Beef Hormones & GMO’s “Are We What We Eat?” IMAN 625 Spring 2012 B. Ellis E. Kang J. Missun Introduction and Background Since the 1950s, the United States (U.S.) has been using growth hormones in beef production because the hormones “allow animals to grow larger, leaner and more quickly on less feed (Hanrahan & Johnson, 2010),” thus reducing production costs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have approved hormone- injected beef and uphold their stand that eating hormone-fed beef has no adverse physiological affect on humans (Hanrahan & Johnson, 2010). However, the European Union (EU) has a different opinion. The EU has been banning the use hormones in their livestock since 1981 (Hanrahan & Johnson, 2010). Since the early 1980’s the U.S. and EU has engaged in a long standing disagreement over the EU’s decision to ban hormone treated beef. There have been several rulings that have been decided by the World Trade Organization (WTO); however, the EU continues to ban the import of hormone treated beef from the U.S. The EU has specific concerns with the genetically modified organisms (GMO's) that are being introduced to foods that are processed and distributed to the public. Cinnamon Carlarne from the University of Arkansas explains that the EU is concerned over GMO's due to a new unknown biotechnology and the variables that are associated with introducing the GMO's to human food (Carl ...
Purchase document to see full attachment