Dec. 15, 1998
....................................

Is Cow's Milk Additive Safe?

Consumer Group Launches Action Against FDA

John McKenzie

ABCNEWS.com

A genetically engineered drug called bovine growth hormone (BGH) has been
given to 30 percent of U.S. dairy cows over the last five years to make
them produce more milk.

There has been indirect evidence that BGH might contribute to breast and
prostate cancer in humans, and today a consumer group called the Center
for Food Safety began legal action to have the hormone pulled off the market.
CFS is charging that the Food and Drug Administration has ignored evidence of
potential health hazards from BGH.

Twice a month, genetically engineered BGH is injected into 3 million dairy
cows in the United States. The milk these cows produce is then shipped
throughout the country as milk, cream, cheese and yogurt, and in baked and
other goods. Products from cows that receive BGH are almost never labeled
as such.

The FDA concluded that milk from these hormone-treated cows is "safe for
human consumption." But a recent review of the evidence challenges the FDA's
conclusion.

Company Supplied Data "It was their job to take a careful look at every
study," says Andy Kimbrell from the Center for Food Safety. "We now know
they did not do so."

When the FDA approved bovine growth hormone, it relied in part on an
unpublished animal study done by the Monsanto Corp., the same company that
wanted to sell the hormone.

The FDA publicly reported the study's results, saying that rats fed high
doses of the hormone over a 90-day period showed no evidence they had absorbed
the hormone.

Canadian Study Showed Risks In Canada, where the use of BGH is now being
hotly debated, government scientists recently reviewed all the data from the
Monsanto study, and came up with startlingly different conclusions.

The Health Protection Branch of the Canadian government says the Monsanto
study actually provided evidence that 20 to 30 percent of the rats did
absorb the hormone into their bloodstream. The Canadian scientists say that the
data also showed that some male rats developed cysts in the thyroid, and that
higher levels of the hormone were detected in the prostate.

Five government scientists in Canada had enough questions about the
safety of BGH that they recently took the unprecedented step of making their
concerns known to the public.

"If it wasn't for the Canadian government researchers, we probably never
would have known the full results of this 90-day rat feeding study," says
Michael Hansen of Consumers Union. "It should have triggered long-term toxicity
testing, but the FDA did not require that testing."

The FDA declined ABCNEWS requests for an interview. As for Monsanto, it
maintains that the hormone is safe, and that milk from cows treated with
the hormone is no different from any other.

But Vermont's two senators are not so certain. They have now asked Donna
Shalala, secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, to
formally investigate the FDA's approval of BGH and whether the agency
"overlooked" important evidence about its safety.