What's In Your Milk?

About the Book

A new book by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.

Introduction by Ben Cohen, Co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

Foreword by Jeffrey M. Smith, author of the bestseller Seeds of Deception.

Endorsements include: Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Democrat, House Judiciary Committee; Mark Achbar, Executive Producer of the multiple prize-winning documentary The Corporation; Ronnie Cummins, National Director, Organic Consumers Association; and Dr. Joseph Mercola, found of the world's most visited natural health website.

A powerful exposé of the dangers of Monsanto's genetically engineered (rBGH) milk, and its no-holds-barred conspiracy to suppress this information.

rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) is a genetically engineered, potent variant of the natural growth hormone produced by cows. Manufactured by Monsanto, it is sold to dairy farmers under the trade name POSILAC. Injection of this hormone forces cows to increase their milk production by about 10%.

Monsanto, supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), insist that rBGH milk is indistinguishable from natural milk, and that it is safe for consumers. This is blatantly false:

• rBGH makes cows sick. Monsanto has been forced to admit to about 20 toxic effects, including mastitis, on its Posilac label.
• rBGH milk is contaminated by pus, due to the mastitis commonly induced by rBGH, and antibiotics used to treat the mastitis.
• rBGH milk is chemically, and nutritionally different than natural milk.
• rBGH milk is contaminated with rBGH, traces of which are absorbed through the gut.
• rBGH milk is supercharged with high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1), which is readily absorbed through the gut.
• Excess levels of IGF-1 have been incriminated as a cause of breast, colon, and prostate cancers.
• IGF-1 blocks natural defense mechanisms against early submicroscopic cancers.
• rBGH factory farms pose a major threat to the viability of small dairy farms.
• rBGH enriches Monsanto, while posing dangers, without any benefits, to consumers, especially in view of the current national surplus of milk.

The risks of cancer to consumers and particularly their children, especially those enrolled in the Public School Lunch Program, are undisputable.

The book is a unique resource on rBGH milk. It presents Dr. Epstein's trailblazing scientific publications since 1989, which have played a major role in influencing other nations, including all of Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan to ban rBGH milk. The book also presents: the author's editorials and letters to major newspapers, and correspondence with the FDA, Congressman John Conyers, and other key members of Congress and the Senate.

Epstein also details evidence of interlocking conflicts of interest between Monsanto and the White House, regulatory agencies, and the American Medical Association and American Cancer Society. He also details evidence of Monsanto's white collar crime; the suppression and manipulation of information on the veterinary and public health dangers of rBGH milk; and evidence of Monsanto's "Hit Squad", which attempted to stifle and discredit him.

Of compelling interest is the story behind Fox Television's firing of Jane Akre, a veteran journalist, following her in-depth interview on rBGH with Dr. Epstein, his subsequent day-long deposition by Monsanto on her behalf, her subsequent litigation against Fox, and Fox's successful counter suit.

Monsanto's corporate recklessness, compounded by FDA's complicity and refusal to require labeling of rBGH milk, more than justify the rejection of any assurances of its safety. Of further interest is the critical relevance of this information to the ongoing growing concerns and debate on genetically engineered foods, including irrefutable evidence discrediting the "trust us" safety assurances of Monsanto, and other industries.

The book also presents resource materials, including listings of national and international anti-biotech, public health, veterinary and animal rights activist groups. Also listed are rBGH-free U.S. dairy producers, such as Horizon Organic, and Swiss Valley Farms.

What's In Your Milk's critical message to consumers is Boycott rBGH hormonal milk in favor of certified organic milk!

"Update 2010"

About the Author

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., D. Path., D.T.M&H, Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, is an internationally recognized authority on the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, the causes and prevention of cancer, and the toxic and carcinogenic effects of environmental pollutants in air, water, soil and the workplace, and of ingredients and contaminants in consumer productsÑfood, cosmetics and toiletries, household productsÑand related public policy concerns.

