RE:  Vegetarian Times:
"In  the News" BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE LINKED TO CANCER IN HUMANS the fact
that the data has been gleaned from the FDA's and Monsanto's own
files...

I'd like to comment on the Vegetarian Times article.

Sam Epstein's actions have been "SEMI-heroic."  Those who really know
Sam recognize a genius who constantly shoots his own foot off by making
statements that are exaggerations of the truth.

Sam leaves himself wide open to criticism and ridicule by the scientific
community.  For example...

Sam has written that genetically engineered milk contains twelve-times
the level of IGF-I.  He bases this conclusion on Eli-Lilly's European
application for their version of rbST (OPTIFLEX 640).  In that
application Eli Lilly made the error of stating that rbST-treated milk
would contain no more than 50,000 nanograms of IGF-I per liter.

The industry standard is that untreated milk contains 4,320 nanograms
per liter.  There is a wide range of levels of IGF-I depending upon the
herd or particularly cycle or energy balance of the cow.  There are 14
different cycles.

Margaret Miller of Monsanto determined that there is a 78 percent
increase in the level of IGF-I in milk.  Her research was obtained from
hundreds of different combinations and permutations and I accept her
work.

Epstein refuses to state that these IGF-I hormones are identical in
"wholesome milk" and rbST-treated milk.

If one causes cancer it is logical to agree that the other causes
cancer.

When a group of British scientists demonstrated that bovine proteins
caused cancers of the gut, Epstein was an outspoken critic of their
work. Epstein, America's breast cancer expert, stated that bovine
hormones caused cancer of the breast, his specialty.

I personally respect the man but do not like Sam Epstein.  He is more
obstinate than I am (hard to believe).  However, Sam is not a "team"
player and is jealous of anybody having an opinion against rbST as he
considers all protest to be his own private domain.

After criticizing the British scientists, I had to laugh at Sam's recent
paper in which he admits that these bovine hormones are responsible for
cancers of the breast and gut.

Sam does not criticize untreated milk.  Only rbST-treated milk.

I have mentioned that Denmark, Norway Holland and Sweden have the
highest breast cancer rates, highest osteoporosis rates and highest
per-capita milk and dairy consumption rates.

I recently did an analyses of East German vs. West German diets.  Before
the "wall came down" there was one major different in their diets.  All
factors, even dietary fat were so close as to test for no statistical
difference.

The one difference was the lack of dairy consumption for the East
Germans (shortage of milk commodity).

The breast cancer rates for the East Germans was low, high for the dairy
consuming West Germans.

Robert Cohen