Big money organic dairies are creating and profiting from fear
Milk is Milk Blog by Alex Avery
It has been bothering me for quite some time now, but it wasn’t until I received some mail from an organic dairy recently that I decided to say anything about it. Every time I visit my local grocery dairy case and see in-store displays and package labeling for Horizon Organic Milk and Stonyfield Yogurt next to the other dairy products it makes me wince. The labels and marketing materials for these products scream out at me with claims of “No Yucky Stuff!” and “No toxic chemicals,’ clearly implying that the less expensive milk and yogurt stacked next to them is yucky and toxic. Most of the time I just think nobody in his right mind is going to believe this malarkey and pay 100% or more of a premium on top of it, so I just keep moving.
However, while preparing for a new baby, my wife and I started to receive copies of new parent and baby magazines and referrals by friends to various Web sites to help guide us on such important issues as nutrition and health for children. And there they were again, alongside the ads for diapers and ointments. Scary admonitions from these same two companies suggesting that milk and dairy products posed dangers for children. Stonyfield had full-page ads in Parenting Magazine for its “Yobaby” products, reminding us that we all care about our kids’ health, and suggesting that we buy their yogurt because “pediatricians recommend milk, milk that doesn’t come from cows treated with synthetic bovine growth hormone.” As if the warning were not clear enough, the text appeared beneath a cow’s skull proclaiming “Synthetic Bovine Growth Hormone. Your Baby Doesn’t Want It.” Another ad in the same series headlines, “Very few recipes call for antibiotics and toxic persistent pesticides.”
Yet, milk from cows supplemented with bovine growth hormone is the exact same milk - there is no difference. That’s the opinion of the American Medical Association and the Journal of Pediatrics. So what pediatricians are Stonyfield using to make their claim? And nobody adds toxic persistent pesticides to yogurt or other dairy products. It’s also worth repeating that organic farmers have a long list of highly toxic pesticides they are allowed to use; ergo, the pesticide claim is misleading at best if not downright false. As for antibiotics, all milk is tested to ensure it is free from any antibiotics. Just like other organic dairies, even Stonyfield farmers practice artificial insemination, a practice which includes the use of antibiotic-embedded semen straws. So the antibiotic references are equally false.
Horizon’s Web site, in the Question and Answer section, definitively states regarding artificial insemination, “No. Our cows are impregnated naturally by bulls.” However, when one of our researchers spoke with a quality control employee at Straus Family Creamery, Inc. in Northern California, he scoffed at the notion that Horizon could make such a claim given that they buy organic milk from hundreds of farms across the country. Straus, one of the self-proclaimed pioneers and leaders in the organic dairy farming industry, does use artificial insemination to impregnate their cows. Even more ironically, according to the quality control expert interviewed, Straus supplies milk to Horizon!
Horizon’s black marketing, preying on the fears of new parents and children, is no different. Horizon’s labels, advertising and marketing materials frequently proclaim their milk is “without hormones, antibiotics or toxic chemicals.” In one Horizon consumer newsletter focusing on children’s health they go so far as to suggest a cancer link to non-Horizon milk. Horizon uses for proof of this claim a citation to a study conducted by Yale epidemiologist Dr. Herbert Yu. When presented with Horizon’s use of his research in this manner, Dr. Yu replied:
“In our JNCI review published in 2000 (the study cited by Horizon), we did not mention anything about milk and dairy products. It would be improper to cite our paper with this respect”. Herbert Yu, MD, PH.D. Department of Epidemiology and Public HealthYale University School of Medicine.
With more than a quarter of a billion dollars in annual sales, you’d think Horizon would have checked these sources when suggesting to parents that they were putting their children at risk of cancer when drinking their competitors’ milk. In fact, the American Cancer Society and every other respected health authority which has reviewed these claims calls these links to cancer suggested by Horizon completely baseless.
As for Horizon’s “hormone-free” claims - Horizon’s whole cancer scare is linked to their non-use of supplemental bovine growth hormones - they too are not quite true. All, all, all milk naturally contains hormones; cows can’t produce milk without it. And Horizon and their suppliers, like other organic dairies, are allowed to use a range of reproductive hormones not prohibited by organic standards. Prostaglandin, estrogen, oxytocin, gonadotropin and other hormone products are used throughout the dairy industry. These products, such as LUTALYSE, carry “extreme caution” warning labels noting that women of child-bearing age, asthmatics, and persons with bronchial and other respiratory problems should not handle this product as it is readily absorbed through the skin and can cause abortion. Yet dairies claiming to be “hormone-free” can use these hormones and still think that it’s OK to make hormone-free claims?
Both Horizon and Stonyfield are making a range of health and nutrition claims online, in their advertising and throughout the marketing of their products aimed at children. These two companies, and there are many others making similar claims, are huge corporations. Horizon has sales of more than $250 million each year, Stonyfield adds another $140 million, and both are growing. They are growing by promoting false fears to new parents and their children through misleading statements, labels and advertising about hormones, pesticides and antibiotics. Where are the watchdogs and regulators to protect us?
Last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters to four small dairies for making hormone-free claims. Neither Horizon nor Stonyfield got one of these letters. How did the FDA miss the two biggest players in the industry with more “hormone-free” and related claims than anyone else? You cannot walk into a dairy case in any major supermarket today and not see one of these brands with their hormone claims. Even without a vigilant FDA, you’d think Horizon and Stonyfield would have gotten the message and cleaned up their act before they too were held accountable for these marketing abuses.
Well, what are we to do if the regulators aren’t doing their jobs and the fear profiteers aren’t stopping? One, don’t buy their products. There are plenty of good, local and affordable dairy products in most stores. Two, call the regulators at FDA and ask them why they’re letting Horizon, Stonyfield and Organic Valley off the hook. Three, complain to your local supermarket for allowing their dairy case to be used in this unethical and possibly illegal manner. Consumers have the power to make informed choices - and they have the power to choose not to buy from those who would profit from their fear.