The state Agriculture Department has forbidden dairies that don't use the hormone from touting that fact on milk-bottle labels, contending it gives the impression that milk like Harnish's is unsafe.
It is the first such move in the nation, and the ensuing debate has spilled from the aisles at Whole Foods to the halls of Harrisburg, where the governor's office is reviewing the decision. The issue also has come up at hearings in New Jersey, though the state has proposed no change.
After extensive study, and 14 years after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the hormone for use, there is indeed no proof that milk from injected cows is unsafe. But some researchers say questions about the drug's impacts remain unanswered.
And critics say its effects on bovine health - including an increase in mastitis, an udder infection - are reason enough to ban it. That's a key reason it cannot be used on cows in Europe and Canada.
At the very least, farmers should be allowed to say if they don't inject, said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at the nonprofit Consumers Union. "Consumers have a basic right to know what's in the foods they eat, and how they are produced," Hansen said.
Yet Harnish, who farms 200 acres here in western Lancaster County, worries that some of his competitors' labels are misleading. A few have been downright inaccurate, making such claims as "hormone-free." All milk contains hormones, whether the natural or the almost-identical synthetic variety.
Harnish said his herd is just as healthy as it was before he started using the synthetic version, made by St. Louis-based Monsanto. He says the product, called Posilac, is one of the success stories of American technology.
"We're just born and bred to find the newest and the best and the fastest whatever way to do something," he said. "And so in the farming industry, we've done that."
