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Gene Welch, milker at Newmont Farm in Bradford, Vermont.
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BST in the Beast: Milk Series III
Story aired: Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Almost every American child knows what a dairy farm looks like: a black and white Holstein, a red barn, and maybe a farmer on a three-legged milking stool. But 50 years of advances in diet, drugs, and breeding stock, mean that today's dairy is not your grandfather's farm.
The amount of milk produced per cow has roughly tripled in the years since the Second World War. In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration approved yet another new technology, a synthetic growth hormone called BST.
Cows that get BST produce 10 to 15 percent more milk, and the drug is used in about a third of American dairy herds.
Critics say there are health hazards to the cow, and maybe to people as well. Canada and Europe have refused to approve it, but U.S. regulators and Monsanto, which makes BST say the fears are unfounded.
As part of our week-long look at milk and how it is produced, we are joined by Michael Hansen, senior research associate with the Consumer's Union and a BST critic. |
