When grocery stores began labeling certain milk as rBGH-free, as a help to their customers who might want to avoid purchasing milk from cows injected with the drug, Monsanto sued to prevent such labeling. The federal FDA, however, has refused to require labeling of milk from rBGH-treated cows. But then the company stopped releasing sales figures. Farmers usually share their success or failure stories when an important new product comes along, but not this time. They're keeping this hidden.
Some farmers inject their cows themselves after the hired hands go home.
But opposition appears to be hardening among farmers, according to the survey firm, Rockwood Research. Rockwood interviewed 400 farmers in 21 states during the summer of 1995. Butler from University of California at Davis and Vernon Crowder with Bank of America. Cows eat more feed when they're on rBGH and feed prices are sky-high right now. Monsanto's research shows that 30 percent to 40 percent of dairy farmers plan to leave the industry within five years, Mr. Steiner said.