1 / 22

Bovine Somatotropin Lessons Learned

Background onBovine Somatotropin (BST) orBovine Growth Hormone (BGH)BST is a protein hormone produced in the pituitary gland of dairy cattleResearch in the 1930s showed a milk production response from cows injected with BSTRecombinant DNA techniques allowed researchers to make large amounts o

kylene
Download Presentation

Bovine Somatotropin Lessons Learned

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

    1. Bovine Somatotropin… Lessons Learned

    2. Background on Bovine Somatotropin (BST) or Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) BST is a protein hormone produced in the pituitary gland of dairy cattle Research in the 1930s showed a milk production response from cows injected with BST Recombinant DNA techniques allowed researchers to make large amounts of “rBST” in the 1980s

    3. Research trials using rBST began in the mid 80s BST must be injected to be effective If fed, BST is digested like any other protein

    4. Headlines Prior to Approval of BST

    6. Radio and Newspaper Interviews regarding a BST Research Trial on a 250-Cow Manitowoc County Farm

    7. Public Perception of the Dairy Industry . . .

    8. On November 5, 1993 the FDA Approved Monsanto’s Version of BST Following are comments made by FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler:

    9. Educational Efforts After Approval

    10. How did people react to the UW-Extension programs when BST was discussed?

    11. March 15, 1995 Dairy agent’s statements are questioned Scott Gunderson made several misleading and totally false statements regarding rBST use in Wisconsin. He also implied that consumers have accepted BGH-induced milk. Another outrageous statement made by Gunderson, “BGH has been shown to be safe”. Karen Kinstetter, Kewaunee Herald-Times-Reporter

    12. Estimated figures are way off about dairy farmers To say the least, I was surprised when I read Scott Gunderson’s estimate that 20 percent of the dairy farmers are using rBST. I think perhaps he added up the wrong set of figures. The magic number 20 must be the number of times Monsanto has hosted or conversed with him about the benefits of rBST. Russell Stoer Two Rivers Herald Times Reporter

    13. Why was rBST so controversial? Two main reasons:

    14. Dairy Farmers . . . Many farmers were not in favor of programs UW-Extension was viewed as being in Monsanto’s “pocket” Some farmers were publicly supportive of UW-Extension educational efforts

    15. School Board . . . Print information was sent to all school districts in Manitowoc County Two School Boards asked for a presentation on BST by UW-Extension Both presentations were well received

    16. What are the lessons I learned? What would I do differently?

    18. Ideally, there would be two Agent/Educators presenting information Dairy Agent ?product efficacy payback potential management herd health strategies Family Living Educator ? human safety ? product labeling ? general public education

    19. Some mid-management administrators were not supportive The integrity of some agents was questioned The Dean of Extension publicly defended the educational effort Support from Administration

    23. Manitowoc County UW-Extension Website Address

More Related