Federal Court Ditches Ban on Labeling Milk
When you buy something, you want to know what’s in it – right? You wouldn’t buy a car without popping the hood, only to find out later that your super-charged Hemi engine is actually an oversized hamster wheel. Hamster not included.
That goes double for food. If you can eat it, you better know exactly what it has or doesn’t have in it. So that’s why its great news that the United States Federal Court overturned a ban on labeling milk as “artificial hormone free.”
After two years of litigation backed by the Organic Trade Association, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will allow milk not treated by bovine growth hormones to be labeled “rbGH free,” “rbST free” or “artificial hormone free.”
The ruling is being applauded by food advocates. “I definitely think people are becoming more concerned about what’s in the food they eat, and it’s cases like these that call attention to these serious issues,” said Paige Tomaselli, staff attorney at the Center for Food Safety. “I think that the more these cases are presented, the more consumers will push back and demand clearer labeling of, for instance, GE foods.”
But our federal government isn’t all geniuses. These knuckleheads gave the nod of approval to genetically engineered salmon. Doh!
The court cited numerous reason why hormone-treated milk is different than regular, the nastiest was when hormone-treated milk develops more pus when the cows lactate. Yeah, that’s a big reason why I don’t drink milk at all!
Milk is always a buzz-worthy topic in food news. Recently the big bluster was about schools banning chocolate milk to help fight childhood obesity, angering the National Dairy Council. They think peddling sugar to kids a good idea. Fail.
Image credit: dayvidday
