The coverage of last Friday's protest against Monsanto Corporation's bovine browth hormone left out a few important details....

Substantial evidence indicates that milk from BGH-treated cows is very likely to feature:

-- more pus from infected cows' udders;

-- more antibiotics given to cows to treat those infections;

-- an "off" taste and shortened shelf life, because of the pus;

-- perhaps higher fat content and lower protein content;

-- more of a tumor-promoting chemical called IGF-I, which has been implicated in cancers of the colon, smooth muscle, and breast.

While making it appear like a small group of activists who are the only ones concerned about BGH, the article didn't demonstrate the fact that there is a nation-wide (international, actually) opposition to this engineered hormone.

Monsanto, one of the top 10 polluters in the United States, is the same corporation which brought us Agent Orange and PCBs (a chemical so toxic that Congress banned it in 1976). They've blatantly attempted to bribe Canadian officials (who admitted it) in order to hasten their approval of BGH. They also have an apparent conflict of interest with their regulators (Food and Drug Administration) in that they shared the same lawyer (Michael R. Taylor of Washington, D.C. law firm, King & Spaulding). Monsanto and FDA have ganged up on any markets which try to label their milk and dairy products "BGH-free" by threatening to sue (and actually suing some).

BGH benefits no one but Monsanto. FDA even admits that there will be no benefit to consumers. Consumers Union predicts that BGH will cost the taxpayer an additional $200 million in surplus milk that the government (your taxes) will buy up to keep the milk prices stable. This is a nation where we've spent an average of $2.1 billion each year from 1980 to 1985 buying surplus milk.

During 1986-87, the government paid farmers to kill their cows and stop dairy farming for five years. Some 14,000 farmers participated in this voluntary program, slaughtering a total of 1.55 million milk cows. Although we still have a glut of milk, and agri-business does everything they can to stress out their dairy herds, forcing them to produce more milk per cow, Monsanto sees a need to profit from a needless experiment on the public. (It wasn't subjected to the proper legally required testing before release for use on the general public's milk supply.)

Although it was stressed in the press conference, the article didn't mention the reason that Penn State traditionally supports products like BGH. Since the hormone serves to produce more milk in a nation where there is already a glut of milk, BGH will help consolidate power in the hands of large agri-business and put more family farmers out of business. As in many other endeavors, Penn State is being a tool for big business profit-making, much to the detriment of the public, the workers and small businesses.

Land O' Lakes, one of the largest dairy producers, has come under extensive fire from consumers around the country for using BGH in its products. So far, they have succumbed to the pressure enough to release a line of BGH-free milk. The pressure is still on to get this industry leader to discontinue the use of BGH in ALL of their products.

Supposedly, Pizza Hut also uses BGH in their cheese. Since Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are both owned by the same company (Pepsico), Taco Bell probably uses it as well.

Call Land O' Lakes at 1-800-328-4155 and ask them to stop using BGH (they also call it BST for bovine somatotropin) in their milk and dairy products.