A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17, 1993 McDonald’s (Continued from Pag* At) Washington, D.C. telephone of Pure Food Campaign Director Ted Howard. Howard, a long-time Rifkin associate and professional fund-raiser for different causes, was in New Orleans Thursday. Cummings said Beyond Beef Campaign people and others were joining the Pure Food Campaign and he was using Howard’s telephone. The announcement of the pro test initially was made March 31 in statements distributed to media during a Food and Drug Admi nistration (FDA) hearing on bovine somatotropin (BST). This week, Pine Food Cam paign, which describes itself as “an international boycott of genetical ly engineered foods,” updated its statement about its planned protest and leaflets distribution. Pure Food Campaign has been calling for a protest of a number of McDonald’s restaurants across North America because the indus try giant won’t join a group of businesses which are listed by Pure Food as declaring they won’t accept milk or meat derived from cows treated with BST. Although not approved yet by the FDA for commercial use as a supplement, of an by itself, BST is a naturally occuring protein hor mone which is not functional except in cows where it is integral in stimulating milk production. The proposed commercial use of BST resulted from the applica tion of biotechnology to develop a relatively inexpensive source of The SCC levels for your herd are reported two different ways on your Raleigh DHIA Herd Summary Report and on your new Penna. DHIA Herd Summary Report 11. One is the average linear score (or SCC code). This is a numeric average of the codes for all cows. The other is a weighted average of each cows raw cell count. The herd's average weighted cell count is affected by each cow's daily milk production. Thus, it should approximate your tank count. When you compare the weighted raw count with the herd's average linear score you may discover that the raw count is outside the normal range expected for the herd's average linear score. This is not an error. Scow and cell count ranges appear in Table 1 Table 1 SCC Score The reason for the perceived discrepancy is that the linear score is a numeric pure BST for supplemental injec tions into cows to stimulate addi tional milk production. All expert dairy researcher testi mony to date has effectively been that BST, should its safety be approved as appears imminent, will not see grand scale use as is projected by opposition groups and individuals. The conclusion has been that BST would be used as a tool for herd management only when all other aspects of dairy cow manag ment have been maximized. Furthermore, the FDA has long approved the consumption of milk and meat derived from BST treated cattle. In fact, supplemental BST has been in use for years now on certain farms approved for test trials. In other words, not only is BST in all milk and meat, but milk and meat from cows treated with injec tions of additional BST has been in the consumers’ food supply for years. The FDA had long ago con cluded that there is no possible way for BST whether naturally made or biotechnologically produced to be a danger to human health. In the human diges tive system, proteins are broken down by enzymes, and BST does not stay in an active form. Also, BST injected in humans has not produced any effects. Commercial BST is produced through the raising of genetically altered bacteria which yield the protein hormone. There is no difference between the types of BST whether it comes from a cow or if it produced by Linear See Scores, Cell Count Ranges and Milk Losses SCC Ranges (1,000's) 0- 17 18-35 36-71 72-141 142 - 283 284 - 565 566- 1130 1131 -2262 2263 - 4523 4524 - 9999 GLENN‘S UDDERINGS By Glenn A. Shirk Lancaster Extension Dairy Agent SCC Averages (1,000's) 13 25 50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200 6400 bacteria. No chemical difference has been detected. Further, even a check of BST levels in milk and meat can not determine whether it came from an animal that received BST injections. According to the FDA, BST research has provided one of the most extensive and exhaustive stu dies of any material ever presented to the FDA for review. More than 1,000 studies have been done on the protein hormone. To date, no review of Monsanto Corp.’s injectable BST product has resulted in anything but approval. Some concern was issued by the U.S. General Accounting Office, an investiga tive agency of the U.S. Congress. The GAO requested the FDA to look into the possibility that anti biotics would be more likely to show up in dairy products because of the use of injectable BST. The FDA’s advisory commit tees concluded strongly that sce nario was implausible. Nevertheless, Pure Food Cam paign has been calling for a ban of all meat and milk derived from cattle treated with supplemental BST. Some have questioned the motives of the campaign. For example, in its literature, the non profit activist group refers fre quently to “BGH-free milk and meat” and