Controversial Animal Drug at Heart of International Trade Dispute
A drug fed to an estimated 80 percent of pigs in the U.S. has sickened or killed more than any other livestock drug on the market. A U.S. Supreme Court vote struck down a law to keep such “downer” animals out of the food supply.
From the Food and Environment Reporting Network
February 2, 2012
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The animal feed additive, ractopamine hydrochloride, is fed to an estimated 60 to 80 percent of pigs in the United States.
GLENDA POWERS/FOTOLIA.COM
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New York, NY—The animal feed additive, ractopamine hydrochloride, widely used in the United States to promote rapid growth in livestock, has become the focus of a long-running international trade dispute that centers on concerns about its effect on human health, reports Helena Bottemiller in “ Dispute over drug in feed limiting US meat exports,” published today on msnbc.com. The story was produced by the Food & Environment Reporting Network and can be found at msnbc.com and Food and Environment Reporting Network.
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“Although few Americans outside of the livestock industry have ever heard of ractopamine, the drug is controversial,” Bottemiller writes. “Fed to an estimated 60 to 80 percent of pigs in the United States, it has sickened or killed more of them than any other livestock drug on the market, Food and Drug Administration records show. Cattle and turkeys have also suffered high numbers of illnesses from the drug.”
Bottemiller reports that after the drug was introduced, USDA meat inspectors reported an increase in the number of “downer pigs”—lame animals unable to walk. The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously struck down a California law that had sought to keep downer livestock out of the food supply. It overturned the lower court’s ruling on the grounds of federal preemption.
The report explains that ractopamine, which has not been proposed for human use, mimics stress hormones, making the heartbeat faster and relaxing blood vessels. In animals, it revs up production of lean meat, reducing fat. Pigs raised on it produce an average of 10 percent more meat, raising profits by $2 per head. The drug is fed to animals right up until slaughter and minute traces of it have been found in meat.
