Greenwash Watch: Pennsylvania DOA
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 11.11.07
Memorize those words on the label "No artificial growth hormones"; after January 1 they will be illegal in the state of Pennsylvania, where DOA stands for Department of Agriculture but Dead on Arrival is probably better. Evidently consumers are demanding hormone free milk and even the big dairies are doing it, not just the organic ones. According to the New York Times, Monsanto has been lobbying states and the feds for years to ban or restrict non-rBGH labels on the grounds that there is no difference in milk from cows that are treated with the hormone and those that are not.
They found a friend in Pennsylvania's agriculture secretary, who has announced a crackdown on “absence labeling” on milk, meaning labels that tell consumers what isn’t in a product rather than what is. He is also banning “pesticide free” and “antibiotic free,” saying “It confuses them,[the public] ” he said. “It seems to imply there is a safe, nonsafe dimension.” ::New York Times
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