Even when hormones are banned and illegal they might find their way in your
plate. Article seen in medscape endocrinology

jean-claude

US Agency Probes Illegal Hormone in Beef Export
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WASHINGTON, Feb 04 (Reuters) - The United States is still trying to
determine the source of an illegal hormone that Swiss government officials
found in a shipment of US beef, an Agriculture Department aide said on
Wednesday.

Beth Gaston, a spokeswoman for the Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS), said that the Swiss government found traces of diethylstilbestrol
(DES), a carcinogen, in two samples of US beef in July of this year. "This
is the subject of a joint FDA [US Food and Drug Administration] and FSIS
investigation," Gaston said. "We have no evidence that this is anything
other than an aberration."

The finding, reported on Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, has raised
questions about the effectiveness of the Agriculture Department's testing
for illegal hormones.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition and food safety
advocacy group, has urged that the results of the government's investigation
be turned over to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution.

The FDA banned the use of DES as a growth promotant in food-producing
animals in 1979. The FSIS stopped regularly testing for DES in its domestic
meat programs in 1991 to focus its resources in problem areas, Gaston said.
She added that the agency was planning to do a spot check for DES this year
as part of a regular rotation of testing for residues that are considered
less of a problem.

On the international front, FSIS tests for DES in its "additional residue
testing program" for the European Union and has found no residues.
Switzerland is not a member of the EU.

In its article, The Wall Street Journal said that the Swiss government had
barred shipments of beef from two US companies as a result of the DES
discovery.

Sherlyn Manson, a spokeswoman for Farmland National Beef Packing Co., one of
the firms, said that the company was investigating whether the beef might
have come from its plant in Liberal, Kansas. "We don't know that. That is
what's being alleged. We have been cooperating with USDA. They reviewed our
records 6 months ago," Manson said.

Farmland National Beef does not export beef to Switzerland or the EU, Manson
said. But it does sell beef to Bruss Co. of Chicago, the other firm
mentioned in the article and a subsidiary of IBP Inc., the largest US
beefpacker.

Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for IBP, said that neither the Swiss government
nor the US government has notified Bruss of any problems with product
shipped to Switzerland last summer. Bruss has "heard and seen secondhand
information" alleging some problem, but company records show "none of the
beef in question came from an IBP plant," Mickelson said.

Neither Mickelson and Manson would speculate on how DES might have shown up
in the shipments. "DES has been banned for 20 years, so this is an extremely
unusual situation," Mickelson said.

Farmland National Beefpacking also considers the finding an aberration. "We
can't imagine anybody [in the cattle market] would be using that," Manson
said.

CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson called the discovery "distressing."
He said, "Similar contamination could be present in beef consumed by
Americans. US consumers need immediate assurance that the beef they consume
does not contain that drug."