[National School Lunches: Unsafe at Any Eating, Warns Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. [Get the Facts on April 11th, BioETHICS Chicago Conference] School Lunches: Unsafe at Any Eating And now, some health and business news for most of us: CHICAGO, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 6, a bipartisan Congressional group, with strong support in both Houses, announced plans to introduce legislation amending the National School Lunch Act. This would prohibit the sale in schools of sugary or fatty junk foods, notably soft drinks and French fries. Enforcement of this initiative would be the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is in charge of the current Public School Lunch Program. This extended authority was applauded by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a national food safety activist group, stating that "The Agency has done a good job with the official school lunch and could do a good job with all other foods." This endorsement may well be warranted nutritionally. However, it certainly is not warranted by the USDA's failure to disclose well-documented scientific evidence on the risks to health of the two school lunch staples, milk and meat. Much of the nation's milk supply comes from cows injected with a genetically engineered variant of their natural growth hormone, technically known as rBGH, manufactured by Monsanto. Injection of the hormone forces cows to increase their milk yield by about 10 percent, while making them sick in the process. Monsanto and the USDA insist that rBGH milk is indistinguishable from natural milk, and that it is safe for children and other consumers, but this is scientifically and medically untrue. rBGH milk makes cows sick. Reacting to the fully documented scientific evidence, a wide range of nations including all of Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan have banned rBGH milk. U.S. beef is heavily contaminated with sex hormones. U.S. beef cattle in feedlots, are implanted with sex hormone pellets under their skin. These hormones increase the weight of the cattle, adding to profits by about $80 per animal. Despite official claims to the contrary, confidential industry reports to the FDA, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, have revealed high residues of the hormones in meat products. Increased levels of sex hormones are linked ever more closely to the escalating increase of reproductive cancers in the U.S. Europe has viewed longstanding U.S. claims with considerable skepticism. Since 1989, all 25 European nations have banned the sale of beef from hormone- treated cattle. Once again we see how with the government in the hands of corporation, not only workers loose their rights and their livelihood. Our children loose too. Source: Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition, CONTACT: Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor emeritus Environmentalâ