Monsanto must be shaking in its boots. With Wal-Mart's recent announcement that all of its store brand milk will come from cows not pumped with synthetic hormones, it's hard to believe that Posilac (the trademark name of Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone) will survive in the marketplace.

Of course, Wal-Mart, with more than 4,000 locations, has considerable power – if not the most power – in the food retail market. Yet the global behemoth isn't the only company influencing dairy farmers' decision to ditch Monsanto's drug. The largest food retailer's announcement comes after other chains, such as Kroger, Safeway, and Starbucks, committed to rBGH-free milk products. And these are just recent examples. Even Dean Foods, the largest milk company, went rBGH-free in 2006 (the same year Monsanto lowered the price of Posilac to keep sales moving), and hundreds more have joined the list.

Less than 20 percent of U.S. dairy cows were injected with synthetic hormones in 2006, and, with demand for rBGH-free milk on the rise, this figure could only be dropping. This is why Wal-Mart's move is more than significant, and may spell the end for rBGH in our milk, yogurt, cream, and butter altogether. At this point, Monsanto's Posilac is probably hanging on by a thin thread in the marketplace.

Make no mistake: this all stems from the dairy industry's response to consumers who are voting with their dollar for milk from cows treated in a more, well, ordinary way.

Source: Toronto Globe and Mail