Growth hormones called rBGH and rBST are given to cows in
order to increase the amount of milk they produce. Studies show that one out of
every six dairy cows in the United States is injected with these hormones over
and over again. Most of the antibiotics used in the United States are for
animals to keep them healthy. However, there are some concerns arising about
the safety of these hormones. Some of the negative effects to this hormone are
that connections have been found linking the milk produced from cows injected
with these hormones and cancers being found such as breast, colorectal, and
prostate. Although these hormones are not banned in the United States, it is in
other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Israel, EU, and Canada. There
are many people in the United States who are against farmers using these
hormones in their cows in fear of some of the negative effects they have as
stated above. Some milk companies have started to label their milk as having no
added hormones to ensure the customers that no rBGH or rBST are present in
their milk/dairy products. Places such as Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc.
have stopped using and/or milk products that contain these hormones. In the
future, I personally hope that these hormones are banned in the United States
from being injected into cows. I think for right now, more studies and
experiments need to be conducted to find how harmful these hormones truly are
to consumers buying milk with the hormones included. For more information check out this link.
“rBGH.” Grace
Communications Foundations. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2013.
I completely agree that if something is linked to cussing cancer, then this should be banned from the United States. However, is there research which shows the direct cuss of cancer from the injections of rBGH and rBST hormones? This is something I’m not sure of but would need further research. I was curious as to why these hormones were even injected into animals if they are so awful, and found a very good site which answered some frequently asked questions on this topic. I was also surprised that these hormones were prohibited in 27 countries of the European Union.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.organicvalley.coop/why-organic/synthetic-hormones/about-rbgh/
Allison,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog post on the bovine growth hormone (rBGH)/recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), I did further research on this genetically engineered artificial hormone that is injected into dairy cows for the purpose of greater milk production. When I clicked on the link of the website that was added at the end of the blog post, I found out that rBGH/rBST was originally manufactured by the Monsanto Corporation and has been legal in milk production since 1993 since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it. As a benefit, this genetically engineered hormone forces cows to artificially increase milk production by 10 to 15 percent. However, controversy still ensues over the safety of rBGH/rBST over concerns of certain types of cancers and other health issues.
I decided to look more into the research behind the connection that scientists and physicians have made between dairy consumption with rBST/rBGH and breast cancer risk in pre-menopausal women. The results from various studies have shown direct correlations and strong associations with these two factors, which made my opposition toward rBST/rBGH even greater. I agree that the U.S. should reconsider its use of rBST/rBGH in milk production from a cost-benefit standpoint. (Are the risks and negative side-effects worth the benefit?)
Visit the link below for more information about the research behind rBST/rBGH related cancers.
http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/radiation-chemicals-and-breast-cancer/bovine-growth-hormone.html