Beef hormone controversy
Encyclopedia
The Beef Hormone Dispute is one of the two most intractable transatlantic agricultural
disputes since the establishment of the World Trade Organization
, the other being the Banana War.
In the 1990s, in the midst of the mad cow disease crisis, the European Union
banned the import of meat that contained artificial beef hormone
s. WTO rules permit such bans, but only where a signatory presents valid scientific evidence that the ban is a health and safety measure. Canada
and the United States
opposed this ban, taking the EU to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body
. In 1997, the WTO ruled against the EU. The EU appealed the ruling.
, progesterone
, testosterone
, melengesterol acetate, trenbolone acetate, and zeranol
. Of these, the first three are artificial versions of endogenous hormones that are naturally produced in humans and animals, and also occur in a wide range of foods, whereas the second three are exogenous hormones, that are synthetic and not naturally occurring, that mimic the behaviour of endogenous hormones. The EU did not impose an absolute ban. Under veterinary supervision, cattle farmers were permitted to administer the synthetic versions of natural hormones for cost-reduction and possibly therapeutic purposes, such as synchronising the oestrus cycles of dairy cows. All of these six hormones were licensed for use in the U.S. and in Canada.
Under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
, signatories are permitted to impose restrictions on health and safety grounds subject to scientific analysis. The heart of the Beef Hormone Dispute was the fact that all risk analysis
is statistical
in nature, and thus unable to determine with certainty the absence of health risks, and consequent disagreement between the U.S. and Canada beef producers on the one hand, who believed that a broad scientific consensus existed that beef produced with the use of hormones was safe, and the EU on the other, which asserted that it was not safe.
The use of these hormones in cattle farming, had been studied scientifically in North America for 50 years prior to the ban, and there had been widespread long-term use in over 20 countries. The assertion of Canada and the United States was that this provided empirical evidence both of long-term safety and of scientific consensus.
The EU measures may not have been wholly motivated by scientific analysis. The E.U. was at the time under pressure from its citizens, who, in the light of the mad cow disease crisis, were reluctant to accept the word of scientific authorities on the matter of food safety
, in particular where it related to cattle products. However, the EU ban was not, as it was portrayed to rural constituencies in the U.S. and Canada, protectionism
. The EU had already had other measures that effectively restricted the import of North American beef. In the main, the North American product that the new ban affected, that existing barriers did not, was edible offal.
It was not producers asking for protectionist measures that were pressuring the E.U., but consumers, expressing concerns over the safety of hormone use. There were a series of widely publicized "hormone scandals" in Italy
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first, in 1977, was signs of the premature onset of puberty
in northern Italian schoolchildren, where investigators had cast suspicion in the direction of school lunches that had used meat farmed with the (illegal) use of growth hormone
s. No concrete evidence linking premature puberty to growth hormones was found, in part because no samples of the suspect meals were available for analysis. But public anger arose at the use of such meat production techniques, to be further fanned by the discovery in 1980 of the (again illegal) presence of diethylstilbestrol
(DES), another synthetic hormone, in veal-based baby foods.
The scientific evidence for health risks associated with the use of growth hormones in meat production was, at best, scant. However, consumer lobbyist groups were far more able to successfully influence the European Parliament
to enact regulations in the 1980s than producer lobbyist groups were, and had far more influence over public perceptions. This is in contrast with the U.S. at the time, where there was little interest from consumer organizations in the subject prior to the 1980s, and regulations were driven by a well-organized coalition of export-oriented industry and farming interests, who were only opposed by traditional farming groups.
Until 1980, the use of growth hormones, both endogenous and exogenous, was completely prohibited in (as noted above) Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Greece. Germany, the largest beef producer in the EU at the time, prohibited just the use of exogenous growth hormones. The five other member countries, including the second and third largest beef producers, France and the United Kingdom, permitted their use. (The use of growth hormones was particularly common in the U.K., where beef production was heavily industrialized.) This had resulted in several disputes amongst member countries, with the countries that had no prohibitions arguing that the restrictions by the others acted as non-tariff trade barriers. But in response to the public outcry in 1980, in combination with the contemporary discovery that DES was a teratogen, the EU began to issue regulations, beginning with a directive prohibiting the use of stilbenes and thyrostatics issued by the European Community Council of Agriculture Ministers
in 1980, and the commissioning of a scientific study into the use of estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone, and zeranol in 1981.
