US trade body the Organic Trade Association said this month that consumers should switch to organic milk to minimize exposure to antibiotics and pesticide contaminants.
The OTA was reacting to publication of a new study by researchers at Emory University (in collaboration with the Organic Center), which found that a majority of samples of conventional retail milk tested positive for residues of antibiotics – two of which are banned from dairy production – and currently used controversial pesticides. Organic milk showed no such contaminants.
Residues of growth hormones in conventional milk were 20 times higher than in organic. The results of the study were published online on June 26 by the peer-reviewed public health journal Public Health Nutrition.
Highlights of the findings:
• Antibiotic residues were detected in 60% of conventional milk samples and none of the organic samples. Significantly, 37 percent of the conventional samples tested positive for sulfamethazine, and 26 percent for sulfathiazole, both of which have long been outlawed in lactating dairy cows. Furthermore, one of the conventional samples contained residue levels of amoxicillin that exceeded the federally-allowed limit.
• Bovine growth hormone (bGH) residue levels were found to be 20 times higherin conventional milk than organic.
• Pesticide residues of chlorpyrifos, atrazine, permethrin and more were found in 26 to 60 percent of conventional samples and none of the organic samples.Residues of the controversial and restricted-use pesticide chlorpyrifos showed up in 59 percent of the conventional samples.
“Milk is a great source of protein and important vitamins and minerals, and we want our children and our families to drink milk. But not all milk is created equal, as this study demonstrates. This study finds that the presence of antibiotics and pesticides in conventional milk is much more prevalent and pervasive than previously thought – and that organic milk doesn’t contain any of these contaminants. We hope this study will let people know that the choice is out there for good clean organic,” said Dr Jessica Shade, director of science programs for The Organic Center.
Image: The Organic Center