only occasionally speci fies that it means products derived from cattle receiving BST injections. The group is also calling for spe cial labeling of products resulting from cows treated with BST, though the only way to tell if meat (lbs.) or milk resulted from a cow given BST injections is to check farmer records. While McDonald’s media spokespeople said they were not aware of the protest until contacted by Lancaster Farming, they said they were aware of Rifkin. Rifkin, who authored a book which has been discredited by all respected academians and profes sionals, has promoted his theories against eating meat. “His theories are far-fetched, totally unsupportable and without merit,” said Ann Connolly, McDo nald’s Corp. spokesperson. “This is a publicity stunt designed to sell his book and promote his personal agenda, and the Beyond the Beef Campaign folks admit they’re only using McDonald’s to create publicity,” she said. Connolly said McDonald’s uses only top brand name dairy and meat products, purchased from the same companies which also mark et their products directly to consumers. McDonald’s buys from compa nies such as Carnation and Fore smost foods, “which are all gov erned by FDA standards,” she said. While McDonald’s has dis missed Rifkin’s attempts to stir consumer fears of its products as ridiculous, the Pure Food Cam paign is also publicizing its 900- number on the leaflets. Although Pure Food Cam paign’s 900- number is handled by MCI, a competitive telephone ser vice company stated that its similar service should result in a profit of about $13,000, based on receiving 5,000 phone calls. Start up costs for that service is $250 and what average and the weighted cell count, as its name implies, is a weighted average. The illustrations in Tables 2 and 3 show how the weighted count, and its relationship to average linear scores, change depending upon which cows are infected - the high producers or the low producers. Table 2 Cow ID. Totals Divisor Averages Table 3 Cow SCC I.D. Score B Totals Divisor 2 Averages Note that the average linear score is the same (5) in Tables 2 and 3, but the weighted SCC is quite different, 1,100,000 compared to 600,000! You will also note that the weighted SCC count in both tables is outside the range expected for a linear score of 5. as seen in Table 1 (284,000 - 565,000). This is due to the fact that each time the score increases by 1, the cell count doubles. An increase from code 3 to code 4 increases cell counts by only 100,000, but an increase from code 6 to code 7 increases cell counts by 800,000! So, if you have a number of cows with counts considerably higher than herd average, you can expect the weighted cell count to be higher than what the average linear score might lead you to think. What SCC levels should you aim for? A 200,000 count or less is a reasonable and attainable goal. At this level you are not losing too much production perhaps 1.5-3.0 pounds as indicated in Table 1. You will probably qualify for some quality premium payments, and you will have less vet and culling expenses. It's worth striving for. Penn State Cooperative Extension is an affirmative action, equal opportunity, educational institution. High Producers Most Severely Infected SCC Count (1,000's) 100 SCC Score x 40 7 1,600 x _JQ 10 120 2 Low Producers Most Severely Infected SCC Count (1,000’s) 1,600 x 100 x 10 ever expenses are necessary for advertisement Pure Food Campaign enjoys tax-free, non-profit status. Pure Food Campaign, now working in conjunction with other Rifkin organizations, is claiming that it will have 20,000 activists at McDonald’s restaurants today dis tributing leaflets to one million customers. Last week, Pure Food Campaign had claimed that it would have more than 2,000 “activist teams” doing the work. Generally, Pure Food can expect to receive about $2.50 per phone call for those listening to its approximately 4-minute message. If just 10 percent of those to be contacted today call the 900- num ber as directed, the group could pocket more than $250,000 tax free. In this week’s statement, Pure Food Campaign states, “On April 17, the Pure Food Campaign is joining the Beyond Beef coalition in its Adopt-A-McDonald’s cam paign. McDonald’s has been selected for the anti-BGH leaflct ing drive because it is among North America’s largest users of milk, cheese, butter and dairy cow beef. “Unless it pledges to be BGH free, McDonald’s could become one of the world’s largest single restaurant sources of milk ami meat from BGH-treated cows.” According to Cummings, a number of McDonald’s restaurants in Pennsylvania have been targeted. He said protesters can be expected today at McDonald’s in Butler, Elwood City, Huntingdon Valley, Newton, Exton, Erie, Phi ladelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Wester Chester and Lewisburg. Daily Milk Weighted - SCC. (1,000's) 4,000 128.000 132,000 I2Q 1,100 Daily Weighted Milk SCC (1,000’s) 64.000 -.8,000 72.000 I2Q 600 40 _BQ 120
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