crossposted from unbossed
When Wal-Mart decided to go rBST-free last week, Monsanto knew it was in big trouble. So it's pulling out the big guns.
Yes, when the going gets tough, Monsanto's astroturf groups get going.
If you go over to Wal-Mart's blog, you can see the front groups and their representatives spewing out their talking points. The talking points include that rBST milk production is better for the environment, less costly for the public, is no different than non-rBST-produced milk.
Yes, indeed, Monsanto has a lot of mouths to say its words, or in the case of blogs, lots of fingers to type its claims.
Last December, I did a piece tracking down front groups, and including lots of links so you could find out about the "work" they do. Actually, they are all a piece of work.
Among the groups is the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH). You can find a number of links about them and their fellow travelers here.
ACSH has been a regular among the front groups Monsanto turns to.
ACSH also turned up when I tried to track down the truth behind a claim Terry Etherton, Monsanto's man at Penn State, kept making about 3000 studies showing that rBST is safe. I didn't find anywhere near 3000 studies, but I did find ACSH.
So now that Wal-Mart has spurned Monsanto, who does Monsanto call for help? If you said, ACSH, you got it.
Today ACSH's Ruth Kava scolded, yes, scolded Wal-Mart for giving the public what the public wants. I had thought that this was the way the free market was supposed to work. But I gather when it comes to Monsanto's friends, freedom isn't free. Kava has given Wal-Mart orders to get back in line, the public wishes be damned. Honestly, I am not making this up. Here's how her rant starts:
It's a pretty sad state of affairs when grocery sellers decide to market their wares by kowtowing to consumer fears. But that's what seems to be happening now. Wal-Mart has decided not to sell milk from cows that have been treated with rBST. . . ..
Silly as it sounds, that is how they plan to make friends with - or bully - Wal-Mart.
March 24, 2008
Milking Consumer Fears
By Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D.
It's a pretty sad state of affairs when grocery sellers decide to market their wares by kowtowing to consumer fears. But that's what seems to be happening now. Wal-Mart has decided not to sell milk from cows that have been treated with rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin, or growth hormone) -- even though the FDA has said more than once that milk from such cows is no different from any other milk. Now the Kroger company is planning to do the same, and in addition the company wants to label the milk as not from rBST-treated cows.
Of course, no one adds BST to milk -- except the cow who needs it in order to make any milk at all. The only thing the additional injected rBST does is maintain the levels of BST at early lactation levels for an extended period -- thus increasing the cow's productivity (see other ACSH examinations of rBST). The fact is that there has never been any substantiated scientific study showing that milk from cows treated with rBST is any different from milk from untreated cows. The hormones are so similar that you can't tell them apart, nor can the FDA.
Who really stands to gain from the sale of this "untreated" milk? Not consumers, surely -- but it certainly keeps the marketers busy and creates the false impression that the companies are looking out for consumers' welfare. If these companies really were concerned, they'd resist the temptation to pander to activist-inspired fears of biotechnology products such as rBST.
Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D., is Director of Nutrition at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org, HealthFactsAndFears.com).
If you go over to Wal-Mart's blog where the announcement to go rBST free was made, you will see that the Monsanto minions are at work.
For example, one name is Boyd Schaufelberger. Do a search on his name, and you will find he is a poster-boy farmer for rBST. You'll find him connected with Terry Etherton and with the Center for Global Food Issues , a Monsanto front group. In fact, the CGFI is a front group of the Far Right Hudson Institute.