On Jan. 17, Starbucks stated that 37 percent of its dairy products will be free of rBGH in a number of stores in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, Northern California and New England.

Created by Monsanto and sold as Posilac, rBGH is an artificial hormone which is administered to an estimated one-third of the 9 million dairy cows in America to increase the production of milk and boost farmers’ per-cow revenues. However, since the FDA approved it in 1993, consumer advocacy groups have opposed rBGH claiming the full effects it has on humans remains unknown. Aside from that, it can boost the risk of developing cancer.

In the later part of 2006, Montesano became aware that lower profits could result from increasing consumer demand for milk free of hormones.  In November, the company issued a warning to investors: “We believe some processor requests for ‘r-BST-free’ milk, coupled with rising feed costs, could limit our future sales.”

For companies that produce organic dairy products, such as Dean Foods’ “Horizon” brand organic milk, higher profits may result because of higher demand for dairy products free of rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone). Dean Foods spokesperson Marguerite Copel, thinks Starbucks’ decision to switch to hormone-free milk in many locations could mean big bucks.

Folks, this is one of the reasons why I’m a consumer health advocate. I sincerely feel Starbucks’ decision is a direct result of a movement from people who have become educated about the dangers of food additives and factory farming practices.

This is information that powerful corporations would hope you would never find about. Their efforts to bamboozle the public into feeding themselves poison are becoming halted more and more every day because of the amount of information now available on the Internet.

Safeway also announced earlier this week that its milk suppliers in Washington and Oregon would no longer be using rBGH to increase milk production.