Bovine somatotropin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Bovine somatotropin or BGH, is a chain of amino acids produced by the cow's pituitary gland. Like other hormones, it is produced in small quantities and is used in regulating metabolic processes. Since 1994 it has been possible to synthesize the hormone using recombinant DNA technology to create recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), or artificial growth hormone. Monsanto

Monsanto

The Monsanto Company is a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the "Roundup" brand of herbicides, and in other brands...

was the first to develop the technology and marketed it as "Posilac" - a brand now owned by Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...

.

The United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

is the only developed nation to permit humans to drink milk from cows given artificial growth hormone. Posilac was banned from use in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

and all European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

countries (currently numbering 27), by 2000 or earlier.

In the United States, public opinion has caused a number of products and retailers to become rBST-free.

Posilac

In 1937, the administration of BST was shown to increase the milk yield in lactating

Lactation

Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process occurs in all female mammals, however it predates mammals. In humans the process of feeding milk is called breastfeeding or nursing...

cows by preventing mammary cell death in dairy cattle. Until the 1980s, there was very limited use of the compound in agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

as the sole source of the hormone was from bovine cadaver

Cadaver

A cadaver is a dead human body.Cadaver may also refer to:* Cadaver tomb, tomb featuring an effigy in the form of a decomposing body* Cadaver , a video game* cadaver A command-line WebDAV client for Unix....

s. During this time, the knowledge of the structure and function of the hormone increased. Monsanto

Monsanto

developed a recombinant

Recombinant DNA

Recombinant DNA molecules are DNA sequences that result from the use of laboratory methods to bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be found in biological organisms...

version of BST, brand-named Posilac, in 1994, which is produced through a genetically engineered

Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...

E. coli

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...

. A gene that codes for the sequence of amino acids that make up BST is inserted into the DNA of the E. coli bacterium. The bacteria are then broken up and separated from the rBST, which is purified to produce the injectable hormone. Growth hormones associated with injections given to dairy cows to increase milk production are known under an assortment of terms, but these terms, in general, refer to the Monsanto product. The Monsanto fact sheet on its proprietary

Property

Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...

product states that, when injected into dairy cattle, the product can increase milk production by an average of more than 10% over the span of 300 days.

Use of Posilac

A 2007 USDA Dairy Survey estimated rBGH use at 15.2% of operations and 17.2% of cows.

An average dairy cow begins her lactation with a moderate daily level of milk production. This daily output increases until, at about 70 days into the lactation, production peaks. From that time until the cow is dry, production slowly decreases. This increase and decrease in production is partially caused by the count of milk-producing cells in the udder. Cell counts begin at a moderate number, increase during the first part of the lactation, then decrease as the lactation proceeds. Once lost, these cells generally do not regrow until the next lactation.

To apply Posilac for maximum effect, farmers are recommended to make the first Posilac application about 50 days into the cow's lactation, just before she peaks. The Posilac then sustains already-present mammary cells, limiting the rate of production decrease after production peaks. After the peak, production declines with or without application of Posilac, but declines more slowly with Posilac than without. This decrease in the rate of production decline permits dairy cows to produce more milk over the span of a lactation - at its best, this will be seen by seven to eight more pounds of milk being produced per day than would be produced without Posilac.

Comparison with non-rBGH milk

FDA rBST labeling guidelines state, "FDA is concerned that the term 'rbST free' may imply a compositional difference between milk from treated and untreated cows rather than a difference in the way the milk is produced. Without proper context, such statements could be misleading. Such unqualified statements may imply that milk from untreated cows is safer or of higher quality than milk from treated cows. Such an implication would be false and misleading".

In an article by Tom Laskawy from Grist "GOGREEN", he summarized: On September 30, 2010, a U.S. court of appeal found based on studies presented that there is a "compositional difference" between milk from rBSG-treated cows and untreated milk. The court found that studies have shown that rBST milk has: increased levels of the hormone IGF-1; lower nutritional quality when produced at certain points in the cow's lactation cycle; and more somatic cell counts, which may "make the milk turn sour more quickly." While there is a slight increase in IGF-I, IGF-II does not increase when cows are treated with rBST.

