It is true that there are all sorts of chemical used in farming that cows
are exposed to. However, (although I don't know much about the US) here in
Australia the biggest use (highest concentration) of chemical use is in
suburbia. Backyards and homes overuse chemicals whereas farmers tend to
have to keep chemical use to the absolute minimum because they have no
government assistance and their profit margin is really small. Backyard
gardeners with add 'one more for good measure' and the rates on the small
packs of chemicals are often much higher than on the rural packs. Chemical
use with veges could be dramatically reduced i consumers would tolerate a
mark here and there but they won't.
The persistant chemicals that are really causing problems are generally no
longer used because they are too dangerous. The stuff causing the problems
could have been put into the environment 30 years ago and is still there.
Being high in the food chain is a real problem.
Karleen Gribble
B.Rur.Sc. PhD

> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Thu, 4 Nov 1999 09:51:10 -0600
> From:    Kathy Dettwyler <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: cow exposure to chemicals
>
> >Cows are exposed less to these environmental chemicals
> >because they do not pump gasoline, visit the dry cleaners, use household
> >chemicals, etc.
>
> I'll buy the idea that cows don't have the same *kinds* of chemical
toxins
> in their milk as humans because they don't do these activities, but I
find
> it hard to believe that overall humans have more toxins in their milk
than
> cows.  Perhaps it depends on how you define toxins, but what about all
the
> herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers that go into and onto
the
> feed that cows eat?  What about the agricultural runoff in the water the
> cows drink?  Here in Texas, the dairy herds are free-range -- out in the
> pastures, drinking out of the stock tanks, and many of the pastures
include
> oil wells that leak and spew crud onto the ground, where the rain washes
it
> into the stock tanks (watering holes), where it can become very
> concentrated and so toxic that it kills the catfish that the farmer had
> stocked in the pond.  Also, the cows get all sorts of growth hormones and
> antibiotics, and that there is a huge level of infection in the milk, so
> that you can get pus and dead bacteria.  All the bacteria/viruses are
> killed by the pasteurization process, but just the thought of them being
in
> there, along with residue from antibiotics, etc., makes me much more
> willing to accept human milk over cows' milk, any day.  Also, the cows
out
> in fields can eat all sorts of toxic weeds that make them "loco" and
cause
> miscarriages in the cows -- can't remember the name of the weed, but it
is
> a real problem here in Texas.
>

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