by Dan O'Connor

Abstract
The FDA has been hotly contested in its stand on growth hormone use in livestock. The United States government has legalized the use of six steroids to increase milk and meat production in cattle. Estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone are naturally occurring hormones in both humans and cattle. Melengestrol acetate, trenbolone acetate, and zeranol are synthetically produced hormones designed to mimic progesterone, testosterone, and estradiol respectively. All six of these hormones have been rigorously tested over many years in laboratory tests, and the overwhelming majority of these tests have found that none of these hormones are harmful to the animal or the humans eating them.

The USDA and FDA has been very careful in setting strict regulations on the use of cattle growth hormones. With proper regulation, the meat and milk industry can produce hormone treated beef and dairy that is no more dangerous than natural products. The FDA considers careful, unbiased scientific studies when setting healthy hormone limits for use in livestock. These limits allow farmers to safely raise large steers quickly, with a higher investment return to ensure both supply and demand is sufficiently satisfied in a competitive economic marketplace.

What are growth hormones and why do we need them?
Hormones used in beef and veal production, called anabolic agents, are used to promote growth in body tissues so that livestock can reach a high slaughter weight quickly. The three natural hormones used in meat production, estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone, are biologically occurring substances in both animals and humans. The other three legal hormones used in meat production, melengestrol acetate, trenbolone acetate, and zeranol are artificially produced in laboratory environments. While the three natural anabolic agents are more readily used in the animal’s body than their artificial counterparts when used properly, but they are more costly and difficult to produce, since they can only be derived from animals. Both the natural and artificial hormones have proven to be very effective at speeding up animal growth and improving farm efficiency.

In order for the animal to effectively absorb and utilize any hormone added to its system, the hormone cannot be ingested orally. Instead, farmers implant a small, time-release pellet on the back of the animal’s ear to directly introduce the hormone to the animal’s bloodstream. Often times these pellets last about 180 days and allow the animal to more completely use the nutrients ingested in food for muscle growth. Since the animal efficiently uses all of the nutrients it intakes, it grows much faster and allows farmers to produce more meat in a shorter amount of time.

Often times farmers will choose to castrate their male cows, changing them from bulls to steers, because steers are much more docile than bulls, and require less maintenance than their reproductive brethren. Also, the meat from steers is generally more desirable than bull meat because it is more tender and marbled than bull meat. However, bulls grow much faster than steers, and require less feed to reach a fully developed weight. Anabolic agents can reduce or even elimate the difference in growth rates between steers and bulls, resulting in more desirable meat at lower prices for consumers.

Legal Issues
Governments from around the world use independent laboratory test results to determine the legality of using anabolic agents in meat production. The United States government has legalized the use anabolic agents based on hundreds of lab studies over many years that have found these hormones to be safe for animals and humans. The Food and Drug Administration treats all anabolic agents used in meat production the same as new human drugs that are being introduced into the market. They all undergo very rigorous reviewing before being approved for use in the general public.

The FDA and the American meat industry carefully work together to ensure the American public is not put in danger from the use of anabolic agents. First, the FDA conducts numerous tests to determine the limit for safely using anabolic agents in animals.

FDA limits hormone residues in meat to no more than 1 percent of the daily natural level produced by the most sensitive segment of the population, that is, those people who naturally produce the smallest amount of the hormone in question. For example, FDA sets this number—called the “hormonal no-effect” level—for estrogens based on the daily production of prepubertal boys, who are the lowest producers of estrogen and the most likely to be affected by that hormone. (Kenney)

Once the FDA has set the “no-effect” level for a particular hormone, they then add a margin of safety to the no-effect level to ensure no piece of meat approaches an unsafe level. Even after a margin of safety is added to a particular hormone no-effect level, producers of the hormones only sell products that are well below the level set by the FDA.

Other governments have implemented laws that ban the use of anabolic agents in all meat production. In Fact, the European Union completely banned the use of anabolic agents in meat production, and banned the importation of any beef product from countries where their use is legal (such as the United States). However, numerous scientific studies conducted in Europe, as well as other parts of the world, have found that bans on the use of anabolic agents are overly cautious and unnecessary. “In 1996, the World Trade Organization found the European Union ban on all U.S. beef as non-compliant with the WTO rules. In 2002 an EU member state published a study that said the EU ban was not based on sound science”(Kenny). The EU’s ban on anabolic agents used in meat production has resulted in a thriving black market for illegal, and sometimes unsafe, hormones for use in livestock. The U.S., on the other hand, has carefully monitored the use of legal hormones, and has developed a marketplace where farmers have very little incentive to use illegal and unsafe substances in their animals that could lead to health issues, or even death, for humans and animals.

