Safe Food_ Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism - Marion Nestle [124]
GAO investigators were even more troubled by issues related to the role of Michael Taylor. Mr. Taylor, whom we encountered in chapter 2 as the courageous USDA official responsible for instituting Pathogen Reduction: HACCP, began his career as a lawyer with the FDA. He left the agency to work for King & Spalding, the firm representing Monsanto, but returned to the FDA in 1991 as deputy commissioner for policy, and he held that position during the time the agency conducted its rBGH safety review. At the time, Mr. Taylor had been with the FDA for more than two years, but newly passed ethical guidelines applied only to the first year of employment, so his activities were “not covered by the appearance of loss of impartiality provisions.”31
Mr. Taylor is a coauthor of the FDA’s 1992 policy statement on genetically engineered plant foods (discussed below), and he signed the Federal Register notice on labeling of rBGH milk. Although other FDA officials responsible for those policies shared his views, court documents later released as a result of a 1999 lawsuit revealed considerable disagreement about the policies within the agency. FDA officials told the GAO that Mr. Taylor had recused himself from matters related to rBGH and “never sought to influence the thrust or content” of the agency’s policies. Nevertheless, Congressman Bernard Sanders (Ind-VT) viewed Mr. Taylor’s involvement as casting doubt about the impartiality of the rBGH review process. Mr. Sanders said the ethics rules in this situation “were often stretched to the breaking point and were broken on a number of occasions. The FDA allowed corporate influence to run rampant in its approval of BGH. . . . This is exactly the kind of thing that sends consumers the message that federal bureaucrats care more about corporate profits than they do about consumer health and safety. . . . The bottom line is that Monsanto’s product received favorable treatment when it probably should not have.”32
Monsanto’s Political Success. Monsanto succeeded in obtaining FDA approval of rBGH without a labeling requirement. In March 1995, the company claimed that it had sold 14.5 million doses of rBGH during the previous year and that 13,000 dairy farmers, representing 11% of the potential market, were using the hormone. Sales were especially strong in New York (where 10% of dairy farmers used the drug) and Wisconsin (15%), but were especially weak in Vermont. Although early sales fell short of expectations, Monsanto says that rBGH broke even in 1996, increased sales by 30% in 1997, and has been profitable ever since. As one sympathetic observer explained, “a profit-oriented company like Monsanto wouldn’t make that kind of investment for a product that’s not successful . . . rBST is saving dairy farming.”33
USDA economists maintain that the controversy over use of rBGH has had little effect on consumer demand for milk, principally because of lack of evidence of harm.34 Consumer attitudes toward rBGH milk in the United States are difficult to evaluate, however, not least because of the lack of labeling. Surveys that deliberately probe outrage factors tend to identify substantial concern about the safety of rBGH, especially among people who do not trust the FDA or perceive little benefit from the product. In contrast, industry-sponsored surveys reveal lukewarm opinions on the matter. For example, respondents to a 1994 survey reacted positively, but only slightly so (scoring 6.18 on a scale where 10 is strongly positive), to