The Report that Monsanto and Fox TV didn't want you to see!

[Guest guest]

The Report that Monsanto and Fox TV didn't want you to see!

JoAnn Guest

Jan 20, 2003 09:11 PST

 

 

 

Laura Lee News - The Mystery in Your Milk-

http://www.lauralee.com/news/mysterymilk.htm -

 

The Mystery in Your Milk

by Jane Akre & Steve Wilson

 

The report that Monsanto and Fox TV didn't want you to see. Published

for the first time.

 

Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, a respected reporting team at WTTV, a Fox

Network Station in Tampa, Florida, were fired from their jobs after

refusing to broadcast what they knew and documented to be false and

distortedinformation about Monsanto's bovine growth hormone (BGH) --

a

geneticallyengineered product that has been linked to the

proliferation

of breast,

prostate, and colon cancer cells in humans.

 

On August 28, 2000, a Florida jury unanimously decided that Akre had

beenfired for threatening to blow the whistle on Fox for pressuring

her

andWilson to broadcast a false, distorted and slanted news report and

awardedher $425,000 for lost wages and damages. Fox is appealing.

 

This is the first time that the script that got the reporters in

trouble hasappeared in print. This important document has been edited

for length but

not censored. For the full version, go to the website:

http://www.foxbghsuit.com

Reporters' Version - Part I

 

" Nature's most nearly perfect food " - that's how most of us have

alwaysthought of milkSwholesome, nutritious and pure just like it

says

on some ofthe trucks that deliver it. But down on the farm where most

of

us never see?

 

Some Florida farmers have been quietly squeezing more cash from their

cowsby injecting them with an artificial growth hormone so they'll

produce moremilk than nature intended.

 

Thurman Hattan, Florida Dairy Farmer: " Yes I would say, people in

Floridaare using it. (Reporter Jane Akre) And you yourself? (Hatten)

Ahh.

 

Narration: Hatten is one of many Florida dairymen reluctant to admit

thatthey're injecting their cows every two weeks.

 

Hattan continues: " .it's possible I could be using it. "

Narration: The drug some Florida farmers don't want you to know

they'reusing is a Monsanto laboratory version of bovine growth

hormone

known as BGH.

 

Here's how it works: when the cow gets injected with extra BGH, it

stimulates the production of another hormone called IGF-1.

 

That's really thestuff that speeds up the cow's metabolism, causing

her

to produce up to 30percent more milk.

 

But some scientists like Dr. Samuel Epstein are warning what might be

goodfor the farmers' bottom line might be big trouble down the line

for

people

drinking the milk from treated cows.

 

Samuel Epstein, Scientist, University of Illinois: " .there are highly

suggestive if not persuasive lines of evidence showing that

consumption of

this milk poses risks of breast and colon cancer. "

 

Narration: Dr. Epstein is a scientist at the University of Illinois

Schoolof Public Health. He's earned three medical degrees, written

eight

books,and is frequently called upon to advise Congress about things

in

ourenvironment which may cause cancer. He and others like Dr. William

von Meyer

point to what they say is a growing body of scientific evidence of a

link

 

between IGF-1 and human cancers which might not show up for years to

come.

 

William Von Meyer, Research Scientist: " We're going to save some

lives if wereview this now. If we allow BGH to go on, I'm sure we're

taking excessiverisks with society. "

 

Narration: Dr. Von Meyer has spent 30 years studying chemical

products andtesting their effects on humans. He's supervised many

such

tests onthousands of animals at schools such as the University of

London

and UCLA.

He's headed agricultural, chemical and genetic research at some of

America'smost prestigious companies.

 

Monsanto is the giant chemical company which sells the synthetic

hormoneunder the brand name PosilacS

and Monsanto has consistently rejected

the concerns of scientists around the world.

 

Dr. Robert Collier, Chief Monsanto BGH Scientist: " In fact, the FDA

hascommented several times on this issue after there were concerns

raised. Theyhave publicly restated human safety confidence.this is

not

somethingknowledgeable people have concerns about. "

 

Narration: While other companies have dropped by the wayside,

Monsanto hasinvested a mountain of money into Bovine Growth Hormone.

 

Company sales tapes encourage farmers to use it as a tool to milk more

profits out of every cow.

Video Clip of Monsanto sales tape: " Of course you'll want to inject

Posilacinto every eligible cow, as each cow not treated is a lost

income

opportunity. "

 

Narration: A number of critics, including at least one state

agriculture ommissioner, have called it " crack for cows " for the way

it

speeds up the

cow's milk production.but despite its promise of profit, some

dairymen saythe product doesn't always lead to happy trails for the

cows

or for thosewho tend them.