Further, the FDA's concern only regards usual compositional differences, and not the risks typically associated with artificial manipulation of natural processes. This statement of concern may imply that such risks do not exist, and could therefore be considered to be "false and misleading" in itself.

Controversy

Part of the controversy in the use of BST is concerns over potential effects on animal health.

Animal health

Two meta-analyses

Meta-analysis

In statistics, a meta-analysis combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses. In its simplest form, this is normally by identification of a common measure of effect size, for which a weighted average might be the output of a meta-analyses. Here the...

have been published on rBST's effects on bovine health. Findings indicated an average increase in milk output ranging from 11%-16%, a nearly 25% increase in the risk of clinical mastitis

Mastitis

Mastitis is the inflammation of breast tissue. S. aureus is the most common etiological organism responsible, but S. epidermidis and streptococci are occasionally isolated as well.-Terminology:...

, a 40% reduction in fertility and 55% increased risk of developing clinical signs of lameness

Lameness (equine)

Lameness in horses and other equidae is a term used to refer to any number of conditions where the animal fails to travel in a regular and sound manner on all four feet...

. The same study reported a decrease in body condition score for cows treated with rBST even though there was an increase in their dry matter intake.

A European Union

European Union

scientific commission was asked to report on the incidence of mastitis and other disorders in dairy cows and on other aspects of the welfare of dairy cows. The commission's statement, subsequently adopted by the European Union, stated that the use of rBST substantially increased health problems with cows, including foot problems, mastitis and injection site reactions, impinged on the welfare of the animals and caused reproductive disorders. The report concluded that, on the basis of the health and welfare of the animals, rBST should not be used. Health Canada

Health Canada

Health Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for national public health.The current Minister of Health is Leona Aglukkaq, a Conservative Member of Parliament appointed to the position by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.-Branches, regions and agencies:Health Canada...

prohibited the sale of rBST in 1999; the external committees found that, although there was no significant health risk to humans, the drug presents a threat to animal health, and, for this reason, cannot be sold in Canada.

Human health

Human health concerns centre around three areas:

rBST and its byproducts
increased levels of IGF
Insulin-like growth factor
The insulin-like growth factors are proteins with high sequence similarity to insulin. IGFs are part of a complex system that cells use to communicate with their physiologic environment...
secondary effects, e.g. the increased use of antibiotics to treat mastitis

The Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization, American Medical Association, American Dietetics Association, and the National Institute of Health have independently confirmed that dairy products and meat from BST treated cows is safe for human consumption.

Oral consumption:
The overall composition of the milk including the fat, protein and lactose content are not altered substantially by the use of rBST in dairy cows. The milk may have a slight change in fat content within the first few weeks of rBST treatment as the cow is allowed to adjust their metabolism and feed intake. The changes in the fat content have been shown to be temporary. The composition of the milk has been examined in more than 200 different rBST treated milk experiments. Natural variation within milk is normal with or without rBST treatment in cows. This is due to genetics, location, feed, age and other environmental factors. The fat content within milk is of high concern due to the nutritional value of the milk changing with fat content. The fat content can also change the flavor of the milk. Cows that are in negative energy balance can have longer chained unsaturated fats which is similar to the fats found in rBST treated cow's milk. Protein in milk content has also been studied and was shown to have no apparent change in rBST treated cows. Nutritionally important minerals that are normally in milk were also unaltered within rBST cow's milk. These mineral studies also showed no significant change in vitamin content. Freezing point, pH, thermal properties, and other manufacturing characteristics of milk was shown to be the same in rBST milk and non-rBST treated milk.
Insulin-like growth factor(IGF), normally occurs in bovine and human milk. The rBST treated cows were shown to have an increased level of IGF within its milk content. This increase was shown to be no more than the amount of IGF in early-lactation untreated cows or in the rBST content of human milk. It has also been shown that IGF administered orally has no effect on the organism which ingested it. This is because IGF is denatured within the stomach.
IGF

