By Dr. Mercola
Meat—and beef in particular—is a mainstay of the traditional
American dinner. Unfortunately, the vast majority of it is
filled with harmful additives of one form or another, and is
raised in such a way that it contributes to the degeneration
of health...
This is no minor concern, as most of the animals are also fed
genetically engineered feed that is loaded with the potent
herbicide glyphosate that winds up in your body.
I am so convinced of the cumulative harms of consuming meat
from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations
(CAFO’s) that the ONLY type of meat I recommend eating (and the
only meat I will eat myself) is organically-raised, grass-fed or
pastured meats and animal byproducts.
This applies to all types of meat: beef, pork, and poultry,
including turkey. In a recent article published by the
Cornucopia Institute,1
investigative health reporter Martha Rosenberg discusses the
questionable yet widespread use of ractopamine in American
animal farming.
According to Rosenberg, the controversial drug is used in as
many as 80 percent of all American pig and cattle operations.
It’s also used in turkey farming.
FDA Sued for Withholding Records Pertaining to Ractopamine
Safety
Ractopamine is a beta agonist drug that increases protein
synthesis, thereby making the animal more muscular. This reduces
the fat content of the meat and increases the profit per animal.
The drug, which is also used in asthma medication, was initially
recruited for use in livestock when researchers discovered that
it made mice more muscular.
Interestingly enough, stubborn weight gain is also common
complaint among asthma patients using Advair (a beta-agonist
drug)—so much so that the manufacturer has added weight gain to
the post-marketing side effects. Other adverse reactions to
beta-agonist drugs include increased heart rate, insomnia,
headaches, and tremors.
Beta-agonist drugs, as a class, have been used in US cattle
production since 2003. The drug is administered in the days
leading up to slaughter, and as much as 20 percent of it can
remain in the meat you buy.
This is disconcerting when you consider that the drug label
warns: "Not for use in humans,” and “individuals with
cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid
exposure.”
While other drugs require a clearance period of around two
weeks to help ensure the compounds are flushed from the meat
prior to slaughter (and therefore reduce residues leftover for
human consumption), there is no clearance period for
ractopamine.
In an effort to get this dangerous additive out of American
meat products, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and Animal Legal
Defense Fund (ALDF) recently sued the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for withholding records pertaining to
ractopamine’s safety. As reported by Rosenberg:2
“According to the lawsuit, in response to the groups’
requests for information “documenting, analyzing, or
otherwise discussing the physiological, psychological,
and/or behavioral effects” of ractopamine, the FDA has only
produced 464 pages out of 100,000 pages that exist.
Worse, all 464 pages have already been released as
part of a reporter’s FOIA...
CFS and ALDF have spent over 18 months meeting with
the FDA and seeking information about the effects of
ractopamine on “target animal or human liver form and
function, kidney form and function, thyroid form and
function” as well as urethral and prostate effects and
“tumor development.” The lawsuit says the CFS has “exhausted
administrative remedies” and that the FDA has “unlawfully
withheld” the materials.”
Why is Ractopamine Banned in 160 Countries?
Ractopamine is banned from food production in at least 160
countries around the world, including countries across Europe,
Russia, mainland China and Republic of China (Taiwan), due to
its suspected health effects. Since 1998, more than 1,700 people
have reportedly been "poisoned" from eating pigs fed the drug.
If imported meat is found to contain traces of the drug, it is
turned away, while fines and imprisonment result for its use in
banned countries.
While Americans are largely unaware that the drug is even
used, many other nations seem to be far better informed. Fear
that the ractopamine ban might be lifted brought thousands of
demonstrators onto the streets in Taiwan last year, demanding
that the ban remain in place.
In February of this year, Russia issued a ban on US meat
imports,3
warning it would remain in place until the US agrees to certify
that the meat is ractopamine-free. As reported by Pravda,4
Russia is the fourth largest importer of US meats, purchasing
about $500 million-worth of beef and pork annually. At present,
the US does not even test for the presence of this drug in meats
sold, even though animal research has linked ractopamine to:
- Reductions in reproductive function
- Birth defects (Canadian researchers5
found that, in rats, the drug produced a variety of birth
defects, including cleft palate, protruding tongue, short
limbs, missing or fused digits, open eyelids, jaw
abnormalities, limb abnormalities, and enlarged heart)
- Increase of mastitis in dairy herds
- Increased disability and death
In both pigs and cattle, FDA reports6
links the drug to: excessive hunger, anorexia, bloat,
respiratory- and hoof problems, lameness, stiffness, stress and
aggression, and—again—death. In fact, of all reported side
effects, death topped the list as the most reported problem
associated with ractopamine...