The European Bureau of Consumers Unions (BEUC) lobbied for a total ban upon growth hormones, opposed, with only partial success, by the pharmaceutical industry, which was not well organized at the time. (It was not until 1987, at the instigation of U.S. firms, that the European Federation of Animal Health, FEDESA, was formed to represent at EU level the companies that, amongst other things, manufactured growth hormones.) Neither European farmers nor the meat processing industry took any stance on the matter. With the help of the BEUC, consumer boycott
s of veal products, sparked by in Italy by reports about DES in Italian magazines and in France and Germany by similar reports, spread from those three countries across the whole of the EU, causing companies such as Hipp
and Alete
to withdraw their lines of veal products, and veal prices to drop significantly in France, Belgium, West Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Because of the fixed purchases guaranteed by the then common agricultural policy of the EU, there was a loss of ECU
10 million to the EU's budget.
The imposition of a general ban was encouraged by the European Parliament, with a 1981 resolution passing by a majority of 177:1 in favour of a general ban. MEP
s, having been directly elected for the first time in 1979, were taking the opportunity to flex their political muscles, and were in part using the public attention on the issue to strengthen the Parliament's rôle. The Council of Ministers was divided along lines that directly matched each country's domestic stance on growth hormone regulation, with France, Ireland, the U.K., Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany all opposing a general ban. The European Commission
, leery of a veto by the Council and tightly linked to both pharmaceutical and (via Directorate VI) agricultural interests, presented factual arguments and emphasized the problem of trade barriers.
in regards to food safety very stringently. The precautionary principle is a policy where the government relies on its own precaution in regards to something that may be potentially harmful due to a lack of science or evidence. In 1996, the EU banned imported beef from the U.S. and continued to do so after the 2003 Mad Cow scare. A proper risk assessment deemed the precautionary principle on this issue insufficient. Labeling of meat was another option, however warnings were also insufficient because of the criteria specified in the SPS (Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary agreement). This agreement allows members to use scientifically based measures to protect public health. Most specifically the Equivalence provision in Article 4 which states the following: “an importing country must accept an SPS measure which differs from its own as equivalent if the exporting country’s measure provides the same level of health or environmental protection." Therefore, although the E.U. is a strong proponent of labels and banning meat that contains growth hormones, requiring the U.S. to do the same would have violated this agreement.
and the Center for Science in the Public Interest
both pressed for an adoption of a ban within the U.S. similar to that within the E.U.. US consumers appear to be less concerned with innovative practices in food production. Because of current policy, in which all beef is allowed whether produced with hormones or genetically modified, U.S. consumers now have to rely on their own judgment when buying goods. However, in a study done in 2002, 85% of respondents wanted mandatory labeling on beef produced with growth hormones. The public in general is motivated to purchase organic or natural meats for several reasons. Organic meats and poultry is the fastest growing agricultural sector, from 2002-2003 there was a growth of 77.8%, accounting for $23 billion in the entire organic food market. The fact that the American public is transitioning to organic meat can imply a rejection of beef made with growth hormones.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
disputes since the establishment of the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
, the other being the Banana War.
In the 1990s, in the midst of the mad cow disease crisis, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
banned the import of meat that contained artificial beef hormone
Hormone
A hormone is a chemical released by a cell or a gland in one part of the body that sends out messages that affect cells in other parts of the organism. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism. In essence, it is a chemical messenger that transports a signal from one...
s. WTO rules permit such bans, but only where a signatory presents valid scientific evidence that the ban is a health and safety measure. Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
opposed this ban, taking the EU to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body
WTO Dispute Settlement Body
The Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization makes decisions on trade disputes between governments that are adjudicated by the Organization...
. In 1997, the WTO ruled against the EU. The EU appealed the ruling.
The EU ban and its background
The hormones banned by the EU in cattle farming were estradiolEstradiol
Estradiol is a sex hormone. Estradiol is abbreviated E2 as it has 2 hydroxyl groups in its molecular structure. Estrone has 1 and estriol has 3 . Estradiol is about 10 times as potent as estrone and about 80 times as potent as estriol in its estrogenic effect...
, progesterone
Progesterone
Progesterone also known as P4 is a C-21 steroid hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy and embryogenesis of humans and other species...
, testosterone
Testosterone
Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...
, melengesterol acetate, trenbolone acetate, and zeranol
Zeranol
Zeranol is a non-steroidal estrogen agonist. It is a mycotoxin, derived from fungi in the Fusarium family, and may be found as a contaminant in fungus-infected crops. It is 3-4x more potent as an estrogen agonist than the related compound zearalenone.Zeranol is approved for use as a growth...
