A PRIMER ON BEEF HORMONES
February 24, 1999
The Issue
The U.S.-EU dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over hormones used for cattle growth promotion around the use of six scientifically approved hormones: estradiol, melengestrol acetate, progesterone, testosterone, trenbolone acetate, and zeranol. All six have been used without negative effects on public health in the United States and many other countries for decades. The clear international scientific consensus is that these approved and licensed products are safe when used in accordance with good veterinary practice. Even the EU’s own scientists agree with these findings.
What Are Hormones?
Hormones are produced throughout the lifetime of every man, woman and child, and are required for normal physiological functioning and maturation. Three of the hormones in question-- estradiol, progesterone and testosterone -- are naturally occurring hormones produced by all humans and food animals. The other three substances -- trenbolone acetate, zeranol and melengestrol acetate (MGA) -- are synthetic hormones: trenbolone acetate mimics testosterone, zeranol mimics estradiol, and MGA mimics progesterone. Hormones are produced by all animal and plant species to regulate growth.
Why Use Hormones?
The six hormones are approved and can be used safely for growth promotion. The use of hormones provides several benefits in beef production. A hormone-treated animal gains weight more rapidly, producing a more flavorful and tender product. By reaching market weight sooner, there is a reduction in the cost of beef production. Thus, consumers are provided with a higher quality of meat at lower prices.
A Record of Safety and Effectiveness
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been thoroughly researching the effects of growth hormones since the 1950s. FDA and other scientific experts have found that there is essentially no difference between beef from animals raised using hormones and those raised without their use. On all occasions of testing, the six hormones have always been found to pose no measurable or adverse health effects.
There is a clear world-wide scientific consensus supporting the safety of these approved and licensed hormones when used according to good veterinary practice. This consensus is reflected in the 1984 and 1987 Lamming Committee reports-- the scientific expert group commissioned by the European Community; the 1987 Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food (CC/RVDF), the Codex Alimentarius Commission; the safety assessments of FDA and comparable institutions in many countries throughout the world; and most recently by the assembly of the world's foremost experts on the subject at the 1995 Scientific Conference convened by the European Commission. The world's scientific community has agreed that estradiol, melengestrol acetate, progesterone, testosterone, trenbolone acetate, and zeranol are safe when used according to label directions in food-producing animals.
The United States has an extensive regulatory control system to ensure the proper use of these hormones. The U.S. system includes comprehensive food safety standards that are based on sound, internationally-recognized scientific criteria. The FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) work together to provide consumers with a safe food product by ensuring the proper use of hormones in cattle.
An important factor ensuring that hormones are used safely is the way in which they are applied. FDA regulations allow the use of hormones only in the form of implants, which have very specific instructions on proper usage. Each implant contains a specific, legally authorized dosage of the hormone. The implant itself is inserted into the ear, which is discarded at slaughter and does not enter the human food chain. With an implant, the hormone is released into the bloodstream very slowly, so that the concentration of the hormone remains relatively constant and very low. USDA provides educational programs for producers and veterinarians that provide instruction in the proper use of hormones.
Furthermore, the prescribed dosage is the level which produces the maximum economic response in the animal -- the law of diminishing returns -- so that there is no economic incentive for a farmer to use additional implants. A U.S. control system ensures that animals taken to slaughter have normal hormone levels. Thus, farmers have no incentive, economic or otherwise, to misuse the implants.
Beef Hormones in Perspective
The hormone levels in beef produced using growth promotants are well within the range of natural levels of these hormones. Beef from a bull (which is not castrated and to which hormones have not been administered) contains testosterone levels over ten times higher than the amount in beef from a steer (which is castrated) that has received hormones for growth promotion. Since the European beef market is predominantly bull-sourced, while American meat is steer-sourced, American hormone-treated beef generally contains lower levels of hormones than most European beef.
To put this issue into perspective, it is important to remember that many foods contain significant levels of hormones. The fact is consumers are exposed every day to foods with far higher hormone levels than those found in any beef from animals treated with hormones. For example:
