Chip Mefford wrote: > Keith Addison wrote: >> About the dumbest thing I saw all week. - K > > Yup, > > there is a full court press on behalf of the Monsato > rBST crowd to rid the world of 'real' dairy.
To learn more; visit http://www.itisafact.org/Default.aspx see what they are up to. > > I'm defining real dairy as dairy farms like in the > picture books. They do exist, I knew a few. > Regular ole dairy cows, wandering about in pastures, > and getting milked, some by hand. Some of the milk > even gets sold -as is- (what we buy). > > Up in Pennsylvania, I think, is where this fight started. > The Pa Secretary of Ag, Dennis Wolf (appointed by democrat > darling Ed Rendell) is a dairyman himself, owns and operates > Pen-Col Farms, 600 acre, 400 head Holstein dairy operation. > Secretary Wolff, last year, tried to bushwhack the dairy > farmers with an edict stating that milk could no longer > be labeled as rBST/rBGH/Prosilac free, or antibiotic free > or any of that. > > This move, essentially has backfired. Now the once ignorant > public is becoming more and more aware of what industrial > ag folks have been doing to their food. > > It's not stopping them though. > > > Pen-Col Farms, a 600-acre, 400-head dairy cattle operation specializing > in purebred Holstein genetics. >> http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7621130 >> >> Hormone use may make dairy farming greener-US study >> >> Reuters, Monday June 30 2008 >> >> By Julie Steenhuysen >> >> CHICAGO, June 30 (Reuters) - Using bovine growth hormones to boost >> milk production could help the dairy industry significantly reduce >> its impact on the environment, U.S. researchers said on Monday. >> >> They said supplementing 1 million cows with the growth hormone >> recombinant bovine somatotropin or rbST would have the same effect as >> removing about 400,000 cars from the road or planting 300 million >> trees. >> >> "That's a pretty substantial impact," said Dale Bauman of Cornell >> University, whose research appears in the journal Proceedings of the >> National Academy of Sciences. >> >> While it has been approved for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug >> Administration since 1993, the hormone has been banned in Japan, >> Australia, Canada and parts of Europe. Opponents say it can have >> harmful effects on both the cows and humans who drink their milk. >> >> Many U.S. grocery chains in the United States have switched to milk >> suppliers that do not use the synthetic hormone, and Wal-Mart Stores >> Inc said in March its private label brand of milk would be sourced >> from suppliers that do not use growth hormones. >> >> Cornell University paid for the study, done with the help of Roger >> Cady of Monsanto Co, maker of the bovine growth hormone Posilac. >> >> The study focused on environmental, not safety, issues. >> >> FEWER COWS, LESS FEED >> >> The research suggests that, if used on a large scale, bovine growth >> hormones could reduce the number of cows needed to produce milk, >> cutting demand for corn and soybeans and reducing greenhouse gas >> emissions by decreasing the amount of manure they produce. >> >> Decomposing manure produces methane, a greenhouse gas. Scientists say >> controlling methane emissions from animals would help address climate >> change. >> >> "All food production has an environmental impact, but many people >> don't realize that," Bauman said by telephone. >> >> Bauman and colleagues used computer models to calculate the impact >> that greater use of growth hormones might have. They figured using >> the hormones would let 843,000 cows produce the same amount of milk >> now produced by 1 million. >> >> That would save 491,000 tonnes of corn, 158,000 tonnes of soybeans, >> and total feed would be reduced by 2.3 million tonnes. The change >> would allow farmers to reduce the amount of cropland needed by >> 540,000 acres (219,000 hectares) and reduce soil erosion by 2.3 >> million tonnes a year, they said. >> >> And it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.8 billion pounds >> (824 million kg), methane emissions by 90 million pounds (41 million >> kg), and nitrous oxide emissions by 210,000 pounds (96,000 kg). >> >> Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union, said the >> study is based on a "false notion" that you can produce the same >> quantity of milk with less feed. >> >> Hansen said Monsanto in the late 1980s sought to make a label claim >> that the product increased feed efficiency, but the FDA said the >> company did not provide enough evidence for that claim. >> >> (Editing by Patricia Zengerle) >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Biofuel mailing list >> Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >> http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel >> >> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >> http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html >> >> Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): >> http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > -- Chip Mefford -------------------- Before Enlightenment; chop wood carry water After Enlightenment; chop wood carry water --------------------- Public Key http://www.well.com/user/cpm _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