Ractopamine is also known to affect the human cardiovascular
system, and is thought to be responsible for hyperactivity. It
may also cause chromosomal abnormalities and behavioral changes.
According to the Russian news source Pravda,7
the drug may cause food poisoning, and Center for Food Safety
(CFS) states that8
“[d]ata from the European Food Safety Authority indicates that
ractopamine causes elevated heart rates and heart-pounding
sensations in humans.”
“Two cousin drugs of ractopamine, clenbuterol and
zilpaterol, cause such adrenalin effects in humans they are
banned by the Olympics,” Roesenberg writes.9
“Cyclist Alberto Contador failed a Tour de France
anti-doping test in 2010 for levels of clenbuterol which he
said he got from eating meat. Clenbuterol has been banned or
restricted in meat after human toxicities. “The use of
highly active beta-agonists as growth promoters is not
appropriate because of the potential hazard for human and
animal health,” wrote the journal Talanta.10”
Zilmax—An Even More Dangerous Beta Agonist Drug Used in
Livestock?
Zilmax (Zilpaterol) is another beta-agonist drug used in
cattle to increase weight by as much as 30 pounds of lean meat
per cow. The drug recently got a slew of bad press when, in the
beginning of August, Tyson Foods Inc declared it would no longer
buy Zilmax-fed cattle for slaughter, due to concerns over
behavioral problems in some of the cattle.11
Zilmax is already banned for use in horses due to severe side
effects, including muscle tremors and rapid heart rates that can
last as long as two weeks after stopping the drug.12
It’s not a major stretch to imagine similar problems might occur
in cattle... Zilmax is actually about 125 times more potent than
ractopamine, and according to a 2008 veterinary report,13
this may be why side effects were overlooked in connection with
ractopamine studies.
Merck, the manufacturer of Zilmax, has no plans on
discontinuing the product however. After responding to Tyson’s
decision by stating it would halt US and Canadian sales of
Zilmax pending research and review, the company recently told
Reuters14
that it is in fact pushing to bring the drug back to market,
both in the US and Canada. The company says it stands behind the
safety of the drug and is working on developing a quality
control program to “ensure its proper use.”
The problem though is that even with proper use you’re likely
to end up with drug-laced meat. According to Randox Food
Diagnostics,15
which has created tests for Zilmax residue in beef, use of
beta-agonists prior to slaughter is of particular concern “as
this poses a risk to the consumer and may result in consumer
toxicity.” (Remember, Zilmax is about 125 times more potent than
ractopamine, making this drug an even greater concern in the
large scope of things.) Research findings to this effect
include:
- A 2003 study in Analytica Chimica Acta:16
Residue behaviour of Zilmax in urine, plasma, muscle, liver,
kidney and retina of cattle and pig was assessed. Two
heifers and 16 pigs were treated with Zilmax and slaughtered
after withdrawal times varying from 1 to 10 days. The drug
was detectable at each point of time examined in all
matrices except plasma after a withdrawal period of 10 days.
It’s worth noting that in the US, the recommended market
window is three to 10 days after discontinuing Zilmax17
- A 2006 study18
on residues of Zilmax in sheep found detectable levels in
liver and muscle tissues up to nine days after
discontinuation of the drug
Do Beta-Agonists in Meat Pose Human Health Hazards?
According to an article published in the Journal of Animal
Science in 1998,19
there’s data on “human intoxication following consumption of
liver or meat from cattle treated with beta-agonists.” The
authors write:
“The use of highly active beta-agonists as growth
promoters is not appropriate because of the potential hazard
for human and animal health, as was recently concluded at
the scientific Conference on Growth Promotion in Meat
Production (Nov. 1995, Brussels).”
Before it was approved for use in American livestock,
scientists worried that illegal use of beta agonists could
result in increased cardiovascular risk for consumers.20
Today we don’t have to worry about eating illegally
treated meat, since these drugs are approved and widely used,
but should we be concerned about cardiovascular health risks
from non-organic meat products? I feel it would be foolhardy not
to...