 

Charles Knight, Florida Dairy Farmer: " It's a tool that can be used,

but youbetter be careful,

'cause it can burn you... "

 

Narration: Near Wachula, Charles Knight won't use Monsanto's

synthetic BGHanymore. He is one of many farmers who say they've

watched

Posilac burntheir cows out sooner, shortening their lives by maybe

two

years.

 

Narration: Knight says he had to replace 75 percent of his herd due

to hoof

problems and serious udder infections. Those are two of more than 20

potential troubles listed right on the product warning label. But

apart frompotential suffering for the animals, the major concern is

how

the hormone

injected into the cow changes the milk that ends up on our tables.

Robert Collier: " .this is the most studied molecule certainly in the

historyof domestic animal science. "

 

Narration: While that claim may be open to dispute, Monsanto.did put

theproduct through a decade's worth of testing before it was approved

by

theFDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine as an animal drug. But that's

part ofthe problem, according to many scientists who say since BGH

alters the milk

we drink, it should meet the higher safety standards required of human

drugs. The critics say tests on BGH milk that could have answered

theseconcerns about long-term risk to humans were just never done.

 

Dr. William Von Meyer, Research Scientist: " A human drug requires two

yearsof carcinogenic testing and extensive birth-defect testing.

 

BGH was testedfor 90 days on 30 rats at any dose before it was

approved. "

 

 

Robert Collier:

" But suffice it to say the cancer experts don't see the

health issue and it's unfortunate the public is being scared by an

issuethat shouldn't be of concern. "

 

 

Part II

Narration: You won't find Ol' Flossie and Bossie on Fred Gore's dairy

farmin Zephyrhills. On Fred's farm, all the cows have numbers instead

of

names -

and they're watched by electronic eyes 24 hours a day.

 

Farmer Gore, Florida Dairy Farmer: " They help tell me if proper

proceduresare being followed. "

Narration: At a modern dairy farm, cows wear transponders that even

tell acomputer how much milk she gave today.

Farmer Gore: " She's giving 121 pounds a day. "

 

Narration: In the competitive business of dairy farming these days,

productivity is paramount. That's why Fred Gore and others like him

were allears when the giant Monsanto chemical company started

promoting

its newproduct called Posilac.

Video Clip from Monsanto sales tape: " Posilac is the single most-

testedproduct in history and it helps increase your profit potential. "

 

Narration: Monsanto promised that Posilac - a laboratory version of

thecow's natural growth hormone - could get Ol' 2356 and her friends

to

produce

up to 30 percent more milk. That was good news to Florida farmers who

needall the help they can get in a state where high heat, humidity

and

littlelocal grain make dairy farming a struggle.

 

The " promise of Posilac " sounded great to dairyman Charles Knight.but

hesays it didn't turn out that way.

Charles Knight, Florida Dairy Farmer: " About the same time we began

having alot of foot problems with our cows because they got so

crippled

theycouldn't walk. "

 

Narration: Right after he started using the drug on his herd near

Wachulathree years ago, Knight says his animals were plagued with

those

problems

and serious infections of his cows' udders. Troubles he attributes to

Posilac eventually caused him to replace the majority of his herd. He

sayswhen he called dairy experts at the University of Florida and at

Monsanto,they both had the same response.

 

Farmer Knight: " [T]hey said you're the only person having this

problem so itmust be what you're doing here. You must be having

management problems. "

 

Narration: The University of Florida, by the way, did much of the

researchon BGH and has received millions in gifts and grants from

Monsanto.

Knightsays neither the university nor the company ever mentioned

Monsanto researchthat showed hundreds of other cows on other farms

were

also suffering hoof

problems and mastitis, a painful infection of the cow's udders.

 

Farmer Knight: If untreated, the infection can get into the cow's

milk sofarmers try to cure it by giving the cow shots of antibiotics.

 

more drugs

that can find their way into the milk on your table, which could make

yourown body more resistant to antibiotics.

 

Dr. Michael Hanson, Consumers Union Scientist: " In fact, there is

over 60drugs that they believe can be used on farms and they test for

a

very smallpercentage of them.

 

File video of protesters chanting: " Boycott BGH. Boycott BGHS "

Collier: " There are no human or animal safety issues that would

preventapproval in Canada once they've completed their review, not

that

I'm awareof. "

 

Narration: But long-term human safety is exactly the concern

expressed by aCanadian House committee on health. Here are the

minutes

of a 1995 meeting

 

where members voted to ask Canada's Health Minister

to try and keep BGH off

the market for at least two more years.

 

Why? " .to allow members ofParliament to further examine the human

health implications " of the drug.

