Zilmax: Slaughterhouse Observations Raise New Concerns about This
Growth-Promoting Drug
November 05, 2013
Story at-a-glance
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Zilmax is class of non-hormone drugs recently used in animals to
promote growth. It, and others like it are fed to cattle in the
weeks prior to slaughter to increase weight by as much as 30
pounds of lean meat per cow
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Tyson Foods announced in September that it would stop buying
Zilmax-fed cattle for slaughter due to concerns about Zilmax
potentially causing health or behavioral problems for some
cattle
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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
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Before beta-agonsists like Zilmax were approved, scientists
worried that this class of drug could result in increased
cardiovascular risk for consumers
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Merck is actively working on getting Zilmax back on the US and
Canadian markets
By Dr. Mercola
One of the reasons I stress the importance of only eating
organic,
grass-fed beef is because animals raised in confined animal
feeding operations (CAFOs) are given unnatural inferior feed loaded
with antibiotics (i.e. grains instead of grass, and most of it
genetically engineered at that), along with a variety of veterinary
drugs.
Many of these drugs are administered for prophylactic purposes to
prevent illness, and others are given as growth promoters.
Zilmax (Zilpaterol) is one such drug. It’s a beta-adrenergic
agonist, also known as beta-agonist; a class of non-hormone drugs
used in animals to promote growth. It, and others like it are fed to
cattle in the weeks prior to slaughter to increase weight by as much
as 30 pounds of lean meat per cow. Beta-agonist drugs, as a class,
have been used in US cattle production since 2003.
While 26 countries currently allow beta-agonists in food
production, America’s use of such drugs, which also includes the
beta-agonist ractopamine, for promotion of growth and lean-meat
yield has created challenges in the global market, including current
trade barriers in Russia1.
Now, Zilmax is also causing trouble on our own turf. As reported in
the featured article2:
“Zilmax became the focus of attention in the livestock
industry after Tyson Foods Inc said on August 7 that it will
stop buying Zilmax-fed cattle for slaughter beginning next
month. Tyson, the biggest US meat processor, said it was
concerned about Zilmax potentially causing health or behavioral
problems for some cattle.
Merck's Animal Health unit announced on August 16 that it
would halt US and Canadian sales of Zilmax, pending additional
company research and review.”
Merck has no plans on discontinuing the product, however;
recently telling Reuters3
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.
Zilmax Causes Serious Side Effects in Horses, So Why Use It In
Cattle?
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 drug4.
It’s not a major stretch to imagine similar problems might occur in
cattle. According to a 2008 veterinary case report5
involving three horses that were given Zilmax:
“Within 90 minutes the horses had muscular tremors which
began in the skeletal muscles of the neck, shoulder, and foreleg
and spread throughout the visible skeletal muscles. Intermittent
visible muscular tremors continued for up to 1 week after the
initial dose of zilpaterol.
They also all had certain changes to their blood
chemistry, such as elevated BUN, creatinine, and glucose and
mild hyponatremia and hypochloremia... Liver and kidney changes
were also noted.”
Ractopamine, another beta-agonist, is yet another drug used in
the US, even though it’s been banned in 160 other countries due to
its potential health hazards. The researchers also noted that Zilmax
is about 125 times more potent than
ractopamine, saying this may be why side effects were overlooked
in connection with ractopamine studies.
In an email to Reuters, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
stated it had received “a very small number of reports of lameness
or lying down” in cattle that had been fed Zilmax6.
According to a Wall Street Journal7
report:
“A growing number of cattle arriving for slaughter at US
meatpacking plants have recently shown unusual signs of
distress. Some walked stiffly, while others had trouble moving
or simply lay down, their tongues hanging from their mouths.
Some even sat down in strange positions, looking more like dogs
than cows.”
Since the animals’ diet in general was unchanged, livestock
scientists started suspecting the suddenly odd behavior might be
associated with the addition of the beta-agonist drug, which has
only recently become widely used among cattle ranchers.
Is it Really Safe to Listen to “Experts” that Were Wrong Before?
Not surprisingly, conflicts of interest are rampant among
supporters of the drug, who oftentimes have direct ties to the drug
companies manufacturing it.
For example, Richard Raymond8,
the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) chief responsible for
promoting Zilmax is not only a paid food safety and public health
consultant for Elanco9,
the Animal Health branch of Eli Lilly that produces two ractopamine
products; he was also the chair of the US Codex Policy Committee,
which provides guidance to US delegations on the Codex Alimentarius
Commission.
