I'm glad the Trib chose to cover the Pennsylvania milk-hormone labeling story on Page 1 and in great detail ('Got hormones?,' Nov. 19 and PghTrib.com).

Here is a perfect storm of state ineptitude and cronyism, both hallmarks of Pennsylvania government.

I doubt that 'BST-free' or 'organic' products have any special benefits, but that isn't the point.

In a free country, one might let dairies that want to use the BST hormone in milk production fight it out in the market with smaller competitors that wish to label their products 'BST-free.' But this is Pennsylvania, where the state Department of Agriculture finds it necessary to actually prevent us from knowing whether the hormone was even used!

Whose interest does that serve? Corporate dairies, and the hormone producer Monsanto, certainly. The Monsanto spokesman thinks we're too stupid to know whether BST makes any difference and so we are to be spared the strain of thinking about it.

State Agriculture Secretary Wolff thinks BST-free might be offered at an 'unjustified higher price.' News flash, Mr. Secretary; if it costs too much we just won't buy it!

If our government worried more about its output of BS rather than BST, we'd all be better off.

Bob Simeone
Shadyside