 

It's still not legal to sell

 

the unlicensed product north of the

border,despite the company's efforts to gain the approval of

government

regulators.

 

Narration: In the Fall of 1994, Canadian television quoted a Canadian

healthofficial as reporting Monsanto offered $1-2 million if her

governmentcommittee would recommend BGH approval in Canada without

further data orstudies of the drug. Another member of her committee

who

was present

whenMonsanto made the offer was asked: " Was that a bribe? "

File Video Clip of CBC documentary - CBC Correspondent to committee

member:

" Is that how it struck you? (Dr. Edwards) Certainly! "

 

Reporter Jane Akre on camera: " Monsanto said the report alleging

bribery was " a blatant untruth, " that Canadian regulators just didn't

understand theoffer of the money was for research. Monsanto demanded

a

retraction.

 

TheCanadian Broadcasting Company stands by its story... "

 

Hansen: " Monsanto has a very checkered history with some of its other

products. "

 

Narration: Dr. Michael Hansen of Consumers Union is another American

scientist still very skeptical about BGH. He says Monsanto was wrong

yearsago when it convinced the government PCB's were safe.

 

Those were put inside

electrical conductors for years.until researchers in Japan and Sweden

showedserious hazards to human health and the environment.

 

And you've heard of Agent Orange, 2-4-5-T, the defoliant used in

Vietnam?

 

Monsanto convinced the government it, too, was safe. It was later

proven tobe extremely harmful to humans.and a government investigator

found what shesaid was " a clear pattern of fraudulent content in

Monsanto's research " which led to approval.

 

In the case of BGH, Monsanto was required to promptly report all

complaintsfrom farmers. Florida dairyman Charles Knight says he was

complaining loud

and clear that Posilac was decimating his herd.but four months later

hefound the company had not passed one of his complaints to the FDA as

required.

 

Charles Knight, Florida Dairyman: " .so how many more hundreds of

complaintsout there sat and were not registered with FDA? "

 

Narration: Monsanto admits a long delay in reporting Knight's

complaints. Acompany spokesman claims despite a series of on-farm

visits

and telephoneconversations with Knight, it took four months for them

to

understand he was

complaining about BGH.

As for those safety claims for previous

Monsantoproducts that turned out to be dangerous, the company offered

no

comment.

 

Part III

 

Narration: Whether you know it or not, by the time it's bottled,

chances aremilk from treated cows ends up in the jug you carry home.

It's made the milkon your table one of the first genetically

engineered

foods ever to

be fedto your family. and the population at large.

 

Jeff LeMaster, Consumer/Dad: " And for her, now that she's eating

people food,we want to give her as much good stuff without the

chemical

additives aspossible. "

 

Narration: Grocers and the dairy industry know synthetic BGH in milk

worriesconsumers like Jeff and Janet LeMaster. A whopping 74 percent

of

those

questioned in this University of Wisconsin study released just last

yearexpressed concern about unknown harmful human health effects

which

mightshow up later.

 

Robert Collier, Chief Monsanto BGH Scientist: " What they need to know

isthat the milk hasn't changed.... " Narration: That's the assurance of

Monsanto. It's the company position,

despite scientific studies which show

 

the milk we're getting from BGH-treated cows has a higher level of

 

something called IGF-1, a

 

hormone believed to promote cancer.

 

Narration: Government regulators in Canada, New Zealand and all of

Europehave expressed similar concerns and refused to license the drug

for sale inall those countries.

File Video, consumer protesters chanting: " Boycott BGH! "

 

Narration: So three years ago when the drug was approved in America

andprotesters started dumping milk that contained the synthetic

hormone,

yourgrocer and your milkman decided something had to be done to

protect

sales.

 

Riley Hogan, Tampa Dairy Co-op: " For good business reasons, Publix [a

marketing chain] and I both wanted to avoid the use of the product

untilthere was public acceptance. "

 

Narration: Maybe you recall these media reports from 1994 when

Albertsonsreassured Florida consumers " Swe will do our utmost to

ensure

that (people)don't get it " in their milk. Publix issued similar

assurances.

 

The truth is, nobody ever did anything but go through the motions of

askingfarmers to keep BGH out of the milk supply.

And when we visited seven Central Florida dairy operations chosen at

random,how many were heeding the grocers' request? Not a one.

 

Albertsons acknowledged: " It is widely accepted in the industry that

mostall dairy farmers now use BGH " but " we do not know which or how

many

dairiesuse it. " .

But not everybody's using it. Ben and Jerry, America's icons of ice

cream,don't want anything to do with it. and they're leading the

fight

to give youa choice at the grocer's dairy case.

