More Than 70 Consumer Groups, Dairies and Environmental Organizations Contact Governor
Contacts: Naomi Starkman, CU, 917.539.3924
John Bianchi, Goodman Media, 212.576.2700
More than 70 dairy farmers, food processors and retailers, and consumer, farm and agricultural, public health, animal protection and environmental organizations, today wrote to Ohio Governor Ted Strickland urging the state not to prohibit farmers from telling consumers that they do not use artificial hormones on their dairy cows. Click http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/notinmyfood/005302indiv.html (link no longer available) to view the full letter.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) plans to make a final decision in the coming weeks on the use of “rbST-free” and other claims on milk and dairy product labels. rbST is a genetically-engineered growth hormone sold by Monsanto that increases a cow’s milk output.
The letter was sent in anticipation of the second meeting of the Ohio Dairy Labeling Advisory Committee, a 20-member group formed by the ODA, to be held on Wednesday, December 19 (from 1 to 4:30 p.m.) at the agriculture department’s headquarters in Reynoldsburg.
Of the seven dairy farmers on the Advisory Committee, six use rbST on their cows. In addition, the one “consumer advocate” on the Committee, Robin Steiner, is a former area market manager for Monsanto, the company that sells Posliac, the rbST drug.
“If the state decides to outlaw labels on milk and other dairy products, they take away Ohio consumers’ right to know about the foods they eat,” said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director at the Washington D.C.-based Center for Food Safety. “Labeling gives consumers access to information on nutrition, freshness, and safety. How is it possibly in the public interest to take away their rights by keeping important dietary information from them?”
The letter to Strickland comes on the heels of a recent protest to a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) action which would prohibit farmers in that state from telling consumers that they aren’t using artificial hormones on their dairy cows. In late October, PDA informed 16 dairies that they cannot use certain labels on milk, including “Our farmers’ pledge: no artificial growth hormones,” “From cows not treated with the growth hormone rbST,” and “free of artificial growth hormones.”
The ban on using these labels will go into effect on February 1, 2008. More than 65 groups sent a letter protesting the PDA’s action to Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell on November 29, 2007. Similar regulations prohibiting labeling are being advanced in New Jersey.
“Like Ohio’s consumers, Ohio’s dairy farmers have differing views regarding the use of rbST. Some have adopted the technology, while most have chosen not to use the product on their farms out of concern for added stress on the animals and consumer resistance to the product,” said Joe Logan, President of the Ohio Farmer’s Union. “It is essential that Ohio’s dairy product market reflect these differing views and management practices by offering accurately identified choices to consumers. Only then, will the market be functioning properly by providing the range of price points and quality distinctions that farmers offer and consumers demand.”
In 1994, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved use of Monsanto’s recombinant bovine growth hormone (also known as rbGH or rbST), the FDA also said that the following label statement, in proper context, is acceptable: “from cows not treated with rbST.†Earlier this year, Monsanto asked FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to declare these labels to be misleading. In late August, the FTC wrote to Monsanto, “The FTC staff agrees with FDA that food companies may inform consumers in advertising, as in labeling, that they do not use rbST.”
“Since the FDA’s controversial decision to approve the use of rbGH, questions have only grown about its safety for humans,” said Dr. Michael Hansen, Senior Scientist for Food Safety for Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “Consumers should have the ability to buy milk from untreated cows if they want to.”
“All of Ohio’s dairy farmers face significant challenges, but the solution to their problems won’t come from the State of Ohio suppressing consumers’ right to know or acting in ways that benefit Monsanto and the minority of farmers who use their product,” said Carol Goland, Executive Director of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. “Consumers are aware of the controversial nature of this drug in terms of human health and they are concerned about the well-documented health problems it creates for the cows that are treated with it.”
The following organizations have signed onto the letter:
- Aurora Organic Dairy, Ben & Jerry’s, BioVision2020, Bon Appetit Management Company, Blue Rock Station, Boulder Ice Cream, The Campaign, Center for Corporate Policy, Center for Environmental Health, Center for Food Safety, Center for Media and Democracy, Citizens for Health, Clintonville Farmers Market, Community Food Initiatives, Consumer Federation of America, Cornucopia Institute, Countryside Conservancy, CROPP Co-op/Organic Valley, Endangered Habitats League, Family Farm Defenders, Farm Sanctuary, Farmer-to-farmer Campaign on Genetic Engineering, Florida Organic Growers and Consumers, Food and Water Watch, Good Earth Natural Foods, Government Accountability Project, Hahn Natural Foods, Horizon Dairy, Humane Farming Association, Humane Society of the United States, Innovative Farmers of Ohio, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Institute for Justice, Institute for Responsible Technology, Kirschenmann Family Farms, Local Matters, Mississippi Livestock Markets Association, MOON Cooperative Services, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, National Family Farm Coalition, National Farmers Union, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Northeast Organic Farming Association representing 7 states (NOFA-VT, NOFA-NH, NOFA-MASS, NOFA-CT, NOFA-NY, NOFA-NJ and NOFA-RI), Northstar Cafe, Northwood Farms, Ohio Citizen Action, Ohio Conference on Fair Trade, Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association, Ohio Environmental Council, Ohio Farmers Union, Ohio Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), Ohio Sierra Club, Oneota Community Co-op, Oregon Ice Cream Company, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Organic Consumers Association, Organic Farming Research Foundation, Organic Trade Association, Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture (PASA), Radiance Dairy, Reclaim Democracy, Rodale Institute, Science and Environmental Health Network, Stonyfield Farms, Inc., Straus Family Creamery, Union of Concerned Scientists, Western Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, White Dog Community Enterprises, Willow Creek Farm, Wright Way Dairy
NOTE: Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, sent a similar letter to Governor Strickland on December 18, 2007.
