false statements and misrepresentations on endorsing organizations are only the tip of the iceberg,” said Rick North of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, which has facilitated a nationwide campaign opposing the hormone for over five years. “The entire report is riddled with similar inaccurate, misleading claims about rbGH itself.” A formal response to Elanco’s report endorsed by 19 health, agriculture, consumer protection and animal protection agencies documents the numerous incorrect and misleading statements of the report and isavailable here.
“Although the FDA approved rbGH as safe in 1993, the hormone has been dogged by controversy, said Dr. Hansen. “It increases disease rates in cows, including mastitis, which is treated by antibiotics. Use of.rbGH also increases levels in milk of another hormone (IGF-1) that has been linked to breast, colorectal and prostate cancer, although whether the increased levels of IGF-1 in milk due to rbGH use would affect health has not been established.”
Although approximately three fourths of the milk and yogurt produced in the U.S. is rbGH-free, most ice cream is not. A coalition of health and consumer groups coordinated by Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility launched a nationwide campaign last fall aimed at persuading the two largest ice cream producers, Breyers (including Good Humor, Klondike Bars and Popsicle) and Dreyer’s (including Haagen Dazs and Edy’s) to go rBGH-free.
So far, 57 of the nation’s 100 largest dairies have completely or partially discontinued the use of rBGH, including Dean Foods, Kroger, Foremost Farms, Darigold and Prairie Farms Dairy. Starbucks company-owned stores and Chipotle Restaurants have gone completely rBGH-free and Walmart has eliminated its use from its store brand milk.
Last year, the two largest yogurt producers in the country, Dannon and Yoplait-Colombo, both discontinued the hormone in response to consumer demand. A 2008 Consumer Reports survey found that 70% of respondents were concerned about cows given artificial growth hormones and 57% would pay more for dairy products produced without it.
Heather Whitehead, director of the Center for Food Safety’s True Food Network, said, “The entire country is moving toward more healthy and sustainably-produced foods, and rBGH-free dairy products are helping to lead the way. It is amazing that Elanco would try to hoodwink consumers with a report and endorsements that are clearly misleading.”
The Center for Food Safety is national, non-profit, membership organization, founded in 1997, that works to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture. On the web at: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org
