February 06, 2004
from
GMWatch Website
recovered through
WayBackMachine Website
This relates to Monsanto's genetically engineered cattle drug
rBGH
(Bovine Growth Hormone) also known as BST (bovine somatotropin) and
under its commercial name Posilac.
It is designed to boost milk
production
Whether all of the information given below hangs together we
wouldn't like to say but the question US consumers might like to
ponder, is why this GE drug, widely used in the US where Monsanto
has taken legal action against companies advertising their milk as
BGH-free, is banned not only throughout the European Union but even
in Canada - and that's despite immense and dubious regulatory
pressure to have it approved.
Even the staunchly
pro-GM Prof Jonathan Jones of the
John Innes
Centre was driven to write to The Guardian to support an article by
George Monbiot expressing concern over this GM drug.
Jones wrote,
"he is certainly right to highlight concern... about milk from cows
treated with bovine somatotropin (BST). It appears suspect both on
animal welfare and human health grounds".
Monsanto
End of Bovine Growth Hormone Milk rBGH
by
Robert Cohen
April 29, 2005
from
NationalHealthFederation Website
You will soon be reading a remarkable headline. The genetically
engineered bovine growth hormone is dead.
The genetically engineered bovine growth hormone is dead. Posilac,
aka rbGH, rbST, cow-fuel, milk-poison, will soon cease to exist.
What did this cost me? Ten years of my life, and it was worth it.
The ten potentially highest earning years of one man's life, from
ages 42-52, all sacrificed for a principle. Like a pit bull, I
grabbed onto Monsanto's leg and would not let go.
A tough decision awaits executives at the upper echelons of
Monsanto. A decision is being debated in corporate corridors. They
cannot afford to take Posilac off of the market, for that would be
the end of their genetic engineering technology.
On the other hand, they cannot afford to keep Posilac on the market,
for the entire dairy industry has awoken to this fact of economic
reality: the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone was bad
for business.
-
Surplus milk resulting from this hormone kept milk prices low.
-
Adverse publicity from the bovine growth
hormone caused people to
explore milk alternatives, like soymilk.
-
Adverse publicity from the bovine growth hormone created the "Notmilkman,"
the dairy industry's worst nightmare.
Before his death, my webmaster, Dave Rietz, often used a favorite
expression.
"Every avalanche begins with a snowflake."
At first,
Dave and I each represented one snowflake. Then we grew into two
large snowballs. We rolled down a hill, all the while gaining
momentum and mass. Some avalanche! Dave will enjoy today's column.
Four months ago (Sunday, December 21, 2003), I filed a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request with the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA).
One day earlier, I had received a copy of a letter alerting dairy
farmers that Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone
(rbST) would be in short supply.
Monsanto wrote:
"Supplies of Posilac bovine somatotropin (rbST) are temporarily
limited while necessary corrections and improvements in
manufacturing are made by Monsanto's supplier."
I smelled something rotten in Monsanto-land.
That next day, I called many people at FDA, attempting to get the
facts. Nobody was talking.
In 1999, I had filed a citizen's petition with FDA to take Posilac
off the market. I submitted evidence of how Monsanto defrauded FDA.
It took FDA five years to act. They closed Monsanto's Posilac
factory a few months ago.
Monsanto lied to dairy farmers, calling it a "temporary production
problem."
Monsanto had created a potential catastrophe for humankind. I give
FDA credit for finally acting.
I discovered that Monsanto had made a gene transcription error
during the development of their new genetic technology.
Proteins are made up of amino acids.
Each time that Monsanto attempted to re-create their new hormone,
one amino acid, lysine, was incorrectly transcribed as a "freak"
amino acid, epsilon-N-acetyllysine.
For nearly five years, FDA ignored my request.
Then, things became interesting. Monsanto mailed a letter to Posilac-using
dairy farmers on December 19, 2003.
Monsanto shocked farmers by
alerting them that Posilac would be in limited supply until:
"Conditions and improvements in manufacturing are made..."
Monsanto accepted no new customers, and anticipated their
"shortfall" to last for "several months."
Monsanto attempted to fix the errors. They have not been successful.
FDA now knows of those mistakes because my whistleblowing broke
windows.
What became the snowflake to make the snowball to begin the
avalanche?
On Wednesday, February 4, 2004, I received the damning evidence that
confirmed Monsanto's crime against humankind.
Thirty hours of non-stop research and confirmation later supported
the magnitude of Monsanto's crime.
In a column written before last Christmas, I predicted:
"Mark down this date, 12/19/03. This may very well be the defining
moment that ends the use of genetically engineered foods in
America's food."
