rBGH: Is it in your fridge? Do you care?

What's rBGH?  Does recombinant bovine somatotropin sound yummy?   Yes, yet another confusing item on the food label these days.  This one is limited to the dairy case since it's a synthetic hormone that jacks up cow milk production.  I avoid it when I can because I generally avoid any scheme that food manufacturers employ to jack up production and profits.  Call me crazy, but I don't trust 'em.  And for the record I am one of those save-the-animals types, but in this case it actually hits pretty close to home.  Having nursed my children for a total of 4+ years, I know what full breasts feel like, and I know what overfull-got-to-feed-the-baby NOW breasts feel like.  Point being, I empathize. 

So if you're like me and try to keep this recombinant business out of your fridge and your children's bodies, check out this excellent list of rGBH-free products and the local stores that carry them.  It was prepared by the renowned (and local, natch!) Campaign for Safe Food, a project of Oregon chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Do you worry about rGBH?  Can't be bothered?  Think it's no biggie?  Do tell.  My husband might disagree, but I just might be able to pry open my mind.

Comments

[Andrea P]

Or, if you want to take it one step further, go completely local and organic with your milk (not just hormone-free). We get milk delivered by Noris Dairy, a local dairy operation. They bring us yogurt, butter, cream, sour cream, eggs and cheese too. Totally grass-fed, hormone-free, sustainably-farmed and tasty. Plus that nostalgic milkman thing.

http://www.norisdairy.com/home.html

The hormones bother me, and the argument that "we did fine without organic milk in our day" doesn't acknowledge that factory farming and these synthetic additives were not as common in our day. It doesn't make sense to me to be concerned about lead in toys and additives in vaccines but NOT about the things our children are exposed to in their diets every single day?

More than that, some of our food production practices (aside from being less safe for our kids) are bad for our earth. We all have to think more about where our food comes from and how it's produced, and spend our food dollars on products that support our values.

[Carie]

I love the fact that my daugher would start puberty many years sooner than I did,if she drinks/eats that stuff. Who wants to deal with that in an 8 year old??!!!