Name: Brenda Mellowe
Status: Other
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Question:
Is bovine growth hormone safe?
What kind of research has been done on this?
Replies:
You have probably seen stories in the news lately about injecting cows with
bovine growth hormone (somatotropin) that has been produced by recombinant DNA
methods. The US Food and Drug Administration gave final approval to this
practice last month after lengthy review of health and safety research. Here
are a few interesting reports that might give you a better idea of the
research that has been done:
1992 - General Accounting Office - "RBGH: FDA Approval Should be Withheld
Until Mastitis Issue is Resolved" - The issue here is that if cows given BGH
are more likely to get udder infections, then farmers may need to give them
antibiotics, and these antibiotics might then be passed on to humans, or
resistant strains of mastitis infections might develop.
1991 - National Institutes of Health - "NIH Panel says milk and meat from BST-
treated cows is safe"
1990 - US Dept. of Health and Human Services - "Bovine Somatotropin - January
1985 through October 1990" a bibliography with over 1,000 references to
research reports, by F. Gluckstein, M. Glock, and J. Hill
Your librarian should be able to help you locate copies of the reports.
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