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                                 February 18, 1994

                                      BST.ASC
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             This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Joel McClain.
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       BST, or rbST,  or  BGH is the Bovine Growth Hormone which may now be
       legally injected into dairy cows.  Dairies who elect not to use this
       manufactured hormone are allowed to  state ONLY that the milk/cheese
       etc. comes from animals which were not treated with  the  substance,
       and cannot state  that  the products are rbST-free, even though this
       would be a true statement.

       I was living in Illinois, just seven  miles south of Wisconsin, when
       the BGH scandal  first  made the news.  According  to  news  reports
       there, the USDA  had  sent  agents  to  approach individual dairies,
       offering them the hormone.  The farmers  were  told  to expect a 40%
       increase in milk yield, BUT the injections were to  be  kept  secret
       from the public and from the state's department of agriculture.

       All went along  fine  for  the  first  few years, until treated cows
       began to drop dead from extremely  agressive  forms  of  cancers  to
       their female organs.   The farmers were unable to  get  compensation
       from the USDA  for  the  cows,  and  took  them to court.  Once this
       happened, the state's agricultural  people,  and  later  the  entire
       state legislature, figuratively speaking, had a cow.   The  farmers'
       customers switched to non-BGH dairies, and the state went to work on
       legislation to require  labeling of any products from cows which had
       been treated with BGH.

       It was a case of David and Goliath, and David lost.  Goliath had his
       own inspectors reclassify the deaths  of  the  cows,  so  that there
       would be no mention of the hormone injections.  The  new federal law
       means that other  states,  who  may wish to challenge BGH, cannot do
       so.  So much for "states rights".

       The reason why this is ultimately  of  concern,  is  that humans are
       genetically very similar to cows...that's why we can drink cow milk,
       and why in  times  of war, we have used cow blood for  transfusions.
       Trace amounts of   BGH  which  theoretically  could  remain  in  the
       products, perhaps if the injections were given incorrectly, would be
       consumed by the end user of the product.   Artificially manufactured
       hormones, which have been linked to fatal cancers,  are not the best
       idea that I have heard this week!

       When we heard the news from Wisconsin, we switched to dairy products
       that were from Illinois only.  Here in Texas, I've heard that Kroger
       plans to carry  only  non-BGH dairy products.  Hopefully, this trend
       will continue.  No matter WHAT the  USDA  says, we can VOTE with our
       DOLLARS, until this hormone is not used.

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