Canada Continues Ban on Monsanto's Posilac (rBGH) Milk Hormone
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Ottawa Refuses to Approve Bovine Growth Hormone
ANNE McILROY, Parliamentary Bureau
Excerpted from Globe and Mail (Canada)
Thursday, January 14, 1999, Page A1
Ottawa -- Health Canada has decided not to approve the use of a
controversial hormone that boosts milk production in cows, because of a new
report that finds the drug may hurt the health of animals injected with it.
The announcement on bovine growth hormone to be made tomorrow is the latest
development in a controversy that dates back almost a decade.
The hormone, manufactured by Monsanto Corp., has been approved in the
United States since 1993 and has been under review in Canada for more than
eight years. It has been criticized by public-interest groups and some
scientists who warn it could result in more udder infections in cows and so
lead to the increased use of antibiotics, which could end up in milk. The
report that has given Health Canada grounds not to approve the drug was
prepared by six animal-health experts appointed by the Canadian Veterinary
Medicine Association at the request of the government.