California dairy co-op to stop using rBST hormone

FRESNO - Consumer groups are applauding a major dairy cooperative's decision to dissuade its farmers from using a synthetic hormone to coax more milk from cows, a move insiders say will have a ripple effect across the dairy industry.

Members of California Dairies Co., who generate 10 percent of the milk produced in the nation, will have to stop injecting their herds with the genetically engineered hormone, rBST, by Aug. 1. If they don't, they'll have to pay a premium for the co-op to truck their milk to alternative markets.

RBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin, is already banned in Canada and Europe, mostly overs concerns that it makes cows more prone to illness.

On Jan. 23, the co-op's board of directors told its 650 members they would stop accepting milk from herds treated with the growth hormone and from cloned cows.

"We're merely responding to our customers' demands and we've gotten very strong support," said Richard Cotta, the group's CEO and president.

The Food and Drug Administration approved rBST to boost production in dairy cows in 1993, making rBST one the first major biotechnology-related products to enter the national food supply.