Word: bst
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...similar controversy has blown up over CR's condemnation of bovine somatotropin (bst), a genetically engineered hormone to increase milk production in cows. Again, the magazine's original warning in the May 1992 issue (udder insanity) was widely reprinted, prompting consumer resistance to the use of bst on dairy cows. And again, a small battalion of other environmental watchdogs refuted the claims of danger, including the A.M.A. and the Food and Drug Administration...
...threatens the safety of American milk. The hormone, a natural protein found in cows, is being artificially manufactured in vats of genetically altered bacteria. When cows are regularly given extra doses of the hormone, their milk production can rise as much as 15%. Scientists call the chemical bovine somatotropin (BST) or, more simply, bovine growth hormone (BGH), and it is marketed under the trade name Posilac...
Whole herds of dairy cows are now being injected with a genetically engineered growth hormone (BST) so that they will produce more milk than ordinary cattle. Companies such as Monsanto and Calgene are set to market bioengineered plant products, including tomatoes that ripen without rotting. And researchers are talking about drought-tolerant grass that would need almost no mowing...
...First, however, they must pass muster with federal regulators. That may be tricky, given the concerns raised by some environmental and animal-rights groups. Protests have already greeted the likely approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of biotechnology's first major agricultural product, a natural hormone called BST, which can be mass-produced in genetically altered bacteria. BST injections make cows produce more milk, but farmers worry about a possible oversupply of dairy products that could drive down prices. Moreover, some opponents question the safety of milk from cows with extra BST...
...milk buyers would be well advised to ignore that scare tactic. Unless BST is shown to pose a health hazard to cows or humans, the main question will be one of economics and politics: Should the financial interests of dairy farmers be put above the right of consumers to have lower milk prices...