Monsanto's Bovine Growth Hormone & Bullying Tactics Once Again Stir Up Controversy

From: THE AGRIBUSINESS EXAMINER
February 21, 2005, Issue #395
Monitoring Corporate Agribusiness
>From a Public Interest Perspective

EDITOR\PUBLISHER; A.V. Krebs
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COMMENTARY: IT'S AS YOGI ONCE SAID:
"IT'S DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN !!!"

Once again a strong-arm tactic by the Monsanto Co. has shown itself.

After the Great Pacific Northwest' Tillamook Creamery decided to prohibit
any of its147 dairy farmers from using the genetically engineered rBGH
(bovine growth hormone) in its cows (see stories below) Monsanto, the
manufacturer, sought a petition to "forever prohibit the Tillamook Creamery
board from ever regulating any FDA approved pharmaceutical"

Vince Patton, a reporter for the Portland, Oregon station KGW-TV, first
reported the story and in relating the background behind Tillamook's
decision told how one of its dairy farmers Dick Heathershaw decided to try
the synthetic hormone four years ago.

"The biotech giant Monsanto wanted him to add "Posilac" to his cows'
routine: a bi-weekly syringe full of the genetically engineered growth
hormone. Heathershaw says, `They (Monsanto) were just really relentless in
pushing it, you know. They'd visit you continually.'"

Patton told Rick North of the Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
that he has NEVER had a story in Portland reviewed so thoroughly by station
lawyers --- no surprise there!

But unlike Florida's WTVT/FOX13, the Portland TV station aired its two-part
story on the pros and cons of rBGH and the Tillamook decision. For their
rBGH expose the WTVT/FOX13 husband-wife investigative reporting team Jane
Akre and Steve Wilson were fired from the station.

Later, after a jury trial, Akre was awarded a $425,000 verdict as she
charged she was pressured by FOX Television management and lawyers to air
what she knew and documented to be false information concerning the
widespread use of the Monsanto manufactured hormone.

While the Florida jurors concluded she was pressured by FOX lawyers and
managers to broadcast what the jury agreed was "a false, distorted or
slanted story" and was subsequently fired for threatening to blow the
whistle, that decision was reversed on a legal technicality when a higher
court agreed with FOX that it is technically not against any law, rule or
regulation to air "a false, distorted or slanted story"

In setting the jury verdict aside, the appeals court ruled that in order to
be protected by Florida's Whistleblower Act, the alleged misconduct must
violate a written law. The court said the Federal Communication's Commission
(FCC) prohibition against news distortion was merely a policy.

In a companion decision the Court also ruled that Akre and her journalist
husband Steve likewise had to pay the legal costs and fees the broadcaster
incurred defending itself in the case. The couple appealed the latter
ruling.

In August, 2004, Florida Judge Vivian Maye denied FOX's motion that would
have forced Akre and Wilson to pay nearly $2 million in legal fees and court
costs the broadcaster spent to defend itself at trial. In her ruling Judge
Maye cited previous court decisions that allow judicial discretion in
deciding whether whistleblowers must reimburse defense costs if they
ultimately lose.

Akre and Wilson had prepared their WTVT/FOX13 documentary on how Florida
dairymen had been secretly injecting the genetically engineered rBGH into
their cows and how Florida supermarkets quietly reneged on promises not to
sell milk from treated cows until the hormone gained widespread acceptance
by consumers.

In their subsequent law suit the reporters charged in detail FOX Television
--- the "fair and balanced" network owned by Rupert Murdoch's multi-national
News Corp, was strongly pressured by Monsanto.

"In essence," Akre points out " FOX argued the First Amendment gives
broadcasters the right to even lie or deliberately distort news reports on
the public airwaves."

Akre recalls: " Prior to our dismissal, Station Manager Dave Boylan, a
career salesman without any roots in journalism and seemingly lacking the
devotion to serve the public interest that motivates all good investigative
reporting, had flaunted the company's wealth in an attempt to make us back
down. `We paid $3 billion for these stations,' he told us on one occasion.
`We'll tell you what the news is. The news is what we say it is!'"

Not only did FOX manage to get away with their Florida scam, but they got
an able assist from both the mainstream and liberal media in the fact that
the entire case received nary a mention in this nation's major and
alternative news outlets.

Thus, one can only wonder when Monsanto gets through with the Tillamook
board --- and all the pressure it can muster on the dairy farmers which
supply the creamery to ignore the recent ban --- whether it will then
attempt to intimidate the Oregon media in much the same underhanded way it
made a corporate prostitute of WTVT/FOX 13.

