瘦肉精在美国的大量使用。ZT
Banned in 160 Nations, Why is This Growth Hormone inU.S. Meat? You may never want to eat pork againThe fabulous taste of bacon is more popular than ever. But if you areeating conventionally-produced bacon or other pork products, chances are greatthat you are consuming ractopamine, a livestock growth altering drug sodangerous that 160 countries around the world havebanned its use.
Not the U.S. though, where this chemical additive has been given the greenlight by the FDA, in spite of the fact that it endangers livestock and farmworkers as well as consumers.
Although the EU and Asia have banned ractopamine, estimates are that 80% ofhogs produced in the U.S. and a lesser number of beef cattle are treated withthe drug. In fact since 2013, Smithfield Foods a former U.S. company andthe world’s largest producer of pork products, isnow working for China and Russia producing ractopamine-free pork.
（注意：美国使用瘦肉精生产的猪肉大量销往中国和俄罗斯？）『大汗』『怕怕』
Of course some of Smithfield’s remaining U.S. plants still spit outractopamine-laced products for American consumption. Smithfield refersto these as delivering “differentiated products to meet customerspecifications.”
Why the FDA Says This Growth-Altering Drug is OK for AmericansThe use of ractopaminenets pork producers more cash for each hog they sell because it directsnutrients away from the production of fat deposition in favor of production oflean meat, which weighs more.
Read: Bannedin 27 Countries, Monsanto’s rBGH Contaminates U.S. Milk
Since hog producers selling their animals for slaughter are paid by thepound, this adds up. It can put an extra $10 in a producers pocket for eachanimal raised, which can translate to an additional $400,000 per year for thoserunning fairly large operations.
The National Pork Producers Council is a powerfullobby for those who grow hogs, with its 20 members spending asmuch as 1.3 million dollars annually during the implementation of ractopamine inpork. It also generously donatesto strategic political campaigns. The groups current agenda appears to begetting countries who have banned ractopamine to reverse their ban.
What are the Hazards of Ractopamine?The important thing here is that feed for both hogs and cattle containsractopamine right up until it’s time for the animals to be slaughtered. There is absolutely noclearance time mandated, as there is with other drugs so thatthose chemicals can be flushed from the animal’s body.
The reason? If the traditional clearance time of two weeks for drugs inanimals used for food were observed, the effects of ractopamine would be lost,as the animals would lose their extra weight gain during the clearanceperiod.
As a result, animals fed ractopamine go to slaughter with maximum amounts ofthe drug in their bodies. This mean that when you eat their meat, youtoo will contain maximum levels of ractopamine.
Ractopamine is a beta-agonist, a class of drugs that in humans binds tobeta-receptors on cardiac and smooth muscle tissues and creates stimulation.This is probably why heart palpitations can follow the eating of a hamsandwich.
There have been no long term studies done to assess whether ractopamine issafe or not, and the consequences of long term human consumption areunknown.
A studypublished in 2014, though, found that ractopamine could be found in the lung,spleen, heart, liver, muscle tissue, plasma, and brain of rats after theyreceived a small dose intravenously.
Interestingly, the feed additive containing ractopamine comes with a warningthat individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special cautionto avoid exposure. Those who mix and handle it are cautioned to use protectiveclothing, impervious gloves, protective eyewear, and NIOSH approved dustmasks.
Feeding Ractopamine is Cruelty to AnimalsHogs and cattle fed with ractopamine become so muscle-bound that they walklike arthritic old men, and they must be beaten to get them to go down the chuteto slaughter. Ractopamine can also cause profound sickness and death in animals,along with agitation, shortness of breath, trembling, and lameness. Having todeal with ractopamine-fed animals jeopardizes workers, placing them in the lineof injury or death.
Cris Birky, owner of Birkyfarms has discontinued the use of ractopamine in feed afterthe extreme agitation of the animals got to him. His animals became irritableand aggressive, and posed a threat to anyone working with them. Death and injury of the animals was frequent. He says:
“When we would move pigs or load them for market, we had to be socareful. Any stress at all and pigs would turn purplish and shake and sometimesyou might lose one to a heart attack …Just seeing what effect it had on theanimals was plenty of reason not to feed it , for their sakealone…The pigs I saw, didn’t like what it did to them, and neither didI.”
The Humane Society, the Center for Food Safety, the United Farm Workers andothers have recently filedsuit against the FDA to ban ractopamine from the food supply.Stay tuned.
Ractopamine is a feed additive to promote leanness in animals raised for their meat. Pharmacologically, it is a beta-adrenergic agonist. It is the active ingredient in products known as Paylean for swine and Optaflexx for cattle, developed by Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company, for use in food animals for growth promotion.
Ractopamine use has been banned in most countries, including the European Union, mainland China and Russia while 27 other countries, such as Japan, the United States, Canada, and South Korea, have deemed meat from livestock fed ractopamine safe for human consumption.
Commercial ractopamine is a mixture of all four possible stereoisomers
引用方舟子的科普文章（我知道方舟子名声很臭，但毕竟也是博士，科普做得还是很好的）
“瘦肉精是个俗称，是能够增加猪、羊、牛等动物瘦肉率的兽药的一个总称。一般说的瘦肉精指的就是盐酸克伦特罗，在所有国家都禁止使用。
但实际上，有的瘦肉精是比较安全的，比如莱克多巴胺，有20多个国家都允许合法使用莱克多巴胺增加动物的瘦肉率。莱克多巴胺毒性较小、用量也很小，半减期很短只需4个小时，代谢得比较快。停药一两天以后，就基本上没了，所以是比较安全的，目前来说没有发现吃了使用莱克多巴胺的猪肉有人出问题的。当然，有一个限量，美国规定检测出来的量不能超过50个PPB，这是一个很保险的量，超过了未必会中毒，低于它就肯定不会中毒。瘦肉精的名声太臭了，所以只要是瘦肉精我们全部都禁止，不管安全不安全，我觉得这主要是一个误解。
为什么要使用？原因一：我们提供了一个安全合法的瘦肉精，那么养猪户就没必要去用不安全的非法瘦肉精了，就可以把盐酸克伦特罗市场给去掉了。如果两种瘦肉精都是非法的，那我干嘛不用比较容易得到的便宜一点的盐酸克伦特罗。如果你允许使用莱克多巴胺，绝对禁止盐酸克伦特罗，那这些人就没必要冒这种风险了。原因二：瘦肉精能够增加肥猪的瘦肉率，这对健康有好处，因为肥肉里的脂肪酸能够增加心脑血管疾病的风险。
所以应该是提倡使用安全的瘦肉精的，而且至少在20多个国家是已经合法使用的，没有出过事故。” 对这个行业有一点了解，据说，瘦肉精如果控制在某个标准，是不影响人的健康的。但，要控制和监管，需要技术和投入成本，而且容易出现漏洞，所以，国内一刀切就全禁止了。现在美国加拿大的厂家也有全部推出非瘦肉精猪肉的趋势，原因主要跟市场有关。 在中国，制度开一个小口子，就可能引来洪水滔天。
就像酒后开车的问题。安省G牌是允许喝一点酒的。但是同样的规定要是放在中国，规定可以喝一瓶啤酒开车，很多人就敢喝十瓶。索性都禁了了事。
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