Americans may chuckle when they remember Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her call to eradicate cow flatulence as part of her utopian Green New Deal, but the globalists weren’t kidding. Mandates for the chemical feed additive Bovaer took effect on Oct. 1 in Denmark. Farmers there face fines if they do not add Bovaer to their cow feed, but many are reporting declining milk production, mastitis (bacterial infection), and even the need to euthanize cows downed by the chemical “cure” for climate change.
A Bovine Dystopia
It is a scheme one would expect in a Robert Heinlein or Aldous Huxley novel: unelected globalist forces raise a Greta Thunberg-amplified alarm that the world faces The End if corporations do not urgently concoct chemical innovations to force-feed cows and prevent their greenhouse gas emissions from cooking the planet. Readers of such a fictitious text are aware that the Big Brother plan is nefarious and read on in awe that human proles could be deceived into such folly. How will the story end?
Bovaer is in use in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration approved it for use in cattle on May 28, 2024, stating, "FDA has no questions at this time regarding whether Bovaer will achieve its intended effect and is expected to pose low risk to humans or animals under the conditions of its intended use." The “intended effect” is to reduce methane emissions from cows.
The premise of climate change is based on sketchy science, yet cows and the food supply are being put at risk around the world to meet the “Global Methane Pledge” to reduce “anthropogenic methane emissions” 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Cows have been burping methane for thousands of years, and the overall levels attributable to their fermentation processes have remained essentially stable over time. But this has not stopped globalist rulers from demanding an urgent rescue from “cowgenic” stomach churnings using laboratory creations.
‘Safe and Effective’?
Manufactured by the multinational companies DSM-Firmenich and Elanco, Bovaer is composed of silicon dioxide, propylene glycol, and 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP). Propylene glycol is used in human foods (and antifreeze); 3-NOP is a skin irritant, corrosive to the eyes, and potentially harmful to inhale – but apparently fine if first passed through a cow’s gut. Farmers are promised that the product is “safe and effective.”
The corporate plug isn’t that farmers will save the planet by dosing their cows with Bovaer, but that they will make money by selling carbon credits. Elanco states glowingly on its website:
“Every dairy could use additional, diversified income. That’s where Bovaer® from Elanco comes in. Bovaer is one of the most scientifically researched and recognized methane-reduction feed ingredients globally. Bovaer provides an access point for dairy producers to be financially rewarded for reducing their dairy’s carbon footprint by decreasing their herd’s enteric methane emissions.”
As Danish farmers report, what is decreasing is their herd’s milk production. Additionally, they face increased veterinarian bills, the need to euthanize cows, and government fines if they report the discontinuation of the magic methane powder. The only sure profit stream appears to be for the government-subsidized Bovaer peddlers.
Cows Are the Victims
Critics of this experimental regimen argue that supposed environmental benefits are outweighed by potential threats to human health, harms to bovine fertility (research in rats has shown decreased sperm production and motility), and unethical treatment of defenseless animals. The nonprofit journal Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law warned that Bovaer could inflict adverse long-term effects on animal welfare and food quality, and that the lack of labeling requirements in foods means that “consumers are unwittingly participating in a global experiment.”
The journal suggested that commercial interests, not climate concerns, are driving the rapid push to mandate Bovaer:
“This issue is compounded by the increasing pressure on farmers to adopt the use of Bovaer or face potential financial penalties via manipulated carbon credit systems. Such coercion represents a direct attack on free markets and individual choice, pushing farmers into economically and ethically compromising situations.
“Bovaer is potentially part of a larger effort to control food production, reduce the population, and dominate industries. The focus on centralized, industrial farming techniques, combined with efforts to eliminate independent food producers, aligns with a broader agenda of monopolization and control.”
Whatever the long-term effects and motives might be, the short-term experience of Danish farmers does not bode well for Bovaer. One Danish farmer reported six dead cows in the month since the mandate took effect; other farmers are circulating petitions to lift the edict. Those who had suspended the use of the synthetic feed additive reported that their cows had rebounded, but when they resumed Bovaer, the animals became sick again. Cows are not climate change culprits: corporations and their globalist frontmen are.
Author John Klar and his cow. (Photo credit Liberty Nation News)
You know how this story ends if you have read George Orwell’s Animal Farm. If humanity does not rise against its would-be rulers, future generations will be enslaved with no voice — just like the cows.
