Home > rbST Resources
rbST Resources
In addition to a large library concerning
- The American Medical Association: “BST is a protein hormone that is produced naturally by cows to help them make milk. Supplementing cows with small amounts of BST has been shown to increase their milk production by 10 - 40 percent per cow without harming the animal or altering the nutritional value of their milk.” AMA
- Health Canada (Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada expert panel): There is “no biologically plausible reason for concern about human safety.” Health Canada
- National Institutes of Health (Journal of the American Medical Association): “rBST-treated cows experience no greater health problems than untreated cows.” NIH JAMA
- American Cancer Society: “There are no valid findings to indicate a risk of human carcinogenesis.” American Cancer Society
- Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop: “Unfortunately, a few fringe groups are using misleading statements and blatant falsehoods as part of a long-running campaign to scare consumers about a perfectly safe food. Their long-range goal is to prevent the benefits of biotechnology from reaching the public. Because dairy foods are an important, widely consumed source of nutrition, it is necessary to condemn these attacks on the safety of milk for what they are: baseless, manipulative and completely irresponsible.” Dr. Koop
- Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1995;95:1429-1432 (excerpt):”The FDA approved the use of bST in dairy cows in November 1993. Commercial sales were delayed for 90 days, however, because of a Congressional act (1). FDA based its rulings on findings that (a) bST is species-specific for cows, (b) bST is a protein that is digested in the intestinal tract of human beings and cows, (c) milk contains bST naturally and supplementation does not increase the amount of bST to levels outside the normal ranges, (d) bST supplementation does not change milk composition, and (e) bST has not been found to cause growth-promoting activity in a variety of species (11-13). Although results of a 1-year follow-up study of cow health issues have produced no new animal health concerns (14), the use of recombinant bST in dairy cows remains a political and social issue (15,16).” Biotechnology and the Future of Food
- Children’s Nutrition Research Center (Baylor College of Medicine): There is “no scientific basis for claims regarding bovine somatotropin and IGF-1 … if (these claims) were true, then human colostrum, human breast milk, and indeed, all milk would be incriminated as a cause of cancer … women and their children have nothing to fear regarding the nation’s milk supply.” CNRC