Monsanto loses one, can you believe it?

[Celebration]

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=milk-industry-gag-order-on-artificial-hormones-lifted

Bowing to pressure from consumer advocates, Pennsylvania officials have dropped plans to bar farmers from revealing whether or not milk hails from hormone-enhanced cows. The state's agriculture department on Thursday issued new guidelines that allow dairies to label milk so that customers know if it was produced from cows pumped with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) also known as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST).

The move comes less than two weeks before a February 1 ban was set to take effect that would have barred dairies in the Keystone State from slapping certain labels on milk products, including "from cows not treated with growth hormone rBST'' and "free of artificial growth hormones."

''This is a victory for free speech, free markets, sustainable farming and the consumer's right to know," Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with the Consumers Union (CU), said about the state's about-face. "Consumers increasingly want to know more about how their food is produced and, particularly, whether it is produced in a natural and sustainable manner. There is no justification for prohibiting information about rBGH use on a milk label.''

...........snip.......................

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, was among a coalition of some 65 organizations that sent a letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell protesting the proposed label ban. In a statement released Thursday, he said "The public has a right to complete information about how the milk they buy is produced."

The coalition is currently fighting similar bans that are being mulled by other states, including Washington State, Missouri and Ohio.

[jbnow]

1. And in the United States!

I assumed it was another overseas loss for them.

We are crazy here that there even had to be a fight to have a label like that when other countries ban the hormone.
But thank goodness they did fight it and that they won. Great news

[Algorem]

2. Ohio dairy farmers protest move towards hormone-free milk

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-37/120085616698430.xml&storylist=cleveland
1/20/2008, 2:03 p.m. EST
The Associated Press

WOOSTER, Ohio (AP) — Dairy farmers throughout Ohio are being pressured to stop using a synthetic hormone that boosts milk production in cows, angering large-dairy farmers who claim the move will reduce profits and increase retail milk prices.

Recombinant bovine somatotropin, or rBST, is banned in Canada and Europe, primarily due to concerns that it leaves cows more prone to illness. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration insists the hormone is safe and the agency approved rBST to boost production in dairy cows in 1993.

Still, many consumers concerned about possible safety risks are choosing milk that is free of synthetic hormones. A growing number of retailers, including grocery chains Safeway and Kroger Co., have begun selling it.

As the market for milk from cows using the hormone dries up, Dairy Farmers of America has asked its nearly 790 members in Ohio to stop using rBST, and Dairy Marketing Services, which markets milk for about 575 independent producers in Ohio, has told farmers that they must sign an affidavit promising not to use the hormone or it won't pick up their milk...

[Celebration]

3. Yoo Hoo-- Free market system WORKS n/t

[trotsky]

4. Crazy, huh?

I mean, it's almost enough to think that "big pharma" and the chemical industry DON'T control everything!! :eyes:

[Celebration]

5. It takes a lot of work and effort

But this does give me some hope.