TILLAMOOK,, NATION'S SECOND LARGEST MAKER OF CHUNK
CHEESE, BANS ITS DAIRY FARMERS FROM USING rBGH

ASSOCIATED PRESS: The No. 2 maker of chunk cheese in the nation has banned a
genetically engineered growth hormone made by Monsanto Co. for dairy cows,
despite what it says is escalating pressure from the chemical giant.

The Tillamook County Creamery Association said Friday it has asked all of
its 147 member farmers to halt use of the recombinant bovine somatotropin
hormone, or rBST, because of customer requests to do so.

In a news release, the association assailed Monsanto for seeking to block
the move with efforts ranging from a letter-writing campaign to hiring a
lawyer.

"Tillamook County Creamery Association is facing an aggressive intrusion by
Monsanto into the association's decision-making process," the association
said.

Calls and e-mails to Monsanto headquarters in St. Louis were not returned
Friday.

The rBST hormone, sold under the brand name Posilac, is used to boost milk
production in dairy cows.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the hormone in 1993, allowing
one of the first major biotechnology-related products to enter the nation's
food supply.

But critics question the hormone's safety, and demand for milk and dairy
products labeled rBST-free has continued to grow, said Rick North, spokesman
for Oregon
Physicians for Social Responsibility.

The medical group estimates that about ten percent to 15% of dairy farmers
are using the hormone on their herds nationally, and the figure is about the
same in Oregon.

In its statement, the creamery association said "Monsanto has been
especially vigorous in trying to dissuade" the dairy cooperative from
banning the hormone, and accused the company of trying "to drive a wedge"
between the association and its members.

"In November, Consuelo Madere, president of Monsanto Dairy Business, took
the extraordinary step of sending a letter directly to (Tillamook) members
questioning the policy and seeking its reversal," the association said.

The dairy cooperative said that Monsanto also sent a lawyer to Oregon to
meet with more than a dozen co-op members. The lawyer helped some
association members
prepare an amendment to the co-op's bylaws that would prevent the ban. The
amendment also requested a special meeting that is expected to be scheduled
with the next two weeks, the association said.

Tillamook, which makes cheese, sour cream, butter and other dairy products,
had 2003 sales of $260 million. [ February 18, 2005 ]

MONSANTO THREATENS TILLAMOOK, SEEKS TO "FOREVER PROHIBIT" DAIRY BOARD FROM "REGULATING ANY FDA APPROVED PHARMACEUTICAL"

RICK NORTH, OREGON PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: KGW TV reporter Vince Patton uncovered Monsanto's plans to reverse the Tillamook board's
decision to disallow the use of rBGH, as reported on Friday night's 6:00 pm
news

He discovered that "Two of its (Monsanto's) representatives came to Tillamook
County accompanied by lawyer James Miller from Monsanto's law firm, King &
Spalding in Washington, DC." Farmers reported that Miller drafted a petition
that would go beyond reversing the rBGH decision. It would "forever prohibit the
Tillamook Creamery board from ever regulating any FDA approved
pharmaceutical."

Even with all this evidence, Monsanto Director of Public Affairs Jennifer
Garrett said that Monsanto was not involved in instigating a petition. Even more
incredibly, Patton reported that neither Monsanto nor the farmers said they paid the lawyer. If not, I have to believe he was paid by King & Spalding, who receive money
from Monsanto, of course, to represent them. Either that or he was doing
this as a volunteer. (No comment)

Early this morning, the Oregonian reported that Tillamook had put out a news
release asserting "Tillamook County Creamery Association is facing an
aggressive intrusion by Monsanto into the association's decision-making
process."

We will fight back.. I'm gathering input now and will be back in touch with
you no later than tomorrow with contact information and suggestions on how
to make your feelings known. Many of you have already signed up as volunteers,
but even if you haven't , the time is now to step forward and do something
directly to stopMonsanto's efforts.

The Tillamook vote may be shaping up as a referendum on which way dairies
across the nation will go. Will they listen to their consumers or be
intimidated by Monsanto? It's up to us to make our voices heard.

Finally, one misconception --- Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility
is not asking for a ban on rBGH. Our goal is to discontinue the production
of dairy products in Oregon using rBGH. A ban is an official policy against
doing something. We are not going through the legislature to get a law
passed or anything like it. We are simply doing a public education campaign
to better inform the public and allow them to "vote with their dollars." In
addition, we are actively contacting the dairies to ask them not to use
rBGH. This is all voluntary, which we think is the best way to go. I'm
asking Vince Patton to correct this misconception. [ February 19, 2005 ]