Raymond has also been a defender of rbST/rbGH milk10,
11—another Elanco product12.
This artificial growth hormone has been banned in Canada, Europe,
Japan, Australia and New Zealand due to cancer risks and other
health concerns. Although it isn’t generally well-known, rbST is
connected to the beef industry, in that rbST also increases muscle
area and reduces fat thickness―basically what Zilmax does—as
described in a 2001 study13.
In an August 2, 2013 article14
penned for Facts About Beef, Raymond states he believes
beta-agonists can help improve global food security, seeing how the
drugs lead to six to seven pounds of additional meat per pig and 30
pounds of additional meat per market cow.
He also claims there’s no published data showing that beta-agonists
have an effect on animal welfare―despite the fact that such studies
do indeed exist, such as the one referenced above, published in the
Journal of Equine Veterinary Science in 200815.
Do Beta-Agonists in Meat Pose Human Health Hazards?
According to an article published in the Journal of Animal
Science in 199816,
there’s data on “human intoxication following consumption of liver
or meat from cattle treated with beta-agonists.” (In the case of the
beta-agonist clenbuterol, pharmacological effects might be expected
after consuming 100-200 grams of contaminated product.) 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).”
Similarly, before it was approved, scientists worried that
beta-adrenergic agonists illegally used could result in increased
cardiovascular risk for consumers17.
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? As for Richard Raymond, with regards to such questions of
safety, he writes, in part:
“It is... estimated that over 700 million pigs have been
supplemented with beta-agonists since its approval 14 years ago.
I am not an Ag Economist, but I can do the simple math that says
if each of those 700 million pigs produced an additional 6
pounds because of beta-agonist supplementation, that would be
over 4 billion additional pounds of pork, or put another way, an
additional 16 billion four ounce servings of protein.
As the former Undersecretary for Food Safety at USDA, I
also know that in those billions of servings of pork and beef,
not one single incident of a foodborne illness or side effect in
a human has been reported. That should make us feel confident as
far as human safety goes.”
My question is, since beta-agonist drugs do not affect biology in
the way a pathogen like, say, salmonella or E-coli might, just
how would you know that a meat product contaminated with drug
residue has affected your health? Especially if we’re discussing
about side effects like weight gain, or even heart- and
muscle-related problems similar to those experienced by horses?
Barring an acute reaction, how would you actually pin
beta-agonist side effects to any particular piece of meat in your
diet? This is why you need to perform scientific studies to assess
effects and risks. Clearly, to say that lack of foodborne illness
reports18
is a statement about the drug’s safety for use in food animals is
ludicrous, and I think he really should know better. But, for a lazy
reader, such a comment just might put them at ease.
It may be worth noting that, in humans, beta-agonists are used to
treat asthma, among other things. Interestingly enough, stubborn
weight gain is a 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 essential tremor. As you can see, these are
eerily similar to those experienced by horses, and it appears, some
cows.
According to Randox Food Diagnostics19,
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.”
Research findings to this effect include:
- A 2003 study in Analytica Chimica Acta20:
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 Zilmax21
- A 2006 study22
on residues of Zilmax in sheep found detectable levels in liver
and muscle tissues up to nine days after discontinuation of the
drug
What Should You do if You Don’t Want Drugs and Chemicals in Your
Food?
As the US agriculture industry now stands, antibiotics,
pesticides, genetically engineered ingredients, hormones and
countless other drugs are fair game in your food. So if you purchase
your food from a typical supermarket, you are taking your chances
that it’s teeming with chemicals and drugs -- even those that have
been
banned in other countries. So please, do your health a favor and
support the small family
farms in
your area. You’ll receive nutritious food from a source that you
can trust, and you’ll be supporting the honest work of a real family
farm.
It all boils down to this: if you want to optimize your health,
you must return to the basics of healthy food choices. Put your
focus on WHOLE organic foods -- foods that have not been processed
or altered from their original state, but rather grown or raised as
nature intended, without the use of chemical additives, drugs,
hormones, pesticides and fertilizers.
It’s as simple as that!
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, 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 possible.
We have to stop supporting our current CAFO practices for meat
production. If you'd like to read more about what the
damage to the organs that are well-known in processing facilities,
please read Harper's article, "The
Way of All Flesh".
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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