A22-Lancuter Farming, Saturday, January 27,1990
(Continued from Page At)
• The veterinarian working for Monsanto Corp. said, “If you
can prove it is safe, it should be allowed to be offered for
sale.”
• A representative for American Cyanamid Co. said he
wanted fanners to know that, of all new bovine pharmaceuti
cal products, BST “will be the most widely researched and
tested for safety . . . before it will reach you, the farmer.”
• The anti-BST spokesman for Ben and Jerry’s ice cream -
fearing an increased milk supply, and dropping milk support
prices will plunge dairy income drastically - said, “We have
to find a balance between new technology and continued rur
al life.”
David Rock, PhD, is a manager of international animal
development for American Cyanamid Co., Princeton. N.J.,
which is one of the four companies currently manufacturing
BST and awaiting approval of the drug by the Federal Drug
Administration in order to produce full-scale. Rock has a
doctorate in ruminant nutrition.
According to Rock, BST is a management tool for the
dairy industry and it appears to be safe.
BST is created using recombinant biotechnology, similar
to the way insulin is manufactured for diabetics.
Citing a number of studies already performed on the drug,
Rock said that the protein-based hormone works.
“Milk is being produced by the same metabolic pathway.
It’s just that there is more milk being produced over the whole
amount of maintenance (of the cow),” he said.
However, Rock said that artificially increasing milk pro
duction will also take its toll.
“Body condition, they do have a decrease in the body con
dition score, but they do increase body condition score
throughout lactation. However, that is kind of more in a
phase,” he said adding that the bottom line in safety is,
“We’re going to have to manage these cows a little
differently.
“The key is that you are not managing a high-producing,
genetically superior cow,” he said.
According to Rock, studies show that cows under stress,
such as under high temperatures, have also shown that with
an increase of BST, the milk production has increased. The
fat content is slightly lower, he said, but the protein content
remains about the same. “BST works under a wide variety of
conditions,” he said.
In a study done on the use of BST in cow-calf development
with Angus beef cattle, Rock said growth was improved. But
he said he had some reservations about adopting the data for
dairy cattle.
“I must caution you. In most conditions, BST will work in
dairy cows; but this is not the case, as far as in research, in
growth. Growth seems to be a much more complex issue.
There’s still a lot of work that still has to be done in that area.”
In comparing average dairy animals to genetically superior
cows. Rock said, “Research shows that both, the BST cow
and the gentically superior cow, produce about the same and
need to be managed about the same.
Although cost estimates have not been offered by manu
factures (Rock said they are awaiting approval before provid
ing retail prices), Rock calculates that feeds costs would be
about the same for a non-BST cow that produces 10,000
pounds of milk as it would for a BST cow producing 9,000
pounds of milk.
According to Rock, some research has estimated the cost at
about 40 cents a dose, but he said he thought it would probab
ly be lower.
Rock also said computer simulations have shown that, in
order to get an equal amount of milk, the amount of feed,
weight and condition for the inferior cow with BST would be
comparable to that of the superior cow without BST.
“The things you use now to get more milk out of your
cows, you will be able to use those same management tech
niques, if you decide to use BST,” Rock said.
The safety of the drug has been shown to be very good,
Rock said.
“I would like to think that BST, when it does get to the
market, will be the most widely researched product from the
safety standpoint, because every company is having to do the
same thing,” he said. “In other words die safety is being tested
four limes.”
Rock said conception rates for BST and non-BST cows are
“about the same,” with some exception.
“Certainly, as you get up to the high levels (50 mg. per day)
this is not the same, because that animal is producing a lot of
milk and they are puling their energy toward milk production
and not cycling as they should,” Rock said. “Otherwise, con
ception rate is about the same,” he said.
He said that studies show that days open remain the same
up to about 16.5 mg BST per day.
Research on the incidence of mastitis has shown that while
cows on BST aren’t necessarily more susceptible to the dis
ease, cows that already have a problem show a proneness for
re-occurrence of the infection, Rock said.
“There did seem to be an increase in what we call ‘inci
dence density,’ or the chance of having a re-occurring case of
mastitis. But really, this is trying to stretch the case to find
something (negative),” Rock said.
He said he interprets research to show that there is no dif
ference among other health aspects between BST-treated and
Experts Say BST Works, Safe Too
As far as human safety. Rock relied on Monsanto Corp.
research done in 1977 and 1978. He said that BST levels in
milk were about the same although there “might be a slight
increase in IGF (Insuline Growth Factor), but these are (mea
sured) in nanograms - parts per billion. This is not a large
increase,” he said.
“What about BST, what if it is ingested?” Rock asked rhe
torically. “BST is a protein and you are going to break it down
in your digestive tract, just like you would break down any
other protein,” he said.
Rock said a study done by the Upjohn company on rats
shows that this is true. According to Rock, the pituitary gland
- the part of the brain responsible for growth hormone pro
duction - was removed on two groups of rats.
One group was injected with BST, the other was fed BST.
The group that ate BST did not grow; the group that was
injected with BST grew.
“The fact that four companies are, in fact, testing . . . will
assure the safety of this product, both to ... dairy cattle and
people,” Rock said.
Switching from reporting on published research to com
menting on field observations, Dr. Charles Gardner, of Ack
ermanville, is a veterinary consultant to Monsanto Corp. He
said that BST is a new technology and ties in with all good
dairy management tools; from keeping strong records to
maintaining clean stalls and milking equipment
Gardner said he draws his experience with BST from
hands-on experience with farmers in Pennsylvania and
Michigan. He also qualified his financial interest in wanting
to see BST put on the public market; “I don’t want to see the
farm community fail.. . because 15 percent of my income
comes from Monsanto. The other 85 percent comes from far
mers. I need them.”
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At the onset of his presentation, Gardner said listeners
might come away with a definite impression: “You might
think I have a fair amount of enthusiasm for this product.”
Supporting his talk mostly with results from a Michigan
farmer - who, for 214 years, has been using BST on half of a
200-head Holstein operation - Gardner said he can draw on
experience with eight different farms in the United States.
According to Gardner, the key to using BST is following
“overall good management.” He broke good management
into six different areas; nutrition, mastitis control, reproduc
tion, replacement, housing and keeping records.
Beginning with mastitis control, Gardner said the effec
tiveness of BST will not overcome ill teats.
“When you give this product to the cow, she is going to
respond within a couple of days with an increase in milk pro
duction,” Gardner said.
"And the people, who say they can see the udders are fuller
in these cows, there is very little doubt that there is more milk
coming from these cows most of the time,” he said, adding
that “some cows respond extremely well. Some don’t
respond at all.
“The product works by sending more nutrients to the
udder. The udder doesn’t suddenly become more efficient
and get more milk out of the same level of nutrients, but the
product works in such a way that body reserves are sort of
mobilized and nutrients are sent to the udder.
“Now, if you have a healthy udder, (the udder) can respond
with more milk. If you have an udder that’s being hampered
by sub-clinical mastitis and a high somatic cell count, that
udder probably will not respond with more milk, because it’s
already doing all it can do,” Gardner explained.
Related to mastitis, Gardner said there appears to be some
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