The dairy cow is hardly thought to be a controversial beast. Usually confined to grazing in rolling green meadows, chewing its cud and allowing its udders to be drained on a daily basis, the common dairy cow has made the jump to national headlines.

The fuss deals with a hormone --bovine somatotropin (bST) -- that cows secrete naturally to produce milk. On Feb. 4, the Food and Drug Administration lifted a 90-day moratorium on the hormone, which will allow farmers to inject their cows with it to increase milk production.

The drug has sparked controversy because of health concerns, causing dairy sellers to advertise that they do not administer bST.

Meyer Dairy Store, 2390 S. Atherton St., posted a sign saying that they carried bST-free milk but changed the sign after an article ran in Sunday's Centre Daily Times.

In a prepared statement, the FDA said advertising bST-free milk would be false advertising because all milk contains traces of the hormone.

Carol Dry, a secretary at Meyer Dairy, said the sign now reads, "Our cows are not injected with bST" and was changed so as not to confuse customers.

The confusion arises from the fact that commercial milk comes from several different sources.

"Who's to say who's injecting it?" Dry said, adding that the sign lets customers know that Meyer Dairy's milk comes from a herd that is not injected with bST.

Larry Muller, professor of dairy science, said the use of bST poses no health threats to consumers.

"There is no reason for the consumer to be concerned," he said, adding that the hormone does not change the taste or composition of the milk.

Walker McNeill, manager of the Penn State dairy herds, said he is not currently administering bST to the University's dairy herd, although he has considered it. The dairy herds are currently in the process of being moved to a different location and he has not had time to work on plans to administer the hormone to the cows, McNeill said.

If McNeill decides to administer bST, he will not worry about any danger to those who consume his herd's products.

"There is no evidence to indicate there is any hazard," he said, responding to reports that cows who are injected are prone to contract mastitis -- a disease that affects the cow's mammary glands. Consumers' main concerns are that antibiotics given to animals to treat mastitis may contaminate the milk, but McNeill said any antibiotics in milk are detected by screening and dumped out.

As for bST, McNeill said, "You could drink the straight hormone almost and it wouldn't affect you."