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RBGH Labeling Debate Reaches Kansas |
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Written by Kiki Hubbard
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Friday, 15 February 2008 |
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Kansas has joined the growing list of states where new legislation or state department of agriculture rules seek to censor labels concerning hormone use in dairy production. As reported in Envirovore, Monsanto is taking a backdoor approach to eliminate consumers' ability to identify products derived from cows not injected with its bovine growth hormone.
The Kansas Senate will be considering a bill next week that, similar to the Indiana bill, prevents companies from using messages about hormone use on labels. SB 595 bans labels on food products for which the composition cannot be confirmed in a lab. That is, because there isn't a test for detecting rBGH in milk products, "rBGH-free" labels of any kind are considered "misleading." The bill also invalidates the affidavits currently used by the industry to verify rBGH-free products. So, production-related labels, like "Our farmers pledge not to use rBGH," are deemed illegal as well.
Unlike similar initiatives, SB 595 appears to cover all food, not just dairy. As Rick North of Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility points out, there are numerous food labels that cannot be confirmed by a lab test – country of origin, spring-fed bottled water, and cage-free, are just a few.
As more and more U.S. dairies go rBGH-free (roughly a third now), the rBGH labeling debate is likely to continue its march across the nation, state by state.
Source: Eat Local KC
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