A growing issue in the world today is the use of antibiotics and growth hormones in animal production industry. However, for over sixty years Americans have been exposed to hormones on a regular basic when they consume beef. (Organic Consumer Association) On average eighty percent of all feedlot cattle are given hormones to help them grow at an increased rate. (Communication Foundation) “In 1988 the European Union banned the use of all hormone growth promoters.” (Organic Consumer Association)
Today farmers use six anabolic steroids in various combinations. “Those anabolic steroids are osetradiol, progesterone, testosterone, zeranol, trenbolone, and melengestrol.” (Communication Foundation) There are three natural steroids that are used as well. The natural steroids are estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone. Also used are three synthetic hormones which include estrogen compound zeranol, andgrogen trenbolone acetate, and progestin melengestrol acetate. (Organic Consumer Association) However, when hormones are given to cattle some of the naturally occurring hormone levels could go up seven to twenty times the normal level. Scientists have growing concerns about the use of the hormones.
The scientists are concerned with the hormones use and their impact of the environment. The scientists are also concerned with the hormones being excreted in the manure. The scientists say, that the hormones that are going into the can be found in the soil and the water supply.(Communication Foundation) The scientists also say that the hormones being used are affecting human development through the human reproductive system.
“High levels of hormones can cause problems in the human body, but can hormones we ingest really alter our hormone level...
... middle of paper ...
...t. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Pub., 2006. Print.
"Hormones." Communications Foundation. N.p., 2013. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. .
Kellems, Richard O., and D. C. Church. Livestock Feeds and Feeding. 6th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
Laliberte, Richard. "Growth Hormones in Beef and Milk." WeightWatchers.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. .
Swan, S.H., J.W. Overstreet, C. Brazil, and N.E. Skakkebaek. "Growth Hormones Fed to Beef Cattle Damage Human Health." Growth Hormones Fed to Beef Cattle Damage Human Health. N.p., May 2007. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. .
Taylor, Robert E., and Thomas G. Fields. Scientific Farm Animal Production in Introduction to Animal Science. 8th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 200
In a study conducted by Louis J. Guillette Jr. of the University of Florida and Ana M. Soto of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, hormonal activity of water from sites located both upstream and downstream of feedlots in Nebraska were tested by adding the water samples to cells that “react in various ways to hormonal steroids” (Raloff, 2002, para 17-18). The study (as cited in Raloff) found that:
Pollan’s words, “You are what what you eat eats, too”, got me thinking about how not only am I eating my food, but I am also eating what my food ate (Pollan 84). For example, when I eat a hamburger, I’m not only eating cow meat and bread, but I’m also eating what the cow ate, which is now mostly corn and antibiotics. When I first learned that cows are mainly eating corn and antibiotics, I was appalled. Though many may say that animals are being fed antibiotics to combat all sorts of disease, an article written by Sabrina Tavernise, who wrote for the New York Times, even states, “Farmers learned that antibiotics helped animals grow rapidly, and they began to add the drugs to feed and water, with no prescriptions or sign of sickness in the animals” (Tavernise 2014). The main reason for cows being fed all of these antibiotics isn’t simply because the animals are sick. Instead the animals are being fed these drugs because these drugs apparently help shorten the amount of time for animals to be sent to slaughter
Speed, in a word, or, in the industry’s preferred term, “efficiency.” Cows raised on grass simply take longer to reach slaughter weight than cows raised on a richer diet, and for a half a century now the industry has devoted itself to shortening a beef animal’s allotted span on earth… what gets a steer from 80 to 1,100 pounds in fourteen months is tremendous quantities of corn, protein and fat supplements, and an arsenal of new drugs. (71)
In 1936, scientists discovered the use of antibiotics for treatment of human diseases; people couldn’t stop talking about it. Before antibiotics, if a family member had an incurable disease like tonsillitis, scarlet fever, or cholera, the only hope they had would be to consult a priest to pray for their loved ones and to hope their god would do the rest (Morton 22). After the discovery, the infectious diseases that frightened everyone were then curable and manageable. Antibiotics started being used worldwide and people were ecstatic. The spread of antibiotic use was unstoppable; dentist even started using antibiotics for post treatments. Farmers realized that pumping their animals with antibiotics would prevent diseases and deaths. This led to factory farms (CAFOs) and the use of growth hormones. 10 years after the discovery of antibiotic use in humans there was also the discovery that genes were able to be transferred between organisms. It was said these GMOs (genetically modified organisms) could be altered in a positive way; for example, to up nutrition content in a product (National Research Council 89). In 1984 the first product of a GM food went on the market: the Flavr Savr tomato. The wide use of antibiotics lead to overuse, and people and animals started to become antibiotic resistant; therefore, they were unable to utilize the drug if they needed to because their bodies would reject the drugs therapeutic intent (65 Health Risks of GM Foods). After seeing the effect of the use of antibiotics in foods, people became hesitant towards the use of genetically modified organisms. The use of antibiotics, growth hormones, and GMOs are not healthy and...
Notaro, Kris. "The Crusade for a Cultured Alternative to Animal Meat: An Interview with Nicholas Genovese, PhD PETA." IEET. PETA, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. .
