Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 39


     
     1        over the intakes of such things.
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:  So, the drugs that were banned or, effectively,
     4        outlawed in the late 80s, 1988/1989, but they are still in
     5        use in the USA, how widely were they used in the UK in the
     6        80s?
     7        A.  They were used quite widely.  Before that even, we had
     8        been using (and they were in the States) a drug called DES,
     9        and in this country we used hexestrol which is similar.
    10        Their use was banned before the others.  Then we banned in
    11        the Europe the five that I have mentioned.
    12
    13        There is now a problem with a group of drugs called beta
    14        agonists, beta adrenergic agonists, which are so-called
    15        partitioning agents.  They favour the formation of lean
    16        meat as opposed to fat which is the way the market wants
    17        the meat these days.  In Europe, this has become a
    18        scandal.  You may have read that a vet was murdered a month
    19        or two ago because he was investigating this.
    20
    21   Q.   That was not in the UK, was it?
    22        A.  No, that was in Belgium.  WHICH did do a test and made
    23        public -- WHICH, that is the Consumers' Association
    24        magazine -- did publish a month or two ago some tests of
    25        their own which were actually conducted in Belgium for
    26        clenbuterol residues in meat beef on sale on the British
    27        market, and they did find signs of it.
    28
    29   Q.   Let us just take these separately:  What are the concerns
    30        about the use of growth hormones in cattle for human
    31        health?
    32        A.  The danger is that they will come through in the meat
    33        or the milk and at excessive doses they will affect
    34        certainly sensitive members of the population, for
    35        instance, women in their reproductive years.
    36
    37   Q.   Is that an acute response from eating a large amount, or is
    38        that affected by the regularity that someone is consuming?
    39        A.  At the level we are talking about, it would be a low
    40        dose, chronic insidious effect.
    41
    42   Q.   Do you know what the reason was they were banned in Europe,
    43        these growth hormones?
    44        A.  It was concern of the effect that I have just
    45        mentioned, that they were not -- the authorities were not
    46        assured of the safety of those practices.
    47
    48   Q.   Is there any concern about -- I think you indicated
    49        something but I cannot remember what you said now --
    50        antibiotics for human health, the antibiotics in treatment 
    51        of animals and concern about human health in the humans 
    52        that eat that meat? 
    53        A.  You are using meat now.  Do you mean -- do you want me
    54        to confine myself to beef?
    55
    56   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, it would be advisable, given the evidence
    57        of Mr. Ashley Bowes which I have no doubt Dr. Long has
    58        read, that he should confine himself to beef.
    59
    60   MR. MORRIS:  We will deal with pigs in a minute.

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