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January 23, 2008
PA loses label ban; Monsanto cowed
And they would've gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for that meddling governor!
Remember a few months ago when I told you that Monsanto thinks you're stupid? And that Pennsylvania's Secretary of Agriculture was going right along with them by banning labels on dairy products indicating that the farmer hadn't used synthetic growth hormones?
Last week, following a review by Governor Rendell, Pennsylvania's Department of Agriculture backed off the ban. New guidelines allow dairies to label their products as "rGBH free" as long as they also include language explaining that the FDA has found no difference between milk from treated and that from untreated cows.
The FDA might not see a difference, but others have -- and Canada and Europe prohibit the use of the synthetic hormone. A recent commenter here at Enviroblog thinks it may be against freedom of speech to tell people what they can't say about their own product if it's true. I'm no lawyer, but that makes sense to me. We're thrilled that, this time, good sense won out over big business.
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Comments
Companies tamper with nature, and then wonder why people get upset! All states should label genetically modified and hormone-injected foods! Once again, the U.S. is years behind Europe in thought and practice. And Monsanto? They're a piece of work. Not only are they buying up seed varieties so they can peddle their Roundup resistant strains, but they're also manufacturing hormones? Well, I bet a Monsanto hormone-injected cow could kick an organically-raised cow's ass! YEAH!!!
Posted by: Steven | January 23, 2008 10:30 AM
Steven, you're right -- if anything, producers should be required to label food that hasn't been naturally produced, not prevented from labeling food that has.
Posted by: Amanda | January 23, 2008 12:06 PM