While the effects of steroids can seem desirable at first, there are serious side effects. Excessive use can cause a harmful imbalance in the body's normal hormonal balance and body chemistry. Heart attacks, water retention leading to high blood pressure and stroke, and liver and kidney tumors all are possible. Young people may develop and a halting of bone growth. Males may experience shrinking testicles, falling sperm counts, and enlarged prostates. Women frequently show signs of masculinity and may be at higher risk for certain types of and the possibility of birth defects in their children. The psychological effects of steroid use are also alarming: drastic mood swings, inability to sleep, and feelings of hostility. Steroids may also be psychologically addictive. Once started, users, particularly athletes, enjoy the physical "benefits" of increased size, strength, and endurance so much that they are reluctant to stop even when told about the risks. Major athletic competitions, including the Olympics, routinely screen athletes to prevent steroid use.
The endocrine system of animals is a main source of bioregulatory compounds. Hormonal actions regulate all aspects of animal life: reproduction and development, digestion, metabolism, behavioural responses etc. (Hertenstein 2006, Norris 2007). Hormones and glands of vertebrate and invertebrate endocrine system differ in structure and function, but their main regulatory role remains conserved. However, the balance among the environmental clues, hormonal signals and organisms’ responses can be easily disturbed. One of the causes of this disturbance is the presence of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC’s) in the environment.
During recent years, numerous newspaper and magazine articles have suggested that humans may be at risk because small amounts of well known environmental contaminants, such as dioxin, PCBs and DDT, can affect hormone levels. Hormones are produced by the endocrine system as regulators of biological function in target organs. Because hormones play a critical role in early development, toxicological effects on the endocrine system often have an impact on the reproductive system. The term endocrine disruptor is used to describe chemicals that can mimic hormones and may either enhance or counteract their effects. It has been suggested that these hormone changes can, in turn, lead to a variety of health problems including cancer, decreased fertility, and abnormalities in newborns.
William, S, and J.r Brockington. "Animal Farm." EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. Salem Press, n.d. Web. 9 June 2011. .
Ironically and rather unfortunately, the present situation is that while the poor nations of the world are starving their own populations to produce and export beef, the rich, who are able to afford beef, are dying from diseases. Rifkin has several chapters dedicated to the host of illnesses those beef eating individuals are susceptible to. The titles include, “Sacrifice to Slaughter,” "Cows Devour People, “and "Marbled Specks of Death." One point he makes is that because of the widespread use of antibiotics among the cattle industry, the “human population is increasingly vulnerable to mor virulent strains of disease-causing bacteria” (12). Rifkin further attests that beef, but ranks second as the food posing the greatest cancer risk. The reason is simple: beef is the most dangerous food for herbicide contamination and ranks third in insecticide contamination. Eighty percent of all herbicides in the United States are sprayed on corn and soybeans which are used primarily as feed for cattle and other livestock. When consumed by the animals, the pesticides accumulate in their bodies. The pesticides are then passed along to the consumer in the finished cuts of beef. Large feedlots have other sources of potential chemical contamination in beef including use of “industrial sewage and oils in feedlot mixtures and aerial spraying of insecticides on feedlot cattle” (13).
Cows are not worth raising because of the several problems revolving around them, along with the minimal health benefits they have. Arthur Knopf’s essay points out the health problems with dairy, but there is even more evidence to show alternatives to dairy can be increasingly beneficial. According to LiveScience contributor, Jessie Szalay, “if you buy calcium-fortified almond milk, the calcium levels will likely match or surpass cow’s milk.” Options that are more beneficial than cow’s milk should be explore instead of continuing to raise cattle. Knopf’s essay also mentions that cattle negatively effect the environment through methane and crop consumption, but there are several other ways that they are detrimental on the environment. One way
Swan, S.H., F. Liu, J.W. Overstreet, C. Brazil, and N.E. Skakkebaek. "Growth Hormones Fed to
Wasserman, S. A. 2008. Animal nutrition. In Campbell, N. A., Reece, J. B., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Jackson, R. B. (ed.), Biology, Rearson Benjamin Cummings. 1267pp. (ISBN: 9780321536167).
In April 2008 the In Vitro Consortium first met at the Norwegian Food Research Institute. The consortium is “an international alliance of environmentally concerned scientists striving to facilitate the establishment of a large scale process industry for the production of muscle tissue for human consumption through concerted R&D efforts and attraction of funding fuels to these efforts.”Meat in both its production and its consumption has a number of destructive effects on not only the environment and humans but also live stock. Some of these effects are antibiotic resistant bacteria due to the overuse of antibiotics in livestock, meat-borne pathogens (e. coli), and diseases associated with diets rich in animal fats (diabetes). Meat consumption all over the world is increasing making meat a global issue. As a result many researchers have been trying to create meat substitutes to minimize the impact of consumption. Substitutes, to date, have been made from soybeans, peas, or even from animal tissues grown in a culture.
The drugs given to the cattle or poultry do not fully break down in the digestive system in the livestock and the excrement has these remains in it afterwards. The effects are worse within the systems of the animals; deformities can occur with aviary livestock, such as crippling from leg and joint disfigurements. Rapid growth in chickens now cause the respiratory system, heart and lungs, to fail because both are not developed well enough to support the body it is attached to; which ends in expiry.* Diseases are produced by organisms that learn and build up immunities to affect other organisms and cause the victim to become in poor health; antibiotics used to in mass are a way that pathogens learn to build immunities just as humans use them to fight off disease. Subjecting our livestock to copious amounts of these drugs may make pathogens resistant to medicine used for ill humans. “Medical ... authorities have reached consensus that antibiotic overuse in animal agriculture is contributing to human public health problems.” * Human medical providers of all over the world agree that injecting livestock with antibiotics for the weight gain is instigating more hazardous diseases. The decision was made after studies made connections to human infections to drug-resistant pathogens from farm production