Back to Join OCA's Truth-in-Labeling Campaign for GA District 10
Unsubscribe (https://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/lmx/u/?jobid=0&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]) | SUBSCRIBE & Read Past Issues (http://www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.cfm) | OCA Homepage (http://www.organicconsumers.org/) | Donate (http://www.organicconsumers.org/donations.cfm)
*******************************************
Stop the Super Committee's Secret Farm Bill
*******************************************
#301, November 3, 2011
----------------------
In this issue:
--------------
* Victory of the Week: "No Artificial Growth Hormone" Labels (http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob301.htm#SEC1)
* Urgent Alert: Super Committee Writing the Farm Bill?! (http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob301.htm#SEC2)
* Label GMOs 2012: Signature Gathering Begins During the Holidays (http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob301.htm#SEC3)!
* Occupy Monsanto: Occupy Wall Street & the Transition Movement (http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob301.htm#SEC4)
* Podcast of the Week: Raw Milk Freedom Riders (http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob301.htm#SEC5)
* Little Bytes (http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob301.htm#SEC6)
GOOD NEWS OF THE WEEK
---------------------
--------------------------------------
Victory for Voluntary GMO-Free Labels!
--------------------------------------
Monsanto and Eli Lilly have successfully blocked consumers' right to know about factory-farm dairy production by concealing the use of their genetically engineered bovine growth hormone, a.k.a. rBGH or rBST.
Still, when it comes to voluntary labels on non-GMO food, consumers are winning!
The first blow to biotech was in 2010 when a Sixth Circuit court ruled that milk produced with synthetic hormones is different than milk produced without it and struck down a Ohio rule that would have removed "rBGH-free" labels from dairy products. The court found:
- A compositional difference does exist between milk from untreated cows and conventional milk.
- The use of rBGH (rbST) in milk production has been shown to elevate the levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), a naturally occurring hormone that in high levels is linked to several types of cancers, among other things.
- rBGH (rbST) use induces an unnatural period of milk production during a cow's "negative energy phase." Milk produced during this stage is considered to be low quality due to its increased fat content and its decreased level of proteins.
- Milk from rBGH-injected cows contains higher somatic cell counts, which makes the milk turn sour more quickly and is another indicator of poor milk quality.