 

Part IV

Ben Cohen, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream: " A big part of the issue is that

consumers are well aware that what the FDA said was fine and healthy

10 and20 years ago, the FDA is saying is really bad for you today.

 

Narration: It's one of the big reasons Ben and Jerry, makers of some

ofAmerica's favorite ice cream,

 

are so opposed to farmers injecting

theirdairy cows with Bovine Growth Hormone genetically engineered in

a

Monsantochemical lab.

 

Narration: Our investigation has found only one dairy in Florida which

produces milk from cows not treated with BGH and what happened when

thefolks at the Golden Fleece dairy in Central Florida wanted to

label

theirproducts as synthetic BGH-free?

 

Well, first they say Commissioner Crawford's people strongly

discouraged it,

but what really deterred them was a fear Monsanto - the company which

makesthe hormone - would come after them in court.

 

Glen Norton, Golden Fleece Dairy: " From the information I heard and

read, Iwas afraid at some point that if we tried to do extra

labeling,

thatMonsanto could cause damage to my small, fragile business. "

 

Narration: Norton and others like him may have reason to be scared.

Rightafter Monsanto started marketing its BGH three years ago, a

number

ofdairies that didn't use it began to label their products so

consumers

wouldknow.

 

Robert Collier: " In fact, there are quite a few co-ops that do just

that andwe have not opposed that at all. "

 

Narration: But that's not true. Monsanto did file lawsuits against

two smalldairies, forcing them to stop labeling. Then the company

spread

the newswith follow-up letters to other dairies that apparently saw

the

writing onthe wall.and they also stopped.

 

The labels on Ben and Jerry's ice cream will soon be different, too.

Thelabel will also carry wording that says the FDA has said there is

nosignificant difference between milk from treated and untreated

cows -

aclaim some scientists sharply question.

 

That wording, by the way, was written by Michael Taylor, an attorney

whoworked for Monsanto both before and after his time as an FDA

official.

 

Some dairy people say Ben and Jerry have jumped on the anti-BGH

bandwagon asjust a way to sell more of their ice cream.

 

Ben Cohen: " The tremendous amount of chemicals that's used in

conventionalagriculture is having a horrible effect on the

environment

and on the health

of our citizens and our customers and you know, (laugh), if you want

to sayis it our self-interest? Yeah! We want to keep our customers

alive. They eat

 

more ice cream when they're alive! "

 

Narration: As part of an effort to influence these reports, a lawyer

hiredby Monsanto wrote a Fox television executive saying the

discussion

of anypossible link between the use of synthetic BGH and cancer

is " .the

mostblatant form of scaremongering. "

 

In a second letter, he said Monsanto critics are in all probability

" scientifically incompetent. " He is referring to critics such as Dr.

SamuelEpstein at the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

Epstein hasthree medical degrees, he's the author of eight books, and

is

frequentlycalled to testify before Congress about the environmental

causes of cancer.

 

Like other BGH critics, Epstein contends it's just wrong to introduce

aproduct into the marketplace when there are so many important and

still-unresolved human health questions.

 

Samuel Epstein, Research Scientist: " We're living in the greatest

democracyin the world in many ways but in other ways were in a

 

corporate dictatorship

 

in which big government and big industry decide what information

theconsumer can and should have

 

and it's the objective of me and the

CancerPrevention Coalition to assure that this information be made

available andlet the public decide.and let grassroot citizens take

over

where governmentand industry has failed. "

 

This is the first time that the script that got the reporters in

trouble hasappeared in print. This important document has been edited

for length butnot censored. For the full version, go to the website:

 

http://www.foxbghsuit.com

Earth Island Journal - Summer 2001 Vol. 16 #2

 

 

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

This is an excellent example of the challenge that that truth

frequently

faces in getting to the public. This information is not presented

throughthe media as a result of economic and political pressures.

 

I am delighted to be able to work with Dr. Epstein in promoting some

of hisoutstanding efforts to inform the public about some of these

dangers.

If you

live in Illinois please be sure and attend the Symposium he is

sponsoringnext month.

If you are still drinking regular milk I would encourage you to

discontinuethis practice as soon as possible. The growth hormone

issues

discussed aboveare only one of the reasons why this should be

considered.

 

The major issue is the pasteurization of the milk which completely

changesthe structure of the milk proteins (denaturization) into

something

far lessthan healthy. Then, of course there is the issue of the

antibiotics and pesticides and the fact that nearly all commercial

dairy cows are raised on grains, not grass, like they were designed

to. This will change thecomposition of the fats, especially the CLA

content.

 

 

 

JoAnn Guest

jgu-

Friendsforhea-

DietaryTi-

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Botanicals.html

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-Wisdom of the past,Food of the future-

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