Bovaer is a chemical added to cattle feed that reduces the animals' ability to produce methane and is being trialled as a tool in the battle against climate change.
Methane is a greenhouse gas, absorbing more energy than carbon dioxide, and is responsible for 30 per cent of the current rise in global temperature according to the International Energy Agency. With 1.5 billion cattle in the world producing over 100 million tonnes of methane annually through burping and farting (US Environment Protection Agency), there is an urgency to reduce these emissions.
Why are people throwing milk down the drain?
However, some misinformed politicians and irresponsible online commentators have claimed that Bovaer is dangerous to humans.
Extreme conspiracy theorists have even suggested Bovaer is being deployed to reduce human fertility and control the global population. There have been Tiktok videos of people destroying butter and milk in protest, and Arla Foods, the Multinational dairy company trialling Bovaer, has taken out an injunction to prevent protests at its offices.
What is Bovaer?
Bovaer is the brand name for the chemical 3-nitrooxpropanol (3-NOP). About a quarter of a teaspoon is added to a cow's feed per day. The chemical temporarily inactivates an enzyme in the cow's rumen where it digests food, reducing methane production.
Is Bovaer safe?
So why have some people complained about Bovaer, to the point of destroying products and staging demonstrations? When advising the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) on the application to trial Bovaer in 2022, the Animal Feed and Feed Additives Joint Expert Group (AFFAJEG) and Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs (ACAF) found that, in its pure form at the manufacturing state, the additive “should be considered corrosive to the eye, a skin irritant and potentially harmful by inhalation”.
However, it pointed out that Bovaer is not harmful at the point it is fed to the animals. The joint report concluded that the “it is not a cause for concern... the additive poses an acceptable risk to the environment... and based on three long-term trials can be considered efficacious for reducing methane production in ruminants”.
The FSA also assessed more than 58 studies where the additive was found to be safe. It states that the additive is metabolised by the cows and does not pass into the milk, being broken down into compounds that are already naturally present. In short, there is no basis for the wild claims being bandied around on social media. However, the scientists have conceded that more can be done to communicate these issues clearly.
Prof Robin May, the chief scientific adviser at the FSA said: “The overwhelming response we saw from the public was confusion rather than jumping on board. The more communication and transparency the better.”
The organic and regenerative farming community point to alternative methods for reducing methane in cattle. Studies such as that by Dr Elizabeth Hart at Aberystwyth University reveal that grazing cows on mixed pastures of grasses, herbs and legumes provides a more digestible diet than cows raised on feed or on monocultures of rye grass, reducing methane emissions by 22 per cent.
Could this be another weapon in the fight against climate change?
