Holy Cow! Hormones in our milk! Part 1

We’ve heard about hormones in our milk supply.  Aren’t hormones natural? What’s the big deal?  Yes, hormones are naturally found in milk.  The naturally occurring hormone found in cow’s milk is BGH (bovine growth hormone).  The body of the cow naturally produces it so that her calf will grow, therefore it is secreted into her milk. Supposedly this is not a problem for people because it is a bovine hormone to which our bodies do not react.  The hormone that scientists, doctors and concerned consumers are troubled by is rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) which is a synthetic form of the growth hormone injected into cows to increase growth rates and milk production.  Other names for this synthetic hormone include rBST (bovine somatotropin) and Posilac, Monsanto's brandname for the synthetic stuff.  The motivation to use it?  Increased profits- a cow can produce from 10 to 25% more milk when injected with rBGH.  I have nothing against someone wanting to increase their profits, but it poses a big problem for me when it comes at the expense of public health.  Initially four companies made the synthetic hormone, today the field is vacated but for Elanco Animal Health, owned by Eli Lilly.  Monsanto sold Posilac to Lilly in August of 2008 for $300 million saying it wanted to devote more of its resources to development of its genetically engineered seed (to the great disadvantage of all of us.)  Don’t worry about Monsanto though- Lilly will give them a cut of further action and also will assume payment of royalties to the University of California… hmmm?   So if BGH doesn’t pose a risk to our health, why would rBGH?  Because it is not the same as the naturally occurring hormone!  It is a manufactured substance made in a laboratory, injected into animals, and no real studies have been done on its long-term effects on people.   Part 2 will appear tomorrow.