Terry Etherton Blog on Biotechnology

By SHERRY BUNTING
Special for Farmshine

BROWNSTOWN, Pa. – The vegetarian activist group – Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) – may have won a battle against the dairy industry, but they are not winning the war. Since 2005, this group has put persistent pressure on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to end dairy promotion relating to weight-loss, contending the advertisements are “false and misleading.” Even though the ads are based on sound, published, peer-reviewed research. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Terry Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Animal Nutrition and Head of the Department of Dairy and Animal Science at Penn State; Dr. Dale E. Bauman, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Animal Science and Nutrition, Cornell University; and Dr. Robert Collier, Professor, University of Arizona discuss the ramifications of the public debate surrounding rbST-free milk.

Listen to this podcast

Shane Reilly a Ft. Atkinson, IA dairy farmer speaks about the benefits of using RoundUp Ready Alfalfa and rbST in an interview on WHO in Des Moines. Read the rest of this entry »

Reprinted from Farmshine: May 4, 2007

Industry is heading down a slippery slope

By SHERRY BUNTING
Special for Farmshine

BROWNSTOWN, Pa. – The dairy industry is heading down a slippery slope. For those who may have thought the “rbST-free” milk labeling issue was an isolated concern: think again. Read the rest of this entry »

Marcela Martinez, Graduate Student
Gabriella Varga, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor
Department of Dairy and Animal Science
Penn State University

Introduction by Terry Etherton

In the talks I have been giving across the United States about the importance of biotechnology in animal agriculture, I have a slide with a list of technologies beyond rbST use that likely will be attacked. This is not based on the scientific evidence but rather is driven by the smoke and mirrors milk-marketing campaigns that differentiate milk in the grocery store by the use of “absence claims” on the label.

These absence claims are deceptive, misleading, and are designed to convey to consumers that conventional milk contains antibiotics, pesticides, etc. As I have written about extensively in my Blogs, this is not true!

Well, we can strike rumensin off my list since a small dairy in Washington (Sno-Fresh) is now selling milk with the label: “Free of Antibiotics, Rumensin, and rbST”. This defies logic.

For facts about what rumensin is, and that use in the dairy industry is FDA-approved and safe, read the Blog below written by Ms. Martinez and Dr. Varga. It is great!

Read the rest of this entry »

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Contact:
Cassandra Benz
217.356.2426 Ext. 33

Hundreds of Scientists Endorse FDA Risk Assessment on Livestock Cloning

Over 200 scientists have signed a public statement in support of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s draft risk assessment on the safety of food from cloned animals and their conventionally-bred offspring. The sign-on letter was distributed by the Federation of Animal Science Societies (FASS). The full text and list of signers can be found at www.fass.org/DefendScience. Read the rest of this entry »

BBC News
Simon Cox
April 26, 2007

Sales of organic produce are booming on the back of alleged benefits to health and the environment, as well as claims of higher standards of animal welfare. But are we being misled by “feel good” claims that don’t stand up to scientific scrutiny? Read what Mr. Cox has to say about the situation in the United Kingdom in this most informative BBC Report.