The Bangor (Maine) Daily News recently published a refreshingly logical op-ed by Dennis Bailey. It’s all about the baseless hysteria that nanny groups have attached to bovine somatotropin (BST), a growth hormone often given to dairy cows in order to increase milk production. “There are no reliable studies showing that BST – even at increased levels – causes health problems in humans,” Bailey writes. “Even the American Academy of Pediatrics says milk with added BST is safe for babies.” Nevertheless, he notes, the demands of an unenlightened few have dominated discussions about whether or not injecting cows with BST is a good thing.
More of Bailey’s wisdom: “Traces of BST show up in all milk, even from cows that have been fed organic feed their entire lives and have never seen the business end of a hypodermic needle. The genetic structure of milk isn’t changed one whit by the injected BST. In fact, there is no way to tell the difference, either nutritionally or genetically, between milk made with or without artificial BST.”
