A victory for consumers and parents around the world.
Consumers have made a difference with their spending habits and advocacy. Thank you to all that supported the fight against Posilac!!
Let’s keep sending the message to Monsanto and the other biotech giants that we want SAFE, SUSTAINABLE, and NUTRITIOUS FOOD!!!
Death to rBGH!!
Monsanto to Sell Unit That
Makes Dairy-Cow Hormone
August 7, 2008; Page B4
Agriculture biotech giant Monsanto Co. said it is planning to sell its business that produces a controversial hormone used to boost milk production in dairy cows.
The company said it plans to sell the commercial business for Posilac, including the intellectual property and a manufacturing facility in Augusta, Ga. Additional details weren’t disclosed.
The announcement comes after consumer-health groups have raised questions about the health effects of the hormone, which is a natural protein produced in the pituitary glands of cows.
“What’s happened today could be a great victory for the American consumer,” said Andrew Kimbrell, founder and executive director of the Center for Food Safety, a consumer advocacy group in Washington. “Monsanto has recognized that consumers have made a choice to avoid milk made with genetically engineered growth hormones, and that the dairies and markets that serve their needs are not buying milk made with their product.”
Monsanto, based in St. Louis, said sales for Posilac have been strong and that the sale of the business isn’t in response to critics.
“We believe repositioning the business with a strategic owner will allow Monsanto to focus on the growth of its core seeds and traits business,” said Carl Casale, Monsanto’s executive vice president of strategy and operations.
Still, the company said in recent federal filings, “We believe some processor requests for milk produced by cows not supplemented with [Posilac] will limit our future sales.”
Some major retailers have shunned products containing the hormone as consumer opinion turned against it.
Last year, Starbucks Corp. began phasing out hormone-treated milk in its stores after an “increasing number of our customers have contacted us to request that we look into our use of dairy produced” with the hormone, according to a company statement.
Posilac is used by farmers to increase the milk production of their dairy cows, in turn improving the efficiency of their operations and their return on investment. Monsanto says that cows injected with the hormone produce on average 10 pounds more milk per day. About one-third of the nation’s dairy-cow herds are treated with Posilac, according to Monsanto.
Even though the product was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1993, consumer-health groups say more research needs to be done before the product is deemed safe for human consumption.
