Fw: Bovine Growth Hormone being phased out?

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Tooo good to be true??? NG

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Sunday, July 04, 2004 10:23 AM

Bovine Growth Hormone being phased out?

 

 

Monsanto Likely Phasing Out Controversial Bovine Growth Hormone

 

>From Milkweed, Issue #299, June 2004

 

Are Rats Jumping Off Posilac Ship?

 

While Monsanto remains quiet about the fate of its genetically

engineered cow hormone, Posilac, signs are that more rats are jumping off

the ship.

 

In late January 2004, Monsanto announced a 50% reduction in sales of

Posilac to regular customers. That followed a December 19, 2003

announcement of a 15% cutback.

 

The Milkweed reported of a Posilac sales force meeting in March, at

which numerous sales persons were terminated by Monsanto. Other Posilac

sales personnel are rumored to be aggressively seeking their next employment

opportunity.

 

In early May, Brian Robert Lowry, Monsanto's dairy mouthpiece, departed

dairy responsibilities at the company. Lowry had issued a typographical

error-ridden media statement, on April 28, claiming that the March 29, 2004

FDA warning letter to Mosanto's Austrian-based Posilac supplier was merely

business as usual. That warning letter blistered the Austrian manufacturer

for many bad manufacturing practices and failed quality control oversight.

The latest " rat " to jump Monsanto's ship is the " Milk is Milk " website

maintained by the Hudson Institute, a bunch of corporate s. " Milk is

Milk " was hatched in recent years to attack critics of milk from

Posilac-injected dairy cows. The Hudson Institute uses Dennis Avery and his

son Alex as a " hit squad " attacking persons opposing food biotechnology.

 

Monsanto has been both a member and a major contributor to the Hudson

Institute. Since Monsanto is the only corporation selling recombinant

bovine growth hormone (Posilac), it's presumed Monsanto has been the source

of money for the " milk is milk " website. No More.

 

Perhaps the single biggest measure of Monsanto's future intentions for

Posilac would be activity around and employment in Monsanto's U.S. plant

near Augusta, Georgia, which was built to produce Posilac. But zero

production of the drug for commercial sale is currently taking place in

Georgia.

 

The Milkweed contends that Monsanto is engaged in conduct that looks

like intentionally sinking the ship. Is the company trying to finesse its

way around potential liabilities for either human or animal health?

 

Posilac was the first major biotech food production product approved by

the Federal Food and Drug Administration. FDA's approval for recombinant

bovine growth hormone remains as the most controversial issue in the

agency's history. Posilac was views as a " must succeed " deal, because so

much investment in food biotechnology was riding on that cow drug's gaining

FDA approval. In the analysis of The Milkweed, FDA's review of human and

animal safety for Posilac were criminally flawed.

 

So 10 years after Posilac was approved for commercial sale, sales are

scaled back...and the rats are jumping ship. Dairy farmers must ask

themselves if, over the past 10 years, they and their cows have fared better

or worse during the " Posilac decade. "