Wal-Mart milk is now hormone free

by Christina Sbarro (Subscribe to Christina Sbarro's posts) Apr 7th 2008 12:00PM

Categories: Safety, Eating & Nutrition, In The News

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Wal-Mart (and it's Sam's Club chain) has recently committed to sourcing milk for it's private label Great Value only from cows that have not been treated with artificial growth hormones such as recombinant bovine somatropin (rbST). Wal-Mart claims to have made the change in response to customer demand. Which is actually a pretty big deal, because, well, Wal-Mart is HUGE.

Depending on whose opinion you prefer, artificial growth hormones are either perfectly safe or possibly harmful. The U.S. governmental health organizations, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Health and Human Services, claim that milk from cows treated with growth hormones is safe for humans.

But critics--including The Consumer's Union and the Cancer Prevention Coalition--argue that further testing is needed and that FDA approval of the drug was too hasty. They point out that bGH has been banned in Europe and Canada, and site numerous possible serious health risks to humans that bGH may cause.

To me the risks seem pretty real, and my family drinks only hormone free milk. The U.S. governmental health organizations have been wrong before (DDT, anyone?) But I have plenty of friends who aren't concerned about how milk is produced, so long as their kids are drinking it and getting the calcium and other health benefits.

Does your family drink hormone free milk? How did you make this decision?

Comments (6)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

SKL 4-07-2008 @ 3:04PM

It's all organic for us. Why?

1) We women have all the hormones we need, thank you very much. Myself, I've noticed that I rarely get cramps as long as I stick with hormone-free milk. For my kids, I am not sure one way or the other how hormones may affect them at this point (though I have some theories), but why mess with them? Less is more.

2) The health issues related to hormones don't have to rise to the level of "danger" (as in, my kid is gonna die or grow a second head) in order for me to avoid them. When people say hormones are "safe," that doesn't mean your health is going to be exactly the same with or without them. It just means they can be legally sold and you can't sue someone for any problems you do link to them.

3) I think about hormones and myself. How they affect me and how it would affect me if someone were injecting me with something designed to make my poor boobs produce multiple times as much milk as their natural design allows. No matter how I look at it, it doesn't make me wish I was a dairy cow.

4) Organic milk tastes way better. The skim milk tastes better than non-organic 1% or 2% milk. My kids and I guzzle milk like there's no tomorrow.

Anita 4-07-2008 @ 4:10PM

I've read that it's better for the enviroment if cows are given the hormones because dairy farmers need less cows to produce more milk. Less cows mean less crops needed to feed those cows, etc. Also, without the cows recieving the hormones, there is no way to produce enough milk for our entire country so I do not buy organic milk. I do buy most of my food organic, produce and prepared food, because they is better for the enviroment and does not have high fructose corn syrup or trans fats.

Anita 4-07-2008 @ 4:12PM

oops, I meant to say "they ARE better for the enviroment and DO not have..." Sorry, I sounded illiterate.

bremarie03 4-08-2008 @ 4:41PM

I hate to tell you, but you do not drink hormone-free milk. Because it doesn't exist. Cows milk is naturally full of hormones, just like human milk, and probably every other kind of milk.

Magpie 4-10-2008 @ 8:28AM

OMG! First of all, the hormones given to cows are genetically engineered, they have not much to do with the natural hormones occurring in milk and they really cause big health risks (I'm a DVM and have read European studies about that).
Second, it's not environmental friendly at all: for one thing it's huge animal torture, cause those cows are artificially 'burned out' and live only two years (then you can say they would die of exhaustion, when not slaughtered!) instead of up to 15 years. And the artificial hormones also show up in the cows urine, which actually pollutes the environment.
Otherwise, if you want to believe the studies of several different countries or not... why not better be safe and help some poor animals with it??

Nancy 7-27-2010 @ 2:24PM

The term "hormone-free milk" is inherently incorrect. All milk contains hormones that are naturally produced by the cow's body. In fact, all foods contain hormones, even plant foods. Hormones are an essential part of biological functions, and without them, the organisms that we consume as food could not grow and develop.