Home > Politics, News & Issues > Environmental Issues > Food & Agriculture
Should the U.S. ban the use of hormones in meat and dairy?
Results so far:
| Yes | 69% | 96 votes | Total: 139 votes | |
| No | 31% | 43 votes |
Yes
by Nanette Piotrowski
Created on: March 02, 2010 Last Updated: March 03, 2010
If European countries and others like: Norway, Switzerland, New Zealand and Japan have refused to use growth hormones in their cattle and cows since 1988 and banned US beef imports since that time, why are we continuing the practice?
It must be because 'Big Pharma' and 'Big Agriculture' would lose out on billions of dollars. Two-thirds of American cattle are injected to make them 'grow faster' with a compound called rGBH.
Dairy cows have been given a genetically-engineered hormone called rBST to increase milk production since 1993. The six-compound rGBH also called Posilac for beef and rBST for dairy cows (made by Monsanto, Elanco and now Eli Lilly), comprises three natural hormones: oestradiol, progesterone and testosterone and three steroids: Zeranol, Trenbolene and Melengestrol.
What this 'drug' does is cause dairy cows severe mastitis (infection of the udder), which is transferred to the milk and causes deformed calves. This is not to discount breast, prostate and colon cancer in humans and early onset of puberty in girls. Anybody ever wonder why 14 year old girls look like they're 20? Is it any wonder that there has been a rise of these cancers in this country?
The USDA and the FDA claims that these compound are safe, however any research that has been done has been bought and paid for by consultants of pharmaceutical and agricultural communities.
The FDA refuses to stop the use of these compounds, putting the interest of the livestock industry over consumers safety. Dairy cows from 1950 produced 5,300 pounds of milk per year and today, it is 18,000 pounds per year.
If we can ban the use of steroids in athletes because of the medical repercussions, why is it so hard to ban the use in the food we eat or drink? It comes down to money and money only.
There is an alternative to drug induced cattle and cows. Buy organic only. You will find the meat is more tender and less chewy (no steroids, which makes the meat tough) and the milk will be safe for you and your children. WalMart carries a certified organic milk.
Write to your Congressmen/women and tell them you are concerned for the health and welfare of your family and what the industries are doing. If other countries have found these compounds to be dangerous and banned it, then we need to follow suit.
Sources:
Http://www.healthfreedomalliance.org
Http://www.sustainabletable.org
Learn more about this author, Nanette Piotrowski.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
No
by David Sjeklocha
Created on: February 28, 2010 Last Updated: March 01, 2010
Growth Hormones in Beef
The word “hormone” scares people. It conjures up concerns about infertility, cancer and other health issues. The use of growth-promoting hormones is possibly the most misunderstood and misrepresented issue in beef production.
Hormones: Growth-promoting hormones used in beef production include estrogens, trenbolone acetate (TBA, testosterone analog) and melengestrol acetate (MGA, progestin). Estrogens are the most commonly used.
Safety: Growth promoting hormones in cattle production have been declared safe by several scientific organizations worldwide. These would include the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization, the European Commission Agriculture Division and the Codex Committee on Veterinary Residues.
Hormone levels: Hormone levels are measured units called nanograms. A nanogram is one billionth of a gram. Three ounces of beef from a steer that was raised with growth promoting hormones contains 1.9 ng of estrogen.
Three ounces of beef from a steer that was not raised with growth promoting hormones contains 1.3 ng of estrogen. Three ounce servings of other foods would contain the following levels of estrogen:
Soybean oil 168,000,000 ng
Milk 11 ng
Potatoes 225 ng
Ice cream 520 ng
The human body naturally produces many hormones. Estrogen is just one of those hormones. Levels of estrogen in the human body would be as follows:
Non-pregnant woman 480,000 ng
Pregnant woman 3,415,000 ng
Man 136,000 ng
Male child (pre-pubertal) 41,500 ng
Female child (pre-pubertal) 54,000 ng
Further, in order to ingest the amount of estrogen in one birth control pill, a person would have to eat over 2900 pounds of beef from a hormone-treated steer in one day.
These numbers make it very clear that use of growth hormones in beef production is a very safe practice and the level of hormones received from beef is miniscule, at best.
Summary: Growth-promoting hormones used in beef production have been scientifically tested and proven to be safe. When compared to levels in other foods, or to levels naturally occurring in the human body, beef hormone levels are very low. Also, the use of these hormones helps to conserve our natural resources by improving the efficiency of beef production.
Learn more about this author, David Sjeklocha.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Write and get published
Share with other writers
Polish your freelancing skills
Quality articles from proven freelancers
Exclusive rights, fast turnaround
Brand engagement, business blogging -- our writers do it all
INFORMATION
Copyright © 2002-2012 Helium, Inc. All rights reserved.
Helium.com: A Service of RR Donnelley