IGF-1, Milk and Cancer

Food activists Michael Hansen and Jean Halloren of Consumers Union claim IGF-1 levels in milk pose increased human health risks. Yet, even their own publication Consumer Reports dismisses these claims as false. Consumer Reports January 2000 edition concluded: “Human-health questions about rbST use focus on a hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1, found naturally in milk, including human breast milk. The average IGF-1 level in milk from hormone-treated cows is somewhat higher than that in milk from untreated cows. IGF-1 is a hormone that regulates a variety of growth processes. A high level of IGF-1 in blood - not milk - has been associated with elevated risk for several kinds of cancer. U.S. officials have concluded that milk from hormone-treated cows is safe to drink. The Food and Drug Administration approved rbST use in 1993 and has repeatedly reaffirmed that decision when critics have questioned it. Sixteen other countries, such as Brazil, Korea, and Mexico, also allow the hormone to be used. Meanwhile, the Food and Agricultural Organization/World Health Organization Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives, and Health Canada, have concluded that milk from hormone-treated cows poses no appreciable risk to humans.”