THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 248, December 19, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE "ORGANIC" MILK SCAM CONTINUES
By Alan Caruba
THE "ORGANIC" FOODS INDUSTRY & ITS MODUS OPERANDI: PSEUDO-SCIENCE, PROPAGANDA, FRAUD, &
EXTORTION DRESSED UP AS LEGITIMATE METHODS OF MARKETING & ADVOCACY -- FOOD & WATER WATCH, THE
"ORGANIC" MILK RACKET, & THEIR ENDEAVOR TO FRIGHTEN PEOPLE INTO BELIEVING THAT MILK PRODUCED BY COWS
RECEIVING BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE IS A PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT -- A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THE FEAR CAMPAIGNS
CONDUCTED BY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS & DESIGNED TO DECEIVE CONSUMERS, INDUCING THEM TO PURCHASE HIGHER
PRICED PRODUCTS THAT ARE NO BETTER THAN LOWER PRICED GOODS OF THE SAME CATEGORY
FULL STORY:
On December 5, 2006, some Starbucks customers in New York City and Washington, D.C., two major media centers, could
look up from their double lattes and see a small group of idiots dressed up as cows protesting outside their favorite bistro.
Unfortunately for the protesters, the media ignored their valiant effort to advance the interests of Food and Water Watch,
but this was good news for consumers.
Food and Water Watch is a spin-off of Ralph Nader’s anti-everything Public Citizen, a self-appointed organization famous
for its opposition to modern technology, corporations, and globalization. The silly people in the silly cow costumes were,
in fact, a marketing ploy to frighten people into believing that milk produced by cows that have received bovine growth
hormones is a threat to the health of Americans.
Nothing in the many years that bovine growth hormone has been used demonstrates any threat at all, although the
protesters described it as a “cancer-related hormone.” The growth hormone is a synthetic version of the natural cow
hormone, bovine somatotropin.
In this insanely over-regulated nation of ours, any hint of a cancer risk would have pulled it off the market long ago.
While science confirms its safety, the theater of protest goes on.
Americans are so distant from the actual source of how and where their food is produced, they often think it is some
magical process that fills the shelves of their supermarket, their plates at restaurants, or their refrigerators at home.
In the case of milk it is the result of a lot of hard work by farmers and dairymen.
According to a 2002 U.S. Department of Agriculture survey, only about 22% of the nation’s dairy cows were receiving
rsBST as an aid to milk production. If deprived of rsBST, their production would go down while the organic milk
hucksters' income would increase.
It’s not about health. It’s about the dollars organic food marketers can wrest from consumers who are led to believe that
it is healthier in some respect.
The simple truth is that milk always has been and always will be full of hormones, whether produced with rsBST or not!
It’s made by cows, not machines.
The irony of this is that the human body naturally produces a comparable hormone called insulin, vital to good health.
According to Alex Avery’s blog, Milk is Milk, “Five years ago, the Organic Consumers Association had
Starbucks squarely in its sights.” At the time, Starbucks stocked up on the “organic” milk and quickly discovered that
managers were throwing away far more of it than they were selling. As Avery noted, “It is NOT consumers who were
asking for premium priced niche market milk.”
This, of course, means nothing to Food and Water Watch, nor the Organic Consumers Association that organized the
protests urging consumers to call Starbucks because, in the oily words of such fear-mongers, it is bad for cows “and
may be bad for people.” The operative word here is “may.”
All fear campaigns operate off of words like “may, could, might,” et cetera. For now, the cow costumes have been
packed away and the creepy organizers of the protest are claiming victory.
For my part, whenever I see the word “organic,” I check to see if my wallet is safely in my back pocket.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Science, Ethics, & Human Health
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2006
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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