Insulin-like growth factor

The insulin-like growth factors are proteins with high sequence similarity to insulin. IGFs are part of a complex system that cells use to communicate with their physiologic environment...

is produced by the cow in response to BGH injections, and it is this hormone which increases growth and milk production. Bovine and porcine IGF-I are identical to human IGF-I, while IGF-II differs among animal species.

Injected IGF:
Neither IGF-1 or IGF-2 are absorbed by the stomach or intestine after ingestion. Injected or naturally occurring IGF serum levels plays a role in the formation of new tumours
and increased levels of IGF-1 may be linked to increased risk of breast, colon, and prostate cancer.
However IGF is involved in many biological processes so it is not possible to assign a clear-cut cause and effect relationship. IGF-1 is not denatured by pasteurisation, so consumption of milk from rBST treated dairy cows will increase the daily oral intake of IGF-I, but serum levels will not be effected due to the denaturing effect within the stomach.

Further association of serum IGF levels with breast cancer was provided by a 20-year epidemiological study begun in 1976, which was published in 1997.

Lawsuit against WTVT

In 1997, Steve Wilson

Steve Wilson (reporter)

Steve Wilson is an American news reporter. Currently running his own nonprofit investigative reporting group, he is best known for his whistleblower lawsuit with then-wife Jane Akre against WTVT in 1997 and his work as WXYZ-TV's Chief Investigative Reporter in Detroit, Michigan in the late...

and Jane Akre

Jane Akre

Jane Akre is a former Florida journalist and current editor-in-chief of InjuryBoard.com. She is best known for the whistleblower lawsuit by herself and her husband, Steve Wilson, against Fox Broadcasting Company station WTVT in Tampa, Florida...

were terminated by television station WTVT, a FOX affiliate. They filed suit, claiming the termination was due to their involvement in an investigative report criticizing Monsanto's use of rBGH, which the station did not air. Wilson and Akre claimed the station had engaged in "news distortion" under pressure from Monsanto. The lawyers from Monsanto had previously threatened WTVT, warning them that negative consequences would occur in the case that the original story would be published. Akre stated that she and Wilson were fired after 83 rewrites over 8 months. WTVT later aired an edited report, which included responses from Monsanto, while replacing the word "cancer" with "negative health implications" throughout the original. WTVT ultimately won the suit, and the plaintiff's claims were dismissed. WTVT won the case because Wilson and Akre did not have whistle-blower status. The reason they did not have whistle-blower status is because it is legal to report false news.

Regulation

Use of the recombinant supplement has been controversial. While it is legal in the United States (though not without reaction) and 1 other industrialized nation (Mexico), it is 90% banned in Canada, Japan, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand. In Canada, bulk milk products from the United States that have been produced with rBST are still allowed to be sold and used in food manufacture (cheese, yogurt etc.). In the EU, dairy products from the US are banned from import.

Regulation outside the United States

In Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, rBST is not approved for use.

In 1990, The European Union placed a moratorium on its sale by all member nations. It was turned into a permanent ban starting from January 1, 2000. An in-depth report published in 1999 analysed in detail the various human health risks associated with rBST.

Canada's health board, Health Canada

Health Canada

, refused to approve rBST for use on Canadian dairies, citing concerns over animal health. The study found the occurrence of an antibody reaction, possible hypersensitivity, in a subchronic (90-day) study of rbST oral toxicity in rats that resulted in one test animal's developing an antibody response at low dose (0.1 mg/kg/day) after 14 weeks." However, the board stated that, with the exception of concerns raised regarding hypersensitivity, "the panel finds no biologically plausible reason for concern about human safety if rBST were to be approved for sale in Canada."