Glyphosate Contamination—Another Hidden Hazard in CAFO Meats
The true toxicity of glyphosate—the active ingredient in
Monsanto’s broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup—is becoming
devastatingly clear, and it has far-reaching ramifications for
the entire food system. Research published last year21
showed that Roundup is toxic to human DNA even when diluted to
concentrations 450-fold lower than used in agricultural
applications, and ethoxylated adjuvants in
glyphosate-based herbicides have been found to be “active
principles of human cell toxicity.” Cell damage and even cell
death can occur at the residual levels found on Roundup-treated
food crops, and the chemical has also been found to have
estrogenic prT.
The reason I bring this up here is because factory farmed
animals are fed a diet primarily made up of grains like corn and
soy—and whether those grains are genetically engineered or not,
they’re likely to be contaminated with glyphosate. Once an
animal has been raised on glyphosate-contaminated feed, its meat
is bound to be of inferior quality. More so than any other
contamination hazard, I believe glyphosate-contamination may be
one of the most pressing concerns when it comes to eating CAFO
meats and animal byproducts. Besides the potential for
bioaccumulation of glyphosate, the chemical has a distinct
adverse effect on the animal’s
gut bacteria, and hence its overall health.
Monsanto has steadfastly claimed that Roundup is harmless to
animals and humans because the mechanism of action it uses
(which allows it to kill weeds), called the shikimate pathway,
is absent in all animals. However, the shikimate pathway IS
present in bacteria, and that’s the key to understanding how it
causes such widespread systemic harm in both animals and humans.
Groundbreaking research published this past June suggests
glyphosate may actually be the most important factor in
the development of a wide variety of chronic diseases,
specifically because your gut bacteria are a key component of
glyphosate’s mechanism of harm. The same applies to animals that
eat feed contaminated with this agricultural chemical. If the
animal is chronically ill, how beneficial can you expect its
meat to be for your own health?
How to Protect Yourself and Your Family from Potentially Harmful
Foods
If you live in the US, it’s important to realize that
antibiotics, pesticides, genetically engineered ingredients,
herbicides like glyphosate, hormones, and countless other
drugs—such as beta agonists discussed above—are allowed in your
food. Most people make the mistake of thinking that “beef is
beef,” or that one slab of pork is no different from another,
not understanding the vast differences between factory farmed,
so-called CAFO, meats, and meats from organically-raised
pastured animals.
While pastured, grass-fed meats and animal products are
typically nutritionally superior, it’s perhaps what these meats
DON’T contain that can have the greatest impact on your and your
family’s health—especially your children, since we’re then
talking about the cumulative effect over a lifetime, including
the developmental stages.
Organically-raised animals are not permitted to be given
growth-promoting drugs, hormones, or antibiotics. They also
aren’t fed genetically engineered ingredients. Cattle, for
example, eat a natural diet of grass, not genetically engineered
corn contaminated with pesticides... In short, organic foods are
FAR “cleaner” in terms of additives and contaminations, and that
applies across the board, from fruits and vegetables to animal
products.
It all boils down to this: if you want to optimize your
health, you must return to the basics of healthy food choices.
If you want to avoid these questionable drugs and other
potentially harmful ingredients permitted in the US food supply,
then ditching processed foods is your best option. Put your
focus on WHOLE organic foods -- foods that have not been
processed or altered from their original state -- food that has
been grown or raised as nature intended, without the use of
chemical additives, drugs, hormones, pesticides and fertilizers.
This is the answer to a vast majority of our current health
crises.
It is not nearly as daunting a task as it may seem to find a
local farmer that can supply your family with healthy, humanely
raised animal products and produce. At LocalHarvest.org,22
for instance, you can enter your zip code and find farmers'
markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown
food in your area, all with the click of a button. Once you make
the switch from supermarket to local farmer, the choice will
seem natural, and you can have peace of mind that the food
you’re feeding your family is as safe as it will probably ever
get.
For a step-by-step guide to make this a reality in your own
life, whether you live in the US or elsewhere, simply follow the
advice in my
optimized nutrition plan, starting with the
beginner plan first.
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.