Ban on Milk Labeling Ruled Unconstitutional

[n2doc]

BY HELENA BOTTEMILLER | OCT 04, 2010
After more than two years of litigation, a federal court last week struck down an Ohio ban on labeling dairy products as "rbGH free," "rbST free," or "artificial hormone free" if produced by cows not treated with bovine growth hormone.

In what could prove to be a landmark case, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio's absolute ban on hormone-free claims violated dairy processors' First Amendment rights and was "more extensive than necessary to serve the state's interest in preventing consumer deception."

Perhaps more notable, the court also ruled that rbST-treated milk is compositionally different, disagreeing with both the lower court's ruling and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's finding that there is no significant difference between milk produced by cows treated with rbST and by those without.

As NPR reported Friday, the court cites three reasons milk produced by rbST-treated cows is different: Increased levels of the hormone IGF-1, a period of milk with lower nutritional quality during each lactation, and increased somatic cell counts (i.e. more pus in the milk). The court further noted that higher somatic cell counts indicate milk is poor quality and will turn sour more quickly.

more

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/10/court-rules-ohio-ban-on-hormone-labeling-unconstitutional/