Epstein Lauds Codex Action That DidnHt happen

August 19, 1999

Samuel S. Epstein, a professor of environmental medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, claims the Codex Alimentarius Commission "ruled unanimously in favor of the 1993 European moratorium" on Monsanto's bovine somatotropin (BST) product. He calls it a "powerful blow against U.S. global trade policies" that are influenced by Monsanto. The only problem, says a Monsanto official, is that no vote on the issue ever took place at the recent Codex meeting. BST is used to enhance milk production.

Also, says Gary Barton, Monsanto director of scientific communications, any action taken would not be tied in any way to the European moratorium. It would be on recommendations from the Codex scientific committees that already have reviewed BST and found it safe, says Barton.

"This unexpected ruling," says Epstein, "revealingly greeted by the U.S. press with deafening silence, is a powerful blow against U.S. global trade policies which are strongly influenced by powerful multi-national corporations such as Monsanto."

He went on to say that since the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of BST for milk production in 1994, "the U.S. has exerted considerable pressure on Mexico and other grading partners to approve (BST) in efforts to increase pressure on Europe through the World Trade Organization."

Mexico, says Barton, has allowed the commercial sale and use of BST for 10 years.

Epstein is a long-standing opponent of BST in general and Monsanto in particular. Over the past 15 years, he says, Monsanto and FDA, "strongly supported by a network of indentured university academics, aggressive lobbying by the National Dairy Council and its well organized `hit squads' targeting (BST) opponents, and an overwhelmingly uncritical media, have ignored or trivialized substantial scientific evidence on the hazards of (BST) milk..."