Livestock Being Fed a Drug Dangerous to People

by Tara Lohan · 2010-02-11 09:30:00 UTC
Topics:

pigAs if there weren't already enough concerns about food safety, a new investigation by Martha Rosenberg reveals that the FDA has approved the use of a drug in livestock that has been banned in 160 countries and should raise some serious questions about its effect on people's health.

The culprit, Rosenberg writes, is something known as beta agonist ractopamine, which was actually first designed to treat asthma but was picked up by the industrial meat industry after it was found to cause mice to build more muscle.

And while giving livestock antibiotics and hormones is not uncommon in concentrated animal feeding operations, those drugs are tapered off before slaughter. But ractopamine is actually first begun right before an animal is going to be killed.

How prevalent is it?

Rosenberg writes that the drug is used in 45 percent of pigs in the U.S. and 30 percent of feedlot cattle. Another reason to eat meat produced by farmers who don't administer unnecessary drugs to their livestock. Or not to eat meat at all.

There's also ample reason to be concerned about how the drug affects people who eat animals treated with ractopamine. Rosenberg writes that the drug is actually marked, "Not for use in humans. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask." Because animals are given the drug so close to the time of slaughter, questions about its effects on consumers are that much more pressing. And there's also the issue of water contaminated with manure runoff that may end up in our wells, rivers and streams.

It should also be added that it's not just humans who are at risk, the drug has been documented to have adverse effects on the animals, including a 10 percent mortality in pigs.

And who do we have to thank for such risks? Corporate lobbyists, Rosenberg details in her article. The offending company is Elanco Animal Health, which manufactures three versions of the drug: Paylean for pigs, Optaflexx for cattle and Tomax for turkeys.

Photo credit: Denzil~ via flickr

Tara Lohan is a senior editor at AlterNet.org where she heads up the environment, water, and food sections. Her work has appeared on the websites of The Nation, Mother Jones, the Huffington Post and in Yes! Magazine.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Pigging Out to Save Heritage Hogs
NEXT STORY:
Join the Social Media Day of Action to Rid Girl Scout Cookies of Forest-Destroying Palm Oil

COMMENTS (1)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.