The Codex Alimentarius Commission

Codex Alimentarius

The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety. Its name derives from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus...

, a United Nations body that sets international food standards, has to date refused to approve rBST as safe. The Codex Alimentarius does not have authority to ban or approve the hormone - but its decisions are regarded as a standard and approval by the Codex would have allowed exporting countries to challenge countries with a ban on rBGH before the WTO.

Regulation inside the United States

In 1995, the product was approved for use in the U.S. by the FDA, and its use began in 1994. The product is now sold in all 50 states.

The Food and Drug Administration stated that food products made from rBST treated cows are safe for human consumption, and no significant difference exists between milk derived from rBST-treated and non-rBST-treated cows. The FDA found BGH to be biologically inactive when consumed by humans and found no biological distinction between rBST and BST. In 1990, an independent panel convened by the National Institute of Health supported the FDA opinion that milk and meat from cows supplemented with rBST is safe for human consumption.

Labeling

The FDA does not require special labels for products produced from cows given rBST but has charged several dairies with "misbranding" its milk as having no hormones, because all milk contains hormones and cannot be produced in such a way that it would not contain any hormones. Monsanto sued Oakhurst Dairy

Oakhurst Dairy

Oakhurst Dairy is a company in the dairy industry that sells mostly milk products, as well as juices. It was founded in 1921, and is headquartered in Portland, Maine.-History:...

of Maine over its use of a label which pledged to not use artificial growth hormones. The dairy stated that its disagreement was not over the scientific evidence for the safety of rBST (Monsanto's complaint about the label), but "We're in the business of marketing milk, not Monsanto's drugs." The suit was settled when the dairy agreed to add a qualifying statement to its label: "FDA states: No significant difference in milk from cows treated with artificial growth hormones." The FDA recommends this additional labeling but does not require it. The settlement itself caused much controversy, with anti-rBST advocates claiming that Oakhurst had capitulated in response to intimidation by a larger corporation and others claiming that Oakhurst's milk labels were in and of themselves using misleading scare tactics that deserved legal and legislative response.

Demand for milk without synthetic hormones has increased substantially in the US since Monsanto introduced its rBST product; organic milk is now an important sector of the organic food market.

Labeling in Kansas

A pro-factory farming majority in the Kansas Legislation passed a bill that would have forced dairies that did not use rBGH to print disclaimers on their labels alleging that the hormone was safe, despite its demonstrable negative effects on animal health. These ramifications include the overuse of antibiotics that accelerate the evolution of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that raise the possibility of making human diseases less treatable. The bill was vetoed in the last days of the 2009 legislative session by then-Governor Kathleen Sibelius who left office shortly afterward to become Health and Human Services Secretary. The legislature failed to override the veto.

Labeling in Pennsylvania

In 2007, the U.S. state of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

adopted a regulation that would have banned the practice of labeling milk as derived from cows not treated with rBST. This prohibition was to go into effect January 1, 2008, but was delayed to February 1, 2008 in order to give interested parties more time to submit comments to the state's Department of Agriculture. Milk producers are now able to distinguish between milk produced by cows treated with rBST and cows receiving "natural" BST treatment or no treatment.

Response from commercial groups

Several milk purchasers and resellers have elected not to purchase milk produced with rBST. The nation's largest dairy processor, Dean Foods

Dean Foods

Dean Foods is an American food and beverage company with two operating divisions: Fresh Dairy Direct and WhiteWave-Morningstar. The company maintains plants and distributors in the United States and the United Kingdom. Dean Foods products are sold throughout the USA.-History:In 1925, Samuel E...

, no longer sells milk from rBST-treated cows though an email from Dean Foods received by a consumer on September 23, 2010, states, "At Dean Foods, we believe that our dairy producers have the right to produce safe, high-quality milk using any approved and available technology..." which would include Artificial Growth Hormones or rBST/rBGH. The top 3 grocery retailers in the nation, Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

, Kroger

Kroger

The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...

