Imagine sitting down to dinner, at a 5-Star restaurant... you have a beautiful steak, seared to perfection... just before you take your first bite, the chef runs out and screams, "Wait! I forgot the best part!" As he says this, he pulls out six massive needles and injects your juicy steak with hormone steroids: testosterone, progesterone, zeranol, progestin melengestrol acetate, trenbolone acetate and estradiol. After injecting your steak with these drugs, the chef then pulls out twelve more needles and injects your steroid steak with chlortetracycline, procaine penicillin, oxytetracycline, tylosin, bacitracin, neomycin sulfate, streptomycin, erythromycin, linomycin, oleandomycin, virginamycin, and bambermycins.
Sound tasty? Dig in...
ALL of these hormones are used in conventional US Cattle...
Bigger cows means more money in the cattle ranchers pocket! Hormone implants, to promote faster growth, are common practice among cattle ranchers in the United States. In 1954, the first growth hormone was used in beef cattle. Today, over six different growth hormones are routinely used in cattle beef.
In the United States, not only do cattle ranchers use growth hormones throughout the life of the cattle, but cattle ranchers, routinely, inject their cattle with growth hormones, specifically, during the last 100 days of life to make them bigger. Bigger cows means more meat, which means more money. Who cares about the health of the person eating their meat, right?
Thanks, FDA...
Yes, the Food and Drug Administration actually approves all of these growth hormones. Head on over to the FDA's website to read all about their hormone approval process. You will see titles, such as, "Naturally occurring hormones". The FDA claims that it is OK to inject cows with the same hormones that are already naturally occurring in their body... because they are already naturally occurring anyway. Why not give them more? I think the FDA needs to research the term "natural".
I mean, we all know what happens to a human male that is injected with steroids "naturally" occurring in his body. Bigger, stronger, more aggressive behavior and, in a lot of cases, he can become extremely violent. Yup, that sounds really safe to eat. Thanks, FDA! I will pass...
Why Does This Matter?
Remember that first hormone that was injected into cows in 1954? It was called diethylstilbestrol, or DES. DES was approved by the FDA as a growth hormone for cows and humans. It is a synthetic version of estrogen. The FDA deemed this hormone as safe. Two-thirds of cattle were treated with this hormone in 1954. Fast forward to the 1960's and it was discovered that the hormone DES was causing vaginal cancer in girls... Not girls that used the hormone, but girls who's mothers were injected with the hormone and passed this synthetic hormone down to their daughters! Finally, in the 1970's the FDA, who once approved this hormone in livestock and humans, pulled the plug on its use! Again, Thanks, FDA...
The Dangers Do Not Stop There...
Introduction of synthetic hormones can cause faster puberty rates among girls. The problem with this is that faster puberty rates are linked to higher cancer rates! Early puberty (age 8 or younger) has been a concern and one study was conducted on girls that all reached purberty early... Guess what? Traces of zeranol were found in the girls blood, when an investigation was done by the Center for Disease Control. Zeranol is a common synthetic growth hormone used in cattle, not humans.
Please note: today, in the United States, 46% of girls reach puberty before the age of eight years old. In countries, like Europe, where growth hormones are banned in cattle beef, the average age of puberty is between 15-17 years old...
The Dangers Keep Going...
The Breast Cancer Fund states that Zeranol is responsible for abnormal cell growth, even when used at a thirty times lower dosage amount than what the FDA has approved. Furthermore, they state the zeranol hormone has the ability to transform healthy human breast cells to a pre-cancerous profile and transform healthy cells to breast tumors. Wow. Yet, the FDA is perfectly fine with allowing our little girls to consume milk and meat that has been routinely treated with this hormone... Again, treated at a rate THIRTY-TIMES HIGHER than what studies are showing to be dangerous.
And Going...
A study showed that hormone-laden beef consumption in mothers, while pregnant, caused low sperm count in the sons born to those mothers. Low sperm count means below the World Health Organization for subfertility. A control group was used, who consumed very little hormone-laden beef, and the sons born to those mothers had a 24.3% higher sperm count than average. Essentially, the growth hormones used in the cattle, which was then consumed by pregnant mothers (which the FDA states is safe!), caused subfertility in their children!
Note Worthy...
The European Union has banned the use of growth hormones in their cattle! In fact, US cattle beef is banned from even being used in Europe! Again, in Europe, the average age of puberty is 15-17 years old, whereas it is between 8-10 years old in the United States. That is all...
What Beef is Safe to Consume...
100% Grass-Fed cows are NOT treated with growth hormones. It is as simple as that!!
Think about that the next time you are looking at the prices of meat at the butcher counter. What is your health worth to you? What is your risk of breast cancer worth to you? or...What are your son and daughter's reproductive organs worth to you?
PRIMAL MOM
Dear Primal Mom - please take this false and 100% misleading post down. This is about total scare mongering and has no basis in factual, scientific information whatsoever. The only thing you have right is that the EU doesn't accept our beef - and that is ONLYs because of economic NOT an actual risk from hormones. If you are actually interesting in learning the truth about beef I would be more than happy to put in you touch with actual experts who know about beef cattle production. This post does a disservice not only to moms who are concerned about the wholesomeness and safety of the food they feed their children but also the hardworking farmers and ranchers who exhaust themselves trying to raise safe, healthy protein for the world.
ReplyDeleteDear Unknown Poster:
ReplyDeleteMy post was written based on studies conducted by the FDA, World Health Organization and other Reliable Sources, noted throughout the article. It is factual that Europe does not allow US beef that has been treated with growth hormones, which are still banned in Europe. I have absolute respect for our US farmers and cattle ranchers; however, they must stop using stimulants/hormones/steroids to treat their cows for profit, which are then passed on to the bodies of those that consume their dangerous meat. Thank you for reading my blog.
Thank you Primal Mom! We are in the DFW area as well, I would love to get to meet you and talk more about your food practices! We also only consume 100% grass fed ground beef. I think its so important for the information you have posted to get out to the mass public, not only is the cattle industry killing our bodies but it is also killing our planet. I just found your page today after my sister sent me a text with something you posted because she knows this is what our family practices as well, so excited to read through your blogs!
ReplyDelete