10 Things to never feed your kids - number 4

Growth Hormones

The culprits - Oestradiol, Progestorone, Testosterone, Zeranol, Trenbolone and Melengestrol. Although they may sound like the contents of A-Rods lunch box there is a good chance that everyone reading this will have consumed some or all of these steroids today if they have eaten any beef. 

The problems -The Fda approved the use of these 6 HGP’s ( hormone growth promotants)   It is estimated that 80% of all cattle and sheep are treated with these chemicals which promote growth, weight gain and redistribution of fat which makes for leaner meat. The health effects on humans is extensive. These natural and synthetic hormones are linked to increasingly early puberty in girls which has been on the rise for the past 50 years. The European Union has not approved them and US beef has been banned for sale in Europe since 1988. One particular hormone Estradiol 17 has been classified as a “complete carcinogen” by the EU which means it has both tumor initiating and tumor promoting effects.

A sinister side effect of their use is that a large amount of these hormones enters rivers and streams through their presence in the manure of the animal. This has been shown to cause changes in the aquatic life with male fish exhibiting female characteristics and vice versa. 

Another chemical compound allowed by the FDA has been in the news recently. Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH or rBST ) is a synthetic version of Bovine Somatropin which is the hormone responsible for milk production. To highlight it’s effectiveness consider this, a dairy cow in the 1950’s produced on average 5300 lbs of milk per year but today that total is over 18,000 lb’s. The estimate is that around a third of all dairy cattle are treated with this product. Once again this hormone is banned in the European Union, Canada, Japan and Australia because  it increases IGF 1 an insulin like growth factor which in high levels has been linked with colon, breast and prostate cancers.

Currently there is only one company approved by the FDA to supply rBST in the US and that is Elanco who sell it under the trade name of Posilac having bought it from Monsanto in 2008. It is estimated that the additional profit from using this product is equal to $100 per cow per year. Considering that there are approximately 10 million cows in the US translates to some big profits and a powerful lobby.

The solutions - Buy dairy products which are USDA organic which certifes that they contain no hormones and are now available in almost every national supermarket. Additionally new labelling has been introduced on milk and cheese recently which states that ” this product contains no rBST”.