What's in the Beef?

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Oct, 2001 by Rose Marie Williams

"Meat kills. It is the number one cause of death and disease in America," states Howard Lyman, a fourth-generation cattle rancher and co-defendant with Oprah Winfrey in a legal suit brought against them for making disparaging remarks about meat to a televised audience. [1] A charismatic man and a powerful speaker, Mr. Lyman gave up cattle ranching following a serious illness. An avowed vegan and author of the eye-opening book, Mad Cowboy, Mr. Lyman now travels extensively sharing his story and promoting a plant-based diet.

Instead of asking, "Where's the beef," as popularized by media ads for a fast food chain, we should be asking, "What's in the beef?" The answer will be none too pleasant.

Pesticides

Nearly all the meat in America is contaminated with toxic chemicals applied directly to livestock and to animal feed. Unlike crops grown for human consumption, crops grown for cattle feed have no limits on the amount of pesticides that can be applied. About 80% of the pesticides used in the US is applied to four major feed crops -- corn, soybean, cotton, and wheat. Banned pesticides such as the notorious DDT, are persistent in the environment and continue to contaminate food crops. [2] Because the toxins bioaccumulate, the consumer is exposed to greater concentrations of pesticides when eating meat than from eating plant food.

Dioxin

Dioxin, a by-product of the modern industrial age, actually consists of a family of 75 toxic chemicals. Considered to be among the most toxic of substances known to man, it has been referred to as the Darth Vader of chemicals by one researcher. Because of its persistence in the environment and its ability to travel long distances, it is recognized as a global menace. Dioxins have been implicated in heart disease, endometriosis, immune dysfunction, diabetes, thyroid disorders, reproductive and birth defects. [3] In the early 1990s the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that approximately 95% of human exposure to dioxin comes primarily from eating red meat, fish and dairy products. [4]

Fast

Today's meat is not quite the same thing it was fifty years ago. Dr. John R. Lee, himself a vegetarian, explains that range and pasture-fed beef accumulate oleic/acid fatty acid for energy storage, making beef a highly prized food item. [5]

The agricultural industry has changed dramatically over the years. Modern beef production uses castrated steers penned in tightly packed feedlots, fed a diet of sorghum (high-sugar waste from sugar mills) and grain to quickly add fat before slaughter. The muscles of these animals produce stearic acid fat, which promotes elevated cholesterol and especially LDL in those who eat it. [6]

Animal fat has been transformed from good -- to bad -- to toxic. We now know that all the chemical pesticides and other toxins to which meat animals are exposed, concentrate in their fat. Modern agricultural practices are designed to produce meat with greater marbling for improved tenderness and flavor. In 1991, a 36-country study reported a strong and direct correlation between consumption of dietary and animal fat and the incidence of prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer and breast cancer. [7] The more animal products we consume, including all dairy items, the greater is our toxic burden. Eating organic meat and dairy products reduces this toxic load.

Antibiotics

Meat animals are routinely treated with antibiotics to control sickness and disease, and to make the animals grow faster. Penicillin, tetracycline, drug-resistant bacteria and countless other substances are routinely found in America's meat supply. Livestock consumes 50% of all the antibiotics used in the US, leading to new virulent strains of bacteria that are resistant to all modern antibiotics.

In an effort to reduce antibiotic resistance, the European Union now permits only four antibiotics to be used on livestock, which are excluded from use in human health care. No such restrictions exist in this country. [8] Meat and poultry produced in the US are so contaminated with antibiotics and hormones that the Europeans would rather deal with trade sanctions than eat our meat. [9]

Reproductive Hormones

Since 1995 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed the use of implanted hormonal agents in beef cattle. "These include the female hormones estradiol and progesterone; norgestomet, a synthetic progestin; the male hormone testosterone; and the synthetic anabolic steroids, zeranol and trenbolone." [10] The FDA does not require a withdrawal period prior to slaughter for any of the above, despite the fact that estrogens given' directly to livestock, and pesticides in feed, are increasingly recognized as causing estrogen dominance in humans. [11,12] Former National Cancer Institute (NCI), director of endocrinology, Ray Hertz, recognized this problem in the 1980s, and warned of the carcinogenic risks of upsetting the delicate ,balance for hormonally sensitive tissue. [13]

Estradiol, the hormone most commonly used to "fatten" cattle, is a potent cancer-causing estrogen. The FDA insists that any residues in meat fall within the "normal" range and require no further testing. However, confidential industry reports reveal high hormone residues in meat products. Dr. Epstein admonishes that "the entire US population consumes, without any warning, labeling, or information, unknown and unpredictable amounts of hormonal residues in meat products." [14]