How do you know that rbST is safe for humans who consume meat and milk from treated cows?
FDA only approved POSILAC after concluding that its use poses no risk to human health. Cows produce bovine somatotropin in their pituitary glands. Thus, we have been naturally exposed to trace levels of bST in beef, milk, and other dairy products. Because it is a protein hormone, bovine somatotropin is broken down during digestion, which renders it biologically inactive and incapable of having an effect in humans. Intact proteins are not absorbed into the body. Even if injected into humans, bST has no effect. In the 1950s, studies were done to look at natural bST as a possible treatment for human dwarfism. The hormone had no effect on those treated. An additional assurance of safety is that heating, such as with cooking and pasteurization, inactivates bST that may be present in milk or meat. In addition to FDA, a panel of independent medical and veterinary experts at a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Technology Assessment Conference in December 1990, concluded that milk derived fro