, and Costco

Costco

Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...

have pledged not to sell such milk in its stores. Specific examples include:

Winder Farms
Winder Farms
Winder Farms, headquartered in West Valley City, Utah, is an online grocer providing dairy and other grocery products to households in Utah and Las Vegas, Nevada.-History:The business was started in 1880 by John R. Winder...

, a home delivery dairy and grocer in Utah and Nevada, sells rBST-free milk.
Guernsey Farms, a dairy farm and distributor located in Northville, Michigan sells and distributes rBST-free dairy products in Southeastern Michigan. Its milk has been labeled rBST free for a number of years.
Safeway
Safeway Inc.
Safeway Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain after The Kroger Co., with, as of December 2010, 1,694 stores located throughout the western and central United States and western Canada. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern...

in the northwestern United States stopped buying from dairy farmers that use rBST in January 2007. The two Safeway plants produce milk for all Safeway stores in Oregon, Southwest Washington, and parts of northern California. Safeway's plant in San Leandro, CA had already been rBST-free for two years.
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. is a chain of restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada specializing in burritos and tacos, founded by Steve Ells in 1993 and based in Denver, Colorado...

has also announced it will serve rBST-free sour cream
Sour cream
Sour cream is a dairy product rich in fats obtained by fermenting a regular cream by certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, which is introduced either deliberately or naturally, sours and thickens the cream. Its name stems from the production of lactic acid by bacterial...

at its restaurants.
Kroger
Kroger
The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...

has banned rBST-derived milk from all its stores (including its subsidiaries such as Ralphs
Ralphs
Ralphs is a major supermarket chain in the Southern California area and the largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger. It is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Ralphs also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. names in California.-History:Ralphs Grocery Company...

) as of February 2008,
Publix
Publix
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Lakeland, Florida.Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, it is an employee-owned, privately held corporation. Publix is currently ranked No. 86 on Fortune magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 and was ranked No...

announced it has been rBST-free since May, 2007.
Braum's
Braum's
Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Stores is a family-owned and operated chain of fast-food restaurants and grocery stores based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with a large concentration on dairy products....

has also issued a press release stating its milk is rBST-free.
Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

Company has as of January 2008 made all dairy in beverages rBST free.
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

and Sam's Club
Sam's Club
Sam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. , the Sam's Club chain serves more than 47 million U.S. members...

stores featured artificial-hormone-free "Great Value" brand milk, but did not label it as such in 2008.
Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's is an American ice cream company, a division of the British-Dutch Unilever conglomerate, that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream novelty products, manufactured by Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc., headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont, United...

ice cream uses milk and cream from dairy farms that have pledged not to use rBST.
Tillamook County Creamery Association
Tillamook County Creamery Association
The Tillamook County Creamery Association is a dairy co-operative headquartered in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The association's main facility is the Tillamook Cheese Factory located two miles north of the city of Tillamook on U.S. Route 101.The Tillamook factory hosts over a million...

, a co-operative made up of 110 dairy farms, in 2005 asked all of its members to cease use of bovine growth hormone.

Monsanto has responded to this trend by lobbying state governments to ban the practice of distinguishing between milk from farms pledged not to use rBST and those that do. According to The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, a pro-rBST advocacy group called Afact has been most active in these lobbying efforts.

Thus far, a large-scale negative response to legislative and regulatory efforts has kept state regulators from pushing through strictures that would ban hormone-free milk labels, though several politicians have tried, including Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

's (see the Pennsylvania section above) agriculture secretary Dick Wolff, who tried to ban rBST-free milk on the grounds that it would alleviate consumer confusion. Proposed labeling changes have been floated by lobbyists in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

and Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

. So far, however, this effort has been unsuccessful.

External links

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