Contents

1. Engineered hormone in milk may be linked to twinning
2. Bill to address antibiotic resistance garners support
3. USDA documents reveal lax oversight of pharma crops
4. New reasons to eat your veggies
5. What you can do: Fight the National Uniformity for Food Act

1. Engineered hormone in milk may be linked to twinning
A recent study found that women who consumed dairy products were five times more likely to give birth to twins than vegan women. The study suggested that the use of engineered bovine growth hormone/bovine somatotropin (BGH/BST) to boost milk production in dairy cows may be related to the higher level of twinning. BGH is known to increase twinning in dairy cows. In addition, the rate of human twinning is twice as high in the United States, where BGH is used, as in Britain, where BGH is banned. BGH affects twinning rate by increasing insulin-like growth factor (IGF), a protein produced in the milk of both animals and humans, that promotes ovulation and may help early-stage embryos survive. A separate study found that levels of IGF were 13 percent lower in vegan women than in women who consumed dairy products. Read a press release about the study, which was published in The Journal of Reproductive Medicine.

2. Bill to address antibiotic resistance garners support
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently joined over 350 other organizations from around the country calling on Congress to pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), a bill to ban the use of seven classes of medically important antibiotics as feed additives for livestock and poultry that are not sick. The IDSA, which represents 8,000 physicians and scientists, stated that "there is a growing body of scientific evidence that antimicrobial use in livestock contributes to the spread of resistant bacteria to humans." Read more about PAMTA. In related news, the House of Representatives passed an amendment introduced by PAMTA's lead sponsor, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), to provide one million dollars to the Food and Drug Administration to review the relationship between antibiotic use in animals and antibiotic resistance. The amendment has not yet been approved in the Senate. Learn more (pdf).

3. USDA documents reveal lax oversight of pharma crops
Last year, an internal audit revealed critical failings in the USDA's oversight of field trials of crops that are genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. UCS recently obtained USDA documents under the Freedom of Information Act that reinforce the audit's findings. The documents concerning 2005 cultivation of pharmaceutical-producing rice in North Carolina revealed that the department failed to perform required inspections, failed to enforce conditions imposed on the company producing the rice, and failed to inspect the rice after a hurricane blew through, potentially contaminating a nearby rice breeding facility. These inadequacies support our call for a nationwide ban on the outdoor production of pharma and industrial food crops as the only way to ensure food safety and protect public health. Learn more.

4. New reasons to eat your veggies
Vegetables are good for you—and for the economy too. According to a report by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, if Iowa residents ate the recommended five servings a day of fruits and vegetables for just three months out of the year, and if the extra produce were Iowa-grown, it would mean an additional $302 million in sales and 4,000 new jobs in Iowa. Read the report. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, a health insurance company called Physicians Plus is banking on the health benefits of fresh produce. This company pays people up to $200 to subscribe to a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that supplies them with produce from a local farm. Read more, or click here to find a CSA program near you.

5. What you can do: Fight the National Uniformity for Food Act
The Senate is expected to vote soon on the National Uniformity for Food Act (S. 3128), a bill that could wipe out an estimated 200 state and local food safety and labeling laws, including shellfish and milk safety laws, restaurant safety laws, and carcinogen and lead warning labels. The bill will eliminate these innovative state laws that protect consumers, in favor of a "uniform" lowest common denominator of existing federal food laws. Since this dangerous bill already passed in the House, we need your help now to defeat it in the Senate. Learn more about this issue and send a letter to your senators. Please be sure to personalize the sample text and subject line so that your letter has the greatest impact. If you have already sent a letter on this issue, please call your senators to reinforce your message. Find your senators' phone numbers here.