A recent Cornell University study concluded that using rbST to produce milk is better for the environment than either conventional dairy farming without rbST or organic dairy farming. The primary reason given in the study is more efficient utilization of resources, resulting in less nutrient intake and less waste excretion (both manure and greenhouse gas emissions) per pound of milk produced.
You can read the study here.
Is this good science? One of the four authors is an employee of Monsanto, which may make you wonder if there is a conflict of interest. But the other three authors are affiliated with the Department of Animal Science at Cornell. (The Monsanto employee is an alumnus of Cornell.) Click here for Cornell's press release. The study was edited by a professor emeritus in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. And the study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a respected peer-reviewed scientific journal. It appears to me to be good science.
