Horizon Organic cows are never given added growth hormones. While growth hormones naturally occur in all milk, non-organic dairy cows may also be injected with additional growth hormones (rBGH/rBST) to increase milk production. Several countries in Europe as well as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan have already banned these hormones because of concerns regarding their potential effect on human and animal health.²

In order for their land to be certified organic, farmers must not apply synthetic fertilizers, dangerous pesticides or other toxic and persistent chemicals to their land for three years prior to certification or anytime thereafter. That's why organic production greatly reduces the presence of pesticides in foods. Since pesticides have been used in conventional food production on a widespread basis, for a long time and because they linger in the environment long after application, there is no guarantee that any foods are pesticide-free.

However, a 1998 Consumer Reports study concluded that fresh fruits and vegetables labeled organic had either no pesticide residues or fewer, lower-level pesticide residues compared to those produced conventionally. Another study published in Food Additives and Contaminants found that conventional produce, when compared with organic produce, was three times more likely to have any pesticide residue and six times more likely to have residue from multiple pesticides.³

The issue of pesticide residues is particularly pertinent to children, who consume more food per pound of body weight than adults. They are also likely more sensitive to the effects of pesticides and other chemicals in food, due to their rapidly developing nervous systems.

A study from the University of Washington and published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that children who ate a predominantly organic diet had far lower levels of pesticide residue in their bodies than the children who mostly ate non-organic foods. In fact, the children who ate more non-organic foods had pesticide metabolite levels six to nine times higher than those on organic diets.

The cows that produce milk for Horizon Organic are fed 100% certified organic feed. In addition, the other ingredients in our products, including the fruit in our yogurt products, are grown on organic farms that do not use dangerous pesticides.

1. AMA Annual Meeting Resolution 508 Antimicrobial use and resistance. June 2001.
2. Yu, Herbert and Rohan, Thomas. Role of Insulin-like Growth factor Family in Cancer Development and Progression, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, v.92, September 20, 2000.
3. Baker, BP, Benbrook CM, Groth, E. and Benbrook, KL. Pesticide residues in conventional, integrated pest management-grown and organic foods: insights from three US data sets. Food Additives and Contaminants, 19:442-447, 2002.

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