The development by four pharmaceutical companies of a hormone injected in cows to increase milk production comes out of a narrow approach to increasing production, according to Bill Liebhardt, director of the UC Davis-based UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. He testified recently before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress about the decisions dairy farmers and consumers may be making about the use of bovine growth hormone (bGH), also known as bovine somatotrophin. Liebhardt was invited to address the committee because of a national, multidisciplinary study he coordinated comparing the use of bGH and rotational grazing in the dairy industry. "Our multidisciplinary study shows what bGH would do to the dairy industry overall. The Food and Drug Administration is only looking at whether the cows injected with bGH are healthy and whether bGH affects human safety. There's a lot more to it. There are people, rural communities and the security of our food distribution system at stake here," says Liebhardt. He believes that bGH would "homogenize" the dairy industry. Liebhardt's study will be published this spring in the book "Hormones, Grass & Milk: BGH, Rotational Grazing and You."