On January 30, 2004, I received a warning that represented a threat
to my well being. I wrote a column the next day, responding to that
threat:
"I have been threatened, and my enemies can go to hell. They will
read this, and know that there will be many witnesses to any future
coincidences. You, my readers, are an insurance policy that may or
may not have matured to its full term...I will not turn my back on
the children. So, I continue my course. Full speed ahead."
Four days after writing and posting that column, I received an
envelope from FDA confirming my worst fears. My FOIA request. Truth,
at last. The entire request cost me $18.30. This revelation shall
cost Monsanto and its stockholders considerably more.
The most damning evidence was found in observation number 1, filed
by an FDA investigator after inspecting Monsanto's rebombinant
bovine somatotropin (rbST or Posilac) production facility at
Biochemisetrasse 10, Kundl, Austria.
OBSERVATION 1
"There is a failure to thoroughly review the failure of a batch or
any of its components to meet any of its specifications whether or
not the batch has been thoroughly distributed."
"Specifically, the corrective actions implemented after the
investigation of nine sterility failures reported since 2001 (3 for
2001, 3 for 2002, and 3 for 2003) for Posilac injection or for the
lyophilized active ingredient (Sometribove zinc) have not been
effective in preventing reoccurrence.
"In five instances (2 for 2001, 1 for 2002, and 2 for 2003) the
organism was identified as Propionibacterium acnes; Staphylococcus
species have been identified in three instances and in one instance
(in 2002) Bacillus pumilus was found. Propionibacterium was found in
environmental samples of the manufacturing areas.
Batches
manufactured around the same period of time and under the same
conditions of the affected lots have been released to the market."
OBSERVATION 2
"Equipment for adequate control over micro-organisms is not provided
when appropriate for the manufacture, processing, packing or holding
of a drug product."
As Jeff Goldbloom said to Geena Davis in the classic horror film,
The Fly (1986): "Be scared, be very scared."
The first attempt to
produce a new food by pretending to understand God's genetic code
resulted in a new kind of milk, supersaturated with powerful growth
hormones.
FDA lied to America, claiming that milk had not changed.
That was the beginning.
With this last FOIA request, we learned the answer to the query,
"What hath God wrought?"
Humankind will now be asking,
"What hath man wrought?"
It has been well reported that a new emerging species of bacteria
has developed, immune to antibiotic treatment.
Staphylococcus aureus plagues many American hospitals in this new
outbreak.
Could the etiology of the mother of all deadly staph infections be
traced to a new genetically engineered version of staph, a superbug
inadvertently produced by Monsanto and then introduced into the food
supply?
In 1989, such staphyloccus infections were unknown to hospitals. By
2002, nearly two-thirds of all hospital infections could be
attributed to antibiotic-resistant staphlococcus infections.
A second bacterium on FDA's (once) secret report reveals that
Posilac samples were found to contain bacillus pumilus. This
bacterium degrades cellulose.
What would be the result of genetically engineering something that
breaks down the heartiest of plant cells with a cow hormone? As my
dear departed Grandma Ruth used to say, "God only knows."
A third bacterium found was identified as propionibacterium acnes
(P-acnes).
What the heck is P-acnes?
An Internet search revealed:
"P-acnes is the causative agent of
acne vulgaris (pimples)... Other
infections for which P. acnes has been implicated include corneal
ulcers, heart valves and prosthetic devices, and central nervous
system shunts.
A rare heart disease known as Propionibacterium acnes
endocarditis has been discovered in a prosthetic valve infected with
P-acnes. The valve was also complicated by multiple mycotic
aneurysms."
The world works in funny ways, but there is always balance.
Monsanto's hormone will soon be off the market. FDA will allow
Monsanto to withdraw their drug with corporate dignity. Posilac will
soon take its own life and cease to exist.
Farmers will produce less milk. The price of milk and dairy
commodities will soar, as they have been doing since the first
Posilac shortage began.
Cows will be less stressed as their udders shrink because they are
no longer injected with high octane hormone fuel. The pus cell rates
will mysteriously decrease.
Farmers will be given credit for producing safer and cleaner milk.
And I?
I'll be pointing my finger (guess which one) at the dairy
industry, shouting:
"It's hormones, stupid!"
All milk naturally contains powerful growth hormones. Even the
healthiest organic milk from the healthiest cow.
Thank you, Monsanto, for teaching me the basics.
Ellen White warned about the evils of Monsanto, long before the
company existed:
"So long as we are in the world, we shall meet with adverse
influences. Day by day and year by year we shall conquer self, and
grow into a noble heroism."
(Ministry of Healing, p. 487)
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