. Of these, the first three are artificial versions of endogenous hormones that are naturally produced in humans and animals, and also occur in a wide range of foods, whereas the second three are exogenous hormones, that are synthetic and not naturally occurring, that mimic the behaviour of endogenous hormones. The EU did not impose an absolute ban. Under veterinary supervision, cattle farmers were permitted to administer the synthetic versions of natural hormones for cost-reduction and possibly therapeutic purposes, such as synchronising the oestrus cycles of dairy cows. All of these six hormones were licensed for use in the U.S. and in Canada.
Under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures - also known as the SPS Agreement is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization...
, signatories are permitted to impose restrictions on health and safety grounds subject to scientific analysis. The heart of the Beef Hormone Dispute was the fact that all risk analysis
Risk analysis (engineering)
Risk analysis is the science of risks and their probability and evaluation.Probabilistic risk assessment is one analysis strategy usually employed in science and engineering.-Risk analysis and the risk workshop:...
is statistical
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
in nature, and thus unable to determine with certainty the absence of health risks, and consequent disagreement between the U.S. and Canada beef producers on the one hand, who believed that a broad scientific consensus existed that beef produced with the use of hormones was safe, and the EU on the other, which asserted that it was not safe.
The use of these hormones in cattle farming, had been studied scientifically in North America for 50 years prior to the ban, and there had been widespread long-term use in over 20 countries. The assertion of Canada and the United States was that this provided empirical evidence both of long-term safety and of scientific consensus.
The EU measures may not have been wholly motivated by scientific analysis. The E.U. was at the time under pressure from its citizens, who, in the light of the mad cow disease crisis, were reluctant to accept the word of scientific authorities on the matter of food safety
Food safety
Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards....
, in particular where it related to cattle products. However, the EU ban was not, as it was portrayed to rural constituencies in the U.S. and Canada, protectionism
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
. The EU had already had other measures that effectively restricted the import of North American beef. In the main, the North American product that the new ban affected, that existing barriers did not, was edible offal.
It was not producers asking for protectionist measures that were pressuring the E.U., but consumers, expressing concerns over the safety of hormone use. There were a series of widely publicized "hormone scandals" in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first, in 1977, was signs of the premature onset of puberty
Puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
in northern Italian schoolchildren, where investigators had cast suspicion in the direction of school lunches that had used meat farmed with the (illegal) use of growth hormone
Growth hormone
Growth hormone is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction and regeneration in humans and other animals. Growth hormone is a 191-amino acid, single-chain polypeptide that is synthesized, stored, and secreted by the somatotroph cells within the lateral wings of the anterior...
s. No concrete evidence linking premature puberty to growth hormones was found, in part because no samples of the suspect meals were available for analysis. But public anger arose at the use of such meat production techniques, to be further fanned by the discovery in 1980 of the (again illegal) presence of diethylstilbestrol
Diethylstilbestrol
Diethylstilbestrol is a synthetic nonsteroidal estrogen that was first synthesized in 1938. Human exposure to DES occurred through diverse sources, such as dietary ingestion from supplemented cattle feed and medical treatment for certain conditions, including breast and prostate cancers...
(DES), another synthetic hormone, in veal-based baby foods.
The scientific evidence for health risks associated with the use of growth hormones in meat production was, at best, scant. However, consumer lobbyist groups were far more able to successfully influence the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
to enact regulations in the 1980s than producer lobbyist groups were, and had far more influence over public perceptions. This is in contrast with the U.S. at the time, where there was little interest from consumer organizations in the subject prior to the 1980s, and regulations were driven by a well-organized coalition of export-oriented industry and farming interests, who were only opposed by traditional farming groups.
Until 1980, the use of growth hormones, both endogenous and exogenous, was completely prohibited in (as noted above) Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Greece. Germany, the largest beef producer in the EU at the time, prohibited just the use of exogenous growth hormones. The five other member countries, including the second and third largest beef producers, France and the United Kingdom, permitted their use. (The use of growth hormones was particularly common in the U.K., where beef production was heavily industrialized.) This had resulted in several disputes amongst member countries, with the countries that had no prohibitions arguing that the restrictions by the others acted as non-tariff trade barriers. But in response to the public outcry in 1980, in combination with the contemporary discovery that DES was a teratogen, the EU began to issue regulations, beginning with a directive prohibiting the use of stilbenes and thyrostatics issued by the European Community Council of Agriculture Ministers
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union is the institution in the legislature of the European Union representing the executives of member states, the other legislative body being the European Parliament. The Council is composed of twenty-seven national ministers...
in 1980, and the commissioning of a scientific study into the use of estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone, and zeranol in 1981.
