by Dr. Joseph Mercola, Mercola:
Story at-a-glance
- Chemical fixes take center stage — Big Ag pushes a new synthetic additive Bovaer to “fix” cow burp methane emissions while sidelining sustainable farming solutions
- With Bovaer, cows are consuming a daily dose of silicon dioxide, petroleum-derived propylene glycol, and synthetic compounds — but at what cost?
- The corporate-controlled research raises red flags, with alarming findings about cow health and potential long-term human impacts
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- Altering cow digestion disrupts an ancient, balanced carbon cycle, introducing risks we don’t fully understand
- Methane emissions from synthetic nitrogen production are vastly underestimated, yet Big Ag remains silent
DSM-Firmenich, a Dutch chemical giant, has developed Bovaer — their answer to cattle methane emissions and climate change.1 The company claims that just a quarter teaspoon of this feed supplement per cow daily reduces methane by 30% in dairy cattle and 45% in beef cattle. But in today’s article let’s look deeper at what’s really driving this “innovation.”
The Corporate Push
DSM-Firmenich is projected to rake in $13.86 billion in 2024. The Bovaer would cost roughly $0.30 per cow per day (plus labor costs for feed mixing). Targeting just 10% of the global dairy cow population would generate $2.85 billion in revenue.
Despite the marketing hype, only about 100,000 cattle worldwide currently receive Bovaer, with a similar product, Agolin, used in 150,000 U.S. cattle — a fraction of the global 260 million dairy cows. However, Bovaer has secured approvals in the EU, Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand.
A recent FDA approval for U.S. dairy cattle in May 2024 reveals the expanding corporate agenda. Elanco Animal Health has partnered with DSM-Firmenich to distribute the additive, with plans to extend into the beef market after widespread dairy cow adoption.
Rather than working with natural solutions, this approach attempts to artificially alter cow digestion through chemical intervention. Each cow must consume 10 to 22 grams of this synthetic compound daily — adding yet another industrial product to our food system.
As we will discuss, the long-term consequences of manipulating natural digestive processes remain to be seen. Questions worth asking:
- Why are we pursuing expensive technological fixes instead of supporting sustainable, natural farming methods like regenerative agriculture?
- What are the unknown long-term effects of chemically altering livestock digestion?
- Who really benefits from this “solution” — the environment, or corporate shareholders?
This isn’t about solving climate change — it’s about creating new profit streams by convincing farmers they need another expensive input. History shows us repeatedly: attempting to outsmart nature through chemical intervention often leads to unintended consequences that we only discover years later.
So How Does It Work?
Strip away the slick marketing, and here’s what we’re really feeding our cows: a synthetic chemical cocktail consisting of 60% silicon dioxide, 30% propylene glycol (a petroleum derivative), and 10% of the active compound 3-Nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP). For a cow receiving a typical 20-gram daily dose, that means consuming 12 grams of silicon dioxide, 6 grams of propylene glycol, and 2 grams of 3-NOP — every single day.
3-NOP works by modifying a fundamental digestive process in ruminants, one that has developed over a very long period of time to support their unique biology.
It blocks an enzyme called methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR), which methane-producing bacteria in the cow’s gut need to function. The company claims this process is harmless, with the compounds “safely breaking down” in the rumen. But let’s follow the chemical trail.
When 3-NOP breaks down, it produces nitrites and propionic acid. The company presents this as beneficial, but here’s what they’re not emphasizing: We’re fundamentally altering how cows process hydrogen byproducts. Instead of the natural methane pathway, we’re forcing their digestive systems to find alternative routes — routes that nature didn’t intend. Unanswered questions:
- What happens to accumulated hydrogen when its natural pathway is blocked?
- How do these daily doses of silicon dioxide and petroleum-derived propylene glycol affect long-term health?
- What are the long-term consequences of forcing bacterial communities to adapt to new metabolic pathways?
Even researchers studying methane inhibition admit to “substantial gaps” in understanding “the intricacies of hydrogen flow within the ruminal ecosystem.”2 Yet we’re meant to trust that disrupting this complex system daily won’t have consequences?
The synthesis of 3-NOP isn’t a natural process — it’s industrial chemistry at its core. The compound is created using industrial chemicals like silver nitrate and acetonitrile, with 3-bromo-1-propanol as the starting material. This synthetic molecule is then mixed with silicon dioxide and petroleum-derived propylene glycol to create the final product.
