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Hormone-free claims banned from milk labels
Strickland rules that labels can't make unverified statements about rbST.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Gov. Ted Strickland on Thursday issued an emergency rule banning unverified milk labels that claim the milk comes from cows that were not given an artificial hormone.
Monsanto sells recombinant bovine somatotropin to farmers, who use it to boost milk production in cows. A 2007 U.S. Department of Agriculture survey found 15 percent of U.S. dairy farms use the hormone, also called rbST.
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The Food and Drug Administration approved rbST in 1993, deeming milk from treated cows safe. Despite that assurance, a fall 2007 survey of 3,000 Ohioans found 59 percent had concern about milk from cows given growth hormones.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture will allow label claims such as "this milk is from cows not supplemented with rbST," but only when accompanied by a disclaimer that the FDA found no significant difference between treated and untreated cows.
Verification, which will be the responsibility of the dairy product's marketing organization or labeling entity, is a vexing issue. Tests can't tell milk produced by cows given rbST from that produced by untreated cows.
As a substitute for testing, ODA Director Robert Boggs on Thursday said the department will accept documentation such as affidavits signed by farmers stating they don't use rbST.
Milk marketing cooperatives have asked farmers to sign affidavits stating they won't use rbST. But critics have said that's not enough, and have told ODA it shouldn't permit any food labels it's not willing to verify independently.
The department also said it will not allow labels such as "no hormone," "hormone-free," "rbST-free" or "bST-free," nor claims that milk has no antibiotics and pesticides.
ODA notified dairy processors that it wants to review their dairy labels by Feb. 15.
Carol Goland of the Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association said she's glad the state didn't ban label claims, but said the disclaimer requirements go too far.
"I'm a little disappointed that the Department of Agriculture seems to have yielded to the pressures of a very vocal but minority segment of producers," Goland said.
The emergency rule will remain in effect for 90 days while ODA completes the statutory rule-making process through the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. That process will include a formal public hearing.
