Milk: Does it do a body good?
As consumers become more aware of the technological advances in agriculture they become increasingly wary of food that has been altered due to genetic engineering or hormonal supplements. As society becomes more educated and informed, the average person becomes increasingly conscious of the foods that they intake. Many Genetically modified products that are introduced to the market encounter harsh opposition from the public as being impure and causing ailments. One such food that has grasped the public's attention is milk that has modified because it was derived from cows that were treated with bovine somatotropin. Bovine Somatotropin, or more commonly referred to as bST, is commonly given to dairy cattle to increase milk production, and it has many people worried about the harmful side affects from drinking milk containing bST. Bovine somatotropin increases the efficiency of dairies, and there is no evidence to suggest that bovine somatotropin has any adverse effect on the health of people that utilize products from animals that have been supplemented, or to the animals that have been supplemented. One of the many problems that has been encountered when introducing milk that has been
supplemented with bovine somatotropin is the pre-existing consumer beliefs regarding milk. According to an article in FDA Consumer, "Generations of Americans have been told that milk is nature's most perfect food. . ." (Corey 48). Many people are therefore skeptical of any technological advances that cause milk to contain additives, or modifications. However it can be argued that milk is currently modified, using technological advances, to meet consumer's needs and demands. In the previous article Corey argues that, "Milk that is pasteurized to destroy bacteria, homogenized to evenly distribute fat, and fortified with vitamin D to improve nutritional qualities is the result of technological advances" (Corey 49). It is only a matter of time before that the new technology of bovine somatotropin is as accepted as widely as pasteurization or homogenization. Perhaps one of the most controversial issuesof the use of bST is the affect that it has on the reproductive health of the animal. In this particular study, which is experienced very similar results as many other studies, ". . . the days open and percent pregnant . . . cows treated with bST were similar to control cows. Also, there were no changes in incidences of abortion, fetal loss, cystic ovaries, or twinning in . . . cows treated with bST" (Collier et al. 1106). The use of bovine somatotropin is shown to have no adverse affects on the reproductive health of the dairy cow. In fact, there have been studies that show the advantages of using bST on dairy cows. Bovine Somatotropin may actually improve the reproductive performance of a cow under a commercial setting because ". . . when estrus detection is eliminated by use of a timed AI program, bST-treated cows had improved reproductive performance compared with control cows." It was found that ". . . treatment with 25 mg/d of bST extended the life of normal corpus luteal function, and the initiation of the second follicular wave was earlier" (Collier et al. 1106). This allows for a greater probability of a cow becoming pregnant under a timed breeding. In conclusion, the overall health of the dairy cow is not compromised by the administration of bovine somatotropin. One of the largest concerns to people is the affect of bovine somatotropin has on human health. The American public, according to the White House, can be assured that there is "no evidence that bST poses a health threat to humans or animals. It has been studied more than any other animal drug, been found safe by the FDA and many other scientific bodies in the U.S., Europe, and around the world" (Bauman 3). There are many important thing to realize concerning bovine somatotropin. The first thing that people need to realize is that bST is a protein hormone, not a steroid hormone. The main differences between the two is that a steroid hormone can be orally active, a protein hormone cannot, also protein hormones degrade rapidly in animals, but steroid hormones can have so
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Approximate Word count = 2003
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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