The Brazilian agriculture ministry is being asked to ban the use of rBST. According to a report in Food Chemical News, the Brazilian Consumer Defense Institute (Idec) is basing a new offensive on rBST on recent research suggesting it may be linked to higher rates of twins in women who regularly drink milk.

Consumer advocates, animal welfare proponents and environmentalists have joined Idec’s cause. The coalition’s chances of winning an rBST ban increased considerably in October when sympathetic members of Brazil’s House Environment Committee Coalition leaders are capitalizing on concerns over Brazil’s tarnished livestock sanitation image abroad to argue that use of rBST will make it harder for Brazilian dairy products to penetrate premium foreign markets.

If Australia, Canada, the EU or Japan restricts imports of dairy products from animals administered rBST, the opposition coalition will have a considerably greater chance of gaining a ban on its use.