Dairies Make First Big Mooove Away from Bovine Growth Hormone

Dean Foods and H.P. Hood have begun demanding farmers in New England to supply milk free of Monsanto's artificial growth hormones, "the first large-scale conversion in the country," writes reporter Bruce Mohl. The dairies are making the switch--or return--due to growing consumer demand for organic and other hormone and antibiotic-free milk products. "The phenomenal success of organic milk, with growth rates of 20 percent or more, is driving our demand for milk from cows not treated with artificial growth hormones," says John Kaneb, chief executive of H.P. Hood. The St. Paul Pioneer Press recently reported on a similar consumer trend in the midwest. Monsanto, maker of growth hormone POSILAC, which is used in one third of the U.S. dairy herd, doesn't like the development. Monsanto sued a Maine dairy in 2003 when it used a label pledging not to use the hormones (which brought about the common counter-label stating that there is "no significant difference" between milk from hormone-treated and non-hormone-treated cows). The Globe paraphrases Monsanto as saying that Dean and Hood are now "depriving" farmers of an FDA-approved technology.