|
Dairy farmer campaigns for rbST use"Generally speaking consumers believe we are putting out a wholesome product," Campbell said. By Doug Rich "I am not an activist," says Carrol Campbell, a dairy farmer from Winfield, Kan. That is until recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST)-free milk began appearing in dairy cases. Since then Campbell has been talking to industry leaders, legislators, his dairy cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), and the Kansas Dairy Association about his concerns. "I feel we have a responsibility to do something about this issue," Campbell said. "If someone asked me to come up with a list of the threats to our business, I could come up with a long one that would include environmental issues, cost of production and $4 corn. But by far and without question rbST-free milk would lead my list." Campbell has three major concerns associated with the rbST controversy. They are consumer confidence, compensation, and the right to manage his business the best way he can. "We (the dairy industry) have an unparalleled consumer confidence in our product," Campbell said. "Generally speaking consumers believe we are putting out a wholesome product. I view the advent of rbST-free milk as a step backwards." Campbell believes that when a consumer goes to their grocery store and sees conventional milk alongside milk labeled rbST-free and milk labeled organic that implies the other milk is not good for your health. "My country-boy logic says if we have that implication we will sell less milk, not more," Campbell said. "Consumers will go down the isle and buy juice. We have a labeling issue here." There is a compensation issue associated with rbST free milk, according to Campbell. Processing milk all costs about the same whether it is labeled rbST free or not. Typically, Campbell has found that grocers charge $1 more for rbST-free milk and $2 more for organic milk. On a per hundred weight basis that is an extra $11.63 for rbST-free milk and $23 extra for organic milk. While some organic producers are seeing higher returns for their product, rbST-producers have not seen an adequate premium. Campbell said he was offered a 50 cent premium by his cooperative if he would sign an affidavit stating that he was not using rbST. He figures it would take a premium of $1.75 to tempt him to stop using rbST in his herd. "We get a 10 percent increase in production across the herd with bST and 50 cents is not enough of a premium to get us to stop using it," Campbell said. The third concern for Campbell is his ability to manage his dairy and the precedence that rbST-free milk sets for the dairy industry. "Mention hormones and people think steroids and body builders," Campbell said. "bST is hormone, a protein that cows produce naturally. When you ingest milk it is digested just like any other protein and there is no evidence that it can do any harm." "Prostaglandin is a hormone used in reproductive protocols in modern dairy operations," Campbell said. "It is a miracle drug and a staple of the dairy industry. It could be the next thing to go." "We need to nip this thing in the bud before they gradually eat away at us and dismantle how we manage modern dairy farms today," Campbell said. There are lots of groups out there that don't agree with Campbell and they have concerns of their own. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is one of these groups. Ronnie Cummins, national director of OCA, outlined some of his groups concerns about rbST in milk. Cummins said his main concern is that the level of IGF-1 is higher in milk produced with rbST. The National Institutes of Health report that IGF-1 plays a central role in growth of tumors in breast cancer, small cell lung cancer, melanoma, and cancers of the pancreas and prostate. OCA also believes that the use of rbST puts stress on the cows and creates more problems with mastitis. The cows must be treated with more antibiotics to treat the mastitis. Campbell points out that every load of milk leaving his farm is tested for antiobiotics to ensure no milk from treated cows reaches the consumer. "Brazil, Russia, and the U.S. are the only industrialized nations that are using rbST," Cummins said. Even though the European Union (EU) has banned the use of rbST, it has not disputed the scientific data presented by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supporting the safety of rBST. OCA is one of the groups that encouraged the Starbucks Corporation to make its milk products free of artificial growth hormones. According to Starbucks spokesman, Brandon Borrman, nearly 37 percent of their stores were converted to hormone free milk products as of January this year. "We are not calling it bST-free milk," Borrman said. "One of the difficulties is that bST is very similar to rbST and differentiating between the naturally occurring and the manufactured is difficult to do. We say the milk is produced without the use of rbST." Borrman said that most the stores that converted occurred because their suppliers converted. "We are working with our suppliers to determine a time frame for conversion of all the stores," Borrman said. "Suppliers make that decision on their own, like Safeway in northern California." Borrman said their number one reason for the conversion was customer demand. "An increasing number of customers were requesting milk without bST or alternatively requesting organic milk," Borrman said. "This was purely driven by demand from our customers." Cummins said that rbST was approved even through consumers did not want it and a large number of dairy farmers did not want it. Campbell disagrees with this assessment. He said there are not a whole lot of consumers out there asking for rbST-free milk. "It is processor and retailer driven," Campbell said. "Without question, rbST is safe," Campbell said. "This has been proven not only by research and data from FDA but from other reliable organizations." "There are some people that don't believe it," Campbell said. "Those people are well organized, well funded and they have an agenda. That is the elimination of animal agriculture as we know it today." "I can't believe we are going to let this happen," Campbell said. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com. 5/28/07 6 Star Midwest Ag Date: 5/23/07
Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2008. High Plains Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com |
| |||||||||||||||||||||
