| FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Consumer groups are applauding a major dairy cooperative’s decision to dissuade its farmers from using a synthetic hormone to coax more milk from cows, a move some insiders say could have a ripple effect across the dairy industry.
Members of California Dairies Inc., which ships over 14 billion pounds of milk annually, must stop injecting their herds with the genetically engineered hormone rBST by Aug. 1 or face having to pay a premium for the co-op to truck their milk to alternative markets.
RBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin, is banned in Canada and Europe, mostly over concerns that it makes cows more prone to illness. On Jan. 23, the co-op’s board of directors told its 650 members they would stop accepting milk from herds treated with the growth hormone and from cloned cows. |