The European Bureau of Consumers Unions (BEUC) lobbied for a total ban upon growth hormones, opposed, with only partial success, by the pharmaceutical industry, which was not well organized at the time. (It was not until 1987, at the instigation of U.S. firms, that the European Federation of Animal Health, FEDESA, was formed to represent at EU level the companies that, amongst other things, manufactured growth hormones.) Neither European farmers nor the meat processing industry took any stance on the matter. With the help of the BEUC, consumer boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
s of veal products, sparked by in Italy by reports about DES in Italian magazines and in France and Germany by similar reports, spread from those three countries across the whole of the EU, causing companies such as Hipp
Hipp
-People:*Bryan Hipp , extreme metal guitarist*Claus Hipp , German entrepreneur*D. Richard Hipp , U.S. free software programmer*Georg Hipp , German entrepreneur, founder of Hipp Babynahrung...
and Alete
Alete
For other mythological heroes, see AletesIn Greek mythology, Aletes was the son of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, the king and queen of Mycenae. He had two sisters: Erigone and Helen...
to withdraw their lines of veal products, and veal prices to drop significantly in France, Belgium, West Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands. Because of the fixed purchases guaranteed by the then common agricultural policy of the EU, there was a loss of ECU
European Currency Unit
The European Currency Unit was a basket of the currencies of the European Community member states, used as the unit of account of the European Community before being replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999, at parity. The ECU itself replaced the European Unit of Account, also at parity, on 13...
10 million to the EU's budget.
The imposition of a general ban was encouraged by the European Parliament, with a 1981 resolution passing by a majority of 177:1 in favour of a general ban. MEP
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
s, having been directly elected for the first time in 1979, were taking the opportunity to flex their political muscles, and were in part using the public attention on the issue to strengthen the Parliament's rôle. The Council of Ministers was divided along lines that directly matched each country's domestic stance on growth hormone regulation, with France, Ireland, the U.K., Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany all opposing a general ban. The European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, leery of a veto by the Council and tightly linked to both pharmaceutical and (via Directorate VI) agricultural interests, presented factual arguments and emphasized the problem of trade barriers.
WTO panel decisions and E.U. appeal
The WTO Appellate Body affirmed the WTO Panel conclusion in a report adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body on February 13, 1998. Section 208 of this report says:
[W]e find that the European Communities did not actually proceed to an assessment, within the meaning of Articles 5.1 and 5.2, of the risks arising from the failure of observance of good veterinary practice combined with problems of control of the use of hormones for growth promotion purposes. The absence of such risk assessment, when considered in conjunction with the conclusion actually reached by most, if not all, of the scientific studies relating to the other aspects of risk noted earlier, leads us to the conclusion that no risk assessment that reasonably supports or warrants the import prohibition embodied in the EC Directives was furnished to the Panel. We affirm, therefore, the ultimate conclusions of the Panel that the EC import prohibition is not based on a risk assessment within the meaning of Articles 5.1 and 5.2 of the SPS Agreement and is, therefore, inconsistent with the requirements of Article 5.1.
U.S./Canadian measures taken after May 1999
Canada and the U.S. imposed $125 million in total extra annual tariffs of goods coming from the EU. The tariffed goods change each year to have maximum effect.E.U. claims to new scientific evidence in 2004
New evidence was released by the EC in 2003 about beef hormones. The EC made the scientific claim that the hormones used in treating cattle remain in the tissue, specifically the hormone, 17-beta estradiol. However, despite this evidence the EC declared there was no clear quantifiable link to health risks in humans. The EC has also found high amounts of hormones in areas where there are dense cattle lots. This increase in hormones in the water has affected waterways and at the very least affected nearby wild fish. This evidence was introduced and the WTO respected its former decision, although the EU would have to pay sanctions to the US at $116.8 million and to Canada at $11.3 million, The prevailing evidence in the dispute was from the US Food and Drug Administration, in which they declared that the level of hormones used in was not high enough to be unsafe to humans.Effects upon policy in the E.U.
The EU practices the precautionary principlePrecautionary principle
The precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those...
in regards to food safety very stringently. The precautionary principle is a policy where the government relies on its own precaution in regards to something that may be potentially harmful due to a lack of science or evidence. In 1996, the EU banned imported beef from the U.S. and continued to do so after the 2003 Mad Cow scare. A proper risk assessment deemed the precautionary principle on this issue insufficient. Labeling of meat was another option