A prominent British critic of a controversial dairy growth hormone last week said the safety and science of the drug are so uncertain it should not be licensed.
John Verrall, a retired pharmacist and a member of the British Food Ethics Council, told a Senate hearing in Ottawa Nov. 17 international promoters of bovine somatotropin have not been able to prove its safety for cattle or humans.
He took special aim at an advisory committee to the international food standards organization Codex Alimentarius, which has pronounced BST safe.
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“Senators, that any authority could contemplate licensing BST is beyond my understanding, with such incomplete science,” said Verrall.
He said the Codex science advisory committee should be investigated for its lack of transparency, secrecy and in a recent report, its “distortion of scientific evidence for what may be regarded in this case as politico-economic expediency.”
When Verrall is not campaigning against BST he works part-time for several European companies and acts as a drug buyer for a large British veterinary clinic.
The Senate agriculture committee has been holding hearings into the safety of BST and the chaotic efforts by the Health Canada health protection branch to decide on whether to allow Monsanto to sell its BST product in Canada.
The review has gone on for more than eight years without a decision.
Recent internal controversy over scientists’ complaints that their doubts about the safety of BST have been over-ruled by their industry-influenced bureaucratic bosses has thrown the review process into turmoil.
Last week, influential Alberta Liberal senator Dan Hays speculated that Monsanto’s application never will be approved.
Verrall told the Senate committee the United States made “an obvious mistake” when it approved BST for sale in the mid-1990s.
He said there is no indication that the European Union soon will lift its moratorium on BST.
The British activist said that despite claims by corporations and their scientists that use of BST to increase milk production by cows does not affect the milk, there is evidence of some cancer-causing residues and unanswered questions about long-term effects.
There also is evidence of increased mastitis in cows.
“With up to 40 percent increase in mastitis and 20 other side effects at normal dosage level, there are both scientific reasons and also reasons under the term ‘other legitimate factors’ to ban the use of rBST,” said Verrall.
