Kansas Senate Will Not Override Veto of Milk Hormone Bill

The Kansas Senate will apparently not try to override former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius’s veto of a bill that would have required a disclaimer on dairy products made without artificial growth hormones. Sebelius, recently confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, vetoed the bill in late April 2009 reportedly because it would have made it more difficult for consumers to get clear information. “Supporters of the bill claim it’s necessary to protect consumers from false or misleading information,” she was quoted as saying. “Yet there has been overwhelming opposition by consumer groups, small dairy producers and retailers to this proposed legislation.”

Under the bill, manufacturers that have stated their product is not from cows supplemented with the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH or rbST) would have had to document the claim and put a disclaimer on the product label. State Senator Marci Francisco, (D-Lawrence) a vocal opponent of the bill, apparently sent an email on May 4, 2009, to her constituents stating that the Senate Agriculture
Committee considered the vetoed bill, “gutted the existing language . . . that referred to milk labeling,” and created a new version that combined earlier provisions of the bill and other proposals regarding pesticides, dairy fees and regulatory oversight. Francisco reported that the Senate then approved the new bill by a 40-0 vote.