Thursday, August 07, 2008

Monsanto Looks to Sell Dairy Hormone Business

After struggling to gain consumer acceptance, Monsanto on Wednesday announced that it would try to sell its business of producing an artificial growth hormone for dairy cows. The decision comes as more retailers, saying they are responding to consumer demand, are selling dairy products from cows not treated with the artificial hormone.

Concerns have been fueled by the refusal of many countries, including Canada and members of the European Union, to permit the use of the hormone. “I think they saw the handwriting on the wall and gave up,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington. “It’s a major victory for consumers.”

Bonnie - yes! yes! yes! A long, drawn-out victory for the consumer! Along with trans fats, this has been one of my longest public health battles of all. My colleague and a mentor, Dr. Sam Epstein of U of Chicago, must be very happy right now. He is been most outspoken over this substance for decades. Hats off to you Sam.

Now, the question becomes, who are they going to sell it to because who would want to buy it?

1 comment:

nutrocon@aol.com said...

8/21/008:

Monsanto has found a buyer for its bovine somatotropin growth hormone, despite growing concern in the US over the use of such products in dairy cattle, as manufacturers continue to face commodity price uncertainty.

Elanco, a division of pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly, said that it had acquired the worldwide distribution and US production facilities of the Posliac brand for an initial fee of $300m, in an attempt to allay tightening milk supplies.

Bonnie - why am I not surprised. A pharmaceutical company takes over!