Juneau -- The Alaska House of Representatives Tuesday unanimously approved House Bill 110, which will permit farmers who chose not to inject their dairy cows with synthetic hormones to say so on their products' labels.

"It's important to note that this bill does not propose to ban the use of synthetic hormones, whose safety is still a subject of debate around the world," said Representative John Harris (R-Valdez), sponsor of HB 110. "It does, however, provide a reasonable compromise by giving a choice to those consumers who would prefer to buy synthetic hormone-free products."

In a 1996 poll commissioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 94 percent of the 1,900 respondents said they favored labeling of milk to indicate whether the cows producing that milk had been injected with a synthetic hormone called rBST. The federal government, anticipating that states would adopt labeling regulations, has provided interim guidelines giving detailed description for the complex labeling required.

"Twenty-six states have already adopted labeling regulations and statutes," Harris said. "HB 110 permits farmers, if they so choose, to note that they have not used the synthetic hormones. It also provides that anyone falsely labeling milk products as 'hormone-free' is guilty of a misdemeanor."

HB 110 now moves to the Senate.