[Sustain] Fwd: Victory on rBGH (GMO) Labeling in Pennsylvania!

[Eric Brooks]

Center for Food Safety <http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/home.cfm> 	



*Victory on rBGH Labeling in Pennsylvania!*

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) has backed down from a 
controversial ban on the use of labels on milk products. The agency had 
issued new rules in October, set to go into effect February 1st that 
would have barred dairy companies or milk producers from labeling their 
products as from cows not treated with rBGH. PDA argued that a 
misleading impression might be conveyed by identifying milk as coming 
from cows not treated with synthetic hormones. Pennsylvania would have 
been the first state to implement such a labeling ban.

_The ban was rescinded yesterday after a review by Pennsylvania Governor 
Rendell due to consumer outcry. True Food Network members, along with 
our allies, sent /thousands/ of emails and made hundreds of calls to 
Governor Rendell urging him to not to put this ban in place. Your calls 
and emails worked!_

Though labels are once again permitted to mention that hormones were not 
used, the standards require a disclaimer stating that the FDA has found 
no difference in milk from cows injected with the synthetic hormone and 
milk from cows that are not injected. Such disclaimers already are 
printed on many dairy products. The new regulations also require dairies 
to maintain procedures to verify any production methods claimed on their 
labels, including keeping a paper audit trail. (Read /"State Revises 
Hormone Label for Milk, The New York Times/ 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/business/18milk.html?_r=2&ref=us&oref=slog&oref=slogin> for 
more information)

Pennsylvania was the first state to consider putting such a labeling ban 
in place, but other states including Washington, Missouri, and Ohio 
<http://ga3.org/campaign/Ohio_rBGH/8un56k8rv75w8jid?>, seem to be 
following suit by considering regulations similar to those which 
Pennsylvania abandoned today. New Jersey had until recently taken the 
matter under consideration but has since determined not to take action.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ruled that rbGH use is 
safe, serious human and animal health questions remain 
<http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/rbgh2.cfm>, and it has been 
prohibited in Canada and the European Union. U.S. consumers have shown 
they prefer rBGH-free products, and that they want them labeled as such. 
In fact, an April 2007 Lake Research Partners national survey shows that 
eight in ten adults (80%) feel dairy products originating from cows that 
have not been treated with rBGH should be allowed to be labeled as such.

A broad coalition of groups including consumers, dairies, farming 
groups, and environmental organizations requested the changes announced 
today.   (You can read the letter here 
<http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/notinmyfood/005230indiv.html>)

Stay tuned for updates and actions on similar labeling bans in other 
states. If you have not already, please consider sending an email and 
making a call to Ohio Governor Strickland 
<http://ga3.org/campaign/Ohio_rBGH/8un56k8rv75w8jid?> on this issue as well!

Thank you for your support!
The Center for Food Safety

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