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.
