Canada Won’t OK Monsanto Milk Drug Health Board Cites Hormones Effects 

Reuters News Service 15jan99

OTTAWA — Canada's health department said Thursday that it will not approve Monsanto Co.'s controversial hormone BST, [also known as rBST, BGH, rBGH, and Polsilac] which boosts milk production in cows.

Health Canada said its veterinary experts cited an increased risk of mastitis of up to 25 percent, of infertility by 18 percent, and lameness by up to 50 percent in cows treated with the genetically engineered hormone.

"The findings of the animal safety committee, when combined with our own assessment, made it quite clear that Health Canada had to reject the request for approval to use BST in Canada, as it presents a sufficient and unacceptable threat to the safety of dairy cows," Joel Weiner, a director general at the department's Health Protection Branch, said in a statement.

Monsanto's nine-year battle to have the hormone approved in Canada has been mired in controversy, including allegations that the chemical giant offered bribes to Health Canada reviewers. St. Louis-based Monsanto said the money was to oversee studies.

Weiner acknowledged the controversy surrounding the hormone, calling the evaluation "particularly complex."

"This is a very complicated issue, and not only in Canada," Weiner said. "Part of Health Canada's evaluation process entailed monitoring the research and issues as they developed outside Canada and following judgments of other national and international regulatory agencies on issues related to BST."

The failure to win approval in Canada comes as a huge blow for Monsanto, and probably will fuel opposition to the use of the hormone in the United States, where BST has been approved for use by dairy farmers since 1994.

Critics of the hormone, which is designed to increase milk production in lactating cows by 10 percent to 15 percent, say its use could result in more udder infections in cows, and thereby lead to increased use of antibiotics, which could end up in milk.

BST was declared safe by the European Union in 1990, but EU countries placed a moratorium on its sale in 1993.