3/19 E.U. Plans BST Dairy Hormone Ban Proposal Within Months
BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The European Union Commission said Friday that it'll
probably put forward a proposal in the next few months on whether the E.U.
should lift its 1994 ban on the use of a growth hormone called synthetic bovine
somatotropin (BST).
A proposal by the Commission, the E.U. executive branch, on the ban could
come as early as September, Commission spokesman Gerard Kiely said.
The ban is due to expire Dec. 31, 1999. Any proposal to extend the ban or let
it expire would have to be approved by E.U. countries.
"In the next few months we will probably put forward a proposal," Kiely said.
"We will be taking account of the latest scientific evidence and all other
data."
Kiely said it's too early to determine if the Commission will recommend
renewing the ban, but he said that doubts cast upon the safety of BST by an
E.U. veterinary committee will be looked at closely.
An E.U. agriculture official said that all 15-E.U. member states will
probably push to renew the ban. The official, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, said that the U.K. has been the only country reluctant to renew the
ban, but that the latest scientific evidence may make the difference.
"We've now got a stronger scientific basis than in the past," the official
said. "In the past we weren't on solid ground."
The E.U. Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures Relating to Public
Health said this week that milk from cows treated with synthetic BST may cause
cancer.
Injection of the synthetic hormone into cows could mean consumers are exposed
to "an increased relative risk of breast and prostate cancer," according to a
summary of the report released by the veterinary committee.
Synthetic BST, which stimulates milk production in dairy cows, is produced by
inserting genes from cows into microscopic organisms, which then reproduce the
hormone. It is widely used in U.S. dairy herds.
The main producers of the BST hormone are U.S.-based firms Monsanto Corp.
(MTC) and Eli-Lily & Co. (LLY).
Monsanto said Thursday that the carcinogenic effects of BST have "been
thoroughly studied and dismissed" by the World Health Organization, the
American Cancer Society, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and other
regulatory bodies.
-By Martin Boer; 32-2-285-0131; mboer@ap.org
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 03-19-99
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