Eli Lilly and Co. and its subsidiary Elanco is suing a major food retailer for
launching a $30 million marketing campaign that claims its products are safer
because its cows are not injected with rBST. On Friday, the Indiana-based
company filed a lawsuit against Arla Foods Inc. USA and Arla Foods Production
LLC in Green Bay federal court.
"Arla's 'Live Unprocessed' advertising campaign brings heightened
attention to the rBST-related claims on Arla's product labels and casts them in
a new light," the complaint said. "When viewed in light of this
extensive advertising campaign, Arla's product labeling perpetuates the false
claims that rBST is unsafe, that dairy products made using milk from
rBST-treated cows is compositionally different and of inferior quality compared
to dairy products made from milk of untreated cows, and that rBST is actually
an ingredient in some dairy products."
Elanco claims Arla ignores the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
has declared rBST to be a safe product and that there is no discernable
difference between milk from cows supplemented with rBST and milk from
unsupplemented cows.
Arla Foods' ad depicts a young girl drawing and describing rBST as an enormous
six-eyed monster with razor-sharp horns and electrified fur. The commercial
ends with the child eating a sandwich with Arla cheese and the words, 'No added
hormones. No weird stuff.'
The suit is calling for Arla to stop its advertising campaign and bring its
product labels into compliance with all federal and state law requirements
concerning rBST-related claims.
Elanco produces and sells rBST under the brand name Posilac.