Small wonder: the new milk will be virtually indistinguishable from the old. AB cows produce BST naturally; cows that produce more of it yield more milk. With synthetic BST, farmers can turn an ordinary cow into a high-yielding one. Unfortunately, the most productive cows get the most mastitis (an udder disease commonly treated with antibiotics). BST-injected cows may get even more mastitis, and other diseases, than their sisters–and thus more antibiotics. Despite controls, antibiotic residues have shown up in the milk supply in recent years, raising the possibility that milk drinkers will contract drug-resistant bacteria. The FDA has mandated extra monitoring of the milk supply lest BST-treated cows make this problem worse.
But if the risk to consumers is minuscule, the benefits may be, too. Retail milk prices are unlikely to plunge. “Demand for milk is fairly inelastic,” says Ray Waggoner of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “If market prices fall, we become the market.” “We” means taxpayers. The government buys and stores dairy surpluses–an estimated 835 million pounds next year–for millions of dollars annually.
Then who gains from BST? “Dairy farmers are the intended beneficiaries,” says Tom McDermott, director of biotechnology communications at Monsanto, which developed BST “Their operations will be more profitable.” But dairy experts critical of BST say the boom in production will result in such low prices to farmers that only the major players, putting out huge quantities of milk, will be able to stay in business. “Advocates for [BST] argue that it provides milk more efficiently,” says Alan Parker, director of special projects at Ben & Jerry’s, the Waterbury, Vt., ice-cream company. “But we have real questions about how efficiency is defined. Does it mean to get the most out of every cow at the least expense? Then all agriculture turns into factory farms, which are bad for the soil and the water and for consumers, too.”
Ben & Jerry’s, Borden and other companies have said they intend to avoid using milk from cows treated with BST, but it won’t be easy: all milk will have to be traced right back to individual cows. Meanwhile, makers of other brave new foods are watching BST milk closely. “This is the first of many biotech products in the pipeline,” says Jeffrey Nedelman, spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers of America. “More than BST is at stake here.” Few on either side of the controversy disagree.