He has published some 270 peer reviewed scientific articles, and authored or co-authored twelve books: the 1971 Mutagenicity of Pesticides; the 1971 Drugs of Abuse: Genetic and Other Chronic Non-Psychiatric Hazards; the 1974 The Legislation of Product Safety: Consumer Health and Product Hazards; the prize-winning 1978 The Politics of Cancer; the 1982 Hazardous Wastes in America; the 1983 Cancer in Britain: The Politics of Prevention; the 1995 Safe Shopper's Bible; the 1998 Breast Cancer Prevention Program; the 1998 The Politics of Cancer Revisited; the 2001 Got (Genetically Engineered) Milk! The Monsanto rBGH/BST Milk Wars Handbook (e-book); the 2001 Unreasonable Risk. How to Avoid Cancer from Cosmetics and Personal Care Products; and the 2005 Cancer-Gate: How to Win the Losing Cancer War. He has contributed numerous editorials and letters to leading national newspapers, and has published over 100 press releases, over the last decade, on the politics of cancer, and on avoidable causes of cancer, particularly in consumer products.

Dr. Epstein's past committee and society involvements include: Chairman of the Air Pollution Control Association Committee on Biological Effects of Air Pollutants; President of the Society of Occupational and Environmental Health; Founder and Secretary of the Environmental Mutagen Society; advisor to a wide range of public interest, environmental, citizen activist and organized labor groups; Co-Chairman of the Commission for the Advancement of Public Interest Organizations (CAPIO); and President of the Rachel Carson Council, Inc. In 1993, he founded the non-profit international Cancer Prevention Coalition of which he is the Chairman.

Dr. Epstein's activities in the interface between science and public policy include: the lead expert witness involved in the banning of DDT; consultant to the U.S. Senate Committee on Public Works; drafting Congressional legislation; frequent invited Congressional testimony; and membership of key federal agency advisory committees including the EPA Health Effects Advisory Committee, and the 1973 Department of Labor Advisory Committee on the Regulationof Occupational Carcinogens. He was EPA's key expert witness involved in the banning of hazardous products and pesticides, including Aldrin and Chlordane. He is the leading international expert on the public health hazards of the biosynthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH) used for increasing milk production, and of sex hormones used for fattening cattle in feedlots, on which he consulted for the E.C., testified on its behalf at the January 1997 World Trade Organisation hearings, and presented testimony to the EU Parliament in May, 1997. In December 1998, he presented draft "Legislative Proposals for Reversing the Cancer Epidemic" to the Swedish Parliament, and subsequently to the U.K. All Parliamentary Cancer Group in June 1999. In May 2004, he presented an analysis of the EU's 2001 and 2003 REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of CHemicals) initiatives for regulating industrial chemicals at UNESCO in Paris.

Dr. Epstein's honors include: medals and prizes in the U.K. Royal Army Medical Corp.; the 1957 British Empire Cancer Campaign (now the CRC) Fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children Great Ormond Street and the Chester Beatty Cancer Research Institute, London; the 1969 Society of Toxicology Achievement Award; the 1977 National Conservancy Award of the National Wildlife Federation; the 1981 Yale University Henry Kaiser Award; the 1989 Environmental Justice Award; the 1990 Rachel Carson Legacy Award, for "Significantly Advancing Medical Research Into Effective Toxic Chemicals and Bringing his Knowledge Forcefully To World Attention"; the 1993 University of Tasmania Richard Jones Memorial Award Lecture; the 1998 Right Livelihood Award (the Alternative Nobel Prize) for International Contributions to Cancer Prevention, and for his leadership role in warning of the dangers of rBGH milk; the 1999 Bioneers Award; the 2000 Humanitarian Award from the National Silver Haired Congress; the 2000 Project Censored Award (the Alternative Pulitzer Prize) for an article critiquing the American Cancer Society; the 2003 Honorary Member Award of the World Innovation Foundation; and the 2005 Albert Schweitzer Golden Grand Medal for Humanitarianism and for International Contributions to Cancer Prevention.

Dr. Epstein has extensive media experience. This includes numerous appearances on major national TV networks including Sixty Minutes, Face the Nation, Meet the Press, McNeil/Lehrer, Donahue, Good Morning America, the Today Show, and documentaries, including the 2004 prize-winning The Corporation. He has also made frequent appearances on Canadian, European, Australian and Japanese T.V. Dr. Epstein is a member of the National Writers Union, AFL-CIO, and the National Association of Science Writers.