Development & Aid, Food and Agriculture, Headlines, Health, Latin America & the Caribbean, Tierramerica

Hidden Poisons in Mexican Meat

Emilio Godoy* - Tierramérica

MEXICO CITY, Jun 21 2011 (IPS) - Serious concerns about industrial livestock production in Mexico have been raised once again by recent controversies over the use of the non-steroidal anabolic clenbuterol and a feed medicine for poultry containing aresenic.

Clenbuterol is a decongestant and bronchodilator prescribed for breathing disorders, but it also stimulates muscle growth, which is why it is used by livestock breeders to fatten poultry, cattle and pigs.

The United States and United Kingdom have banned it for human use because of its effects on the heart and lungs.

In Mexico “a culture of substance use has developed. Cattle breeders and fatteners want fast results, and the use of feed alone doesn’t lead to the kind of production yields they’re looking for. And butcher shops don’t buy meat from fatteners who don’t use clenbuterol,” Cosme Amaro, a cattle breeder in the southeastern state of Veracruz, told Tierramérica.

Clenbuterol is given to calves for three or four months beginning when they are seven months old. It accumulates in the tissues, and especially the livers, of cattle, pigs and chickens.

The amount of clenbuterol ingested by eating contaminated meat can surpass the usual medical dosage for humans, estimated at between 40 and 60 micrograms daily, though without exceeding 150 micrograms, according to the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). And because it is an anabolic agent, it is a banned substance for athletes.

At the 2011 Gold Cup championship of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), currently underway, five Mexican players tested positive for clenbuterol, allegedly as a result of eating Mexican meat contaminated with the substance.

“Substances known as beta-adrenergic agonists, including clenbuterol, continue to be used clandestinely, irresponsibly and unethically in the feeding of livestock, particularly beef cattle, but the magnitude of its use is not precisely known,” Ignacio Domínguez, director of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, told Tierramérica.

While it improves the yield and quality of meat production, clenbuterol is potentially toxic, according to a study authored by Domínguez and five other researchers on the effects of beta-adrenergic agonists on cattle and sheep and published in the Nov. 2009-Feb. 2010 issue of the journal CIENCIA ergo sum.

In Mexico the production, sale and use in animal feed of 15 substances, including clenbuterol, are banned.

The Ministry of Agriculture authorises the use of zilpaterol, another beta-adrenergic agonist, as a feed supplement for cattle, pigs and sheep, because it is less potent and less prone to accumulate in tissues.

Clenbuterol earned notoriety in 2002 in the western state of Jalisco when over 100 people fell ill after eating beef liver contaminated with the substance. Since then, another 807 cases were reported as of 2010.

As a result of the outbreak, the state health authorities issued a health alert. But it was lifted on May 31 of this year, apparently because of the upcoming Pan American Games to be held in the state capital, Guadalajara, this October, since cases have continued to be reported.

The government and industry claim that meat is healthy, but scientific evidence and medical reports contradict them. Since 2004 there have been dozen of cases of poisoning in numerous different states.

Problems like these also affect the poultry industry.

“The arsenic found in hen droppings came from arsenic salts added to chicken feed to prevent coccidiosis,” a parasitic disease that causes reduced weight gain and death in chickens, according to a study presented by René Rosiles, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico School of Veterinary Medicine, at the 28th Congress of the Mexican Association of Veterinary Specialists in Bovine Health in 2004.

Poultry production results in large quantities of droppings that are used as fertiliser or in cattle feed. If the droppings contain substances like arsenic, they can lead to the contamination of the subsoil and eventually the water supply. Arsenic, which also comes from mineral sources, is highly toxic and carcinogenic.

“The presence of arsenic in the bloodstreams of cattle (…) is indicative of exposure, in our case, due to sources such as hen droppings (used in cattle feed), mineral salts, and the water,” Rosiles’ study concluded.

On Jun. 8, U.S.-based global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced its decision to suspend sales in the United States of 3-Nitro, also known as roxarsone, a feed medicine containing organic arsenic used primarily in poultry production to prevent coccidiosis.

The decision was made after a study by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found traces of inorganic arsenic in chicken sold in some stores. Nevertheless, the use of 3-Nitro is still permitted in 14 other countries, including Mexico and another five Latin American countries. The European Union had already banned it in 1999.

Amaro, the owner of an 80-head cattle farm, said that traces of arsenic can turn up in beef as a result of both legitimate and clandestine use.

Rosiles’ study warned that “the contribution of arsenic in relatively small amounts (…) combined with other sources means that in the end, cattle face a serious degree of exposure.”

For his part, Domínguez believes that what is needed is the establishment and implementation of a system of traceability spanning the entire production, processing and marketing chain, from the cattle farm to the consumer, in order to fully enforce food safety standards.

*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.