Health Issues
The biggest issue many people have with using anabolic agents in livestock stems from the potential health implications associated with using these products. However, hundred of independent laboratory research studies have found that when used in the correct dosages, these growth hormones pose no risk to human health. When used correctly, “concentrations of the hormones in edible tissues remain within the normal physiological range that has been established for untreated animals of the same age and sex”(Kenny). This means eating meat from a cow that has been treated with any of these hormones is almost identical to eating the meat from a naturally raised cow. The difference in hormone levels between the two animals is so miniscule it can be considered completely negligible. Another example shows “a person would need to eat over 6 kilograms of beef from animals treated with these hormones in order to equal the amount of those hormones in one egg”(Primer).

Anabolic agent regulations set in place by the FDA keep health and safety as their prime concern by setting limits on the hormone residue based on the most sensitive part of the population. “Even a young boy would need to eat more than 7000 grams (about 16 pounds) of beef raised using estradiol daily in order to produce a one percent increase in his production of [estrogen]”(Primer). Once the most sensitive segment of the population is considered, the FDA then adds an additional margin of safety onto their hormone regulations to ensure no piece of meat even approaches the healthy hormone limits found for anyone.

There has been recent speculation about whether or not these unnatural hormones can cause cancer after extended exposure. Scientists have found “high levels of hormone residues in meat can promote carcinogenic activity already inherent in the human body, but they are not themselves carcinogens”(Kenny). The levels of hormones approved for use in the United States are nowhere near the dangerous levels found in these scientific studies. Therefore, it can be concluded that anabolic agents used in meat production are not carcinogenic. Hormones have been used legally for years in the United States, with no negative health consequences directly linked to hormone treated meat.

Economic and Environmental Issues
“A U.S. ban on anabolic agents would probably translate into an annual loss of about 2 billion pounds, carcass weight, or about 13 percent of beef production”(Kenny). Without anabolic agents, the supply of beef in the United States would be much lower than what it is today; translating into much higher prices on beef in grocery stores. The higher prices of beef would then shift some of the demand to other forms of dietary protein, raising the prices of meat such as poultry and pork, which do not use hormone growth therapies.

Using anabolic agents greatly increases the growth rate of steers, which not only results in greater meat production, it also significantly increases the feed efficiency of the steers. The steers require less feed, and fewer fields across the country need to be used for livestock feed.

The current hormone regulations enacted by the FDA are designed to have the maximum economic returns for farmers. Therefore, there is no economic incentive for farmers to increase the dosage given to their livestock to unsafe levels. Also, a ban on all anabolic agents in the U.S. would mean the meat industry would lose more than one billion dollars annually. Farmers would be out of jobs, and again the prices of meat would skyrocket. Anabolic agents allow the U.S. meat industry to flourish while providing consumers with inexpensive meat for their families.

Conclusions
The meat industry in the United States should be allowed to continue using anabolic agents in meat production. The FDA has legalized these drugs for a reason. They have run hundreds of tests to determine the safety of these drugs, and have found no health reasons for discontinuing their use. The FDA continues to run these tests, even today, and if a safety problem is ever discovered, they will immediately discontinue the use of these drugs in our country. However, since current hormone regulations limit the amount of residue found it meat to be so low, even the most sensitive segment of the population is completely unaffected by the hormone use.

Hormone use in this country is very important to the economic viability of the current grocery marketplace. If hormone use were to be discontinued, the price of meat would skyrocket, and would further limit food choices for underprivileged families. Not only would the price of beef rise, but also the demand for other types of meat would cause all meat prices to rise significantly. Farmers would lose billions of dollars in income every year and many farmers would have to choose different occupations to feed their families.

The current regulations on hormones are well thought out and ensure the public is safe from any potentially harmful chemicals. They also conserve the livelihood of workers in the meat industry by bringing additional profits into their homes. The use of hormones is completely safe and should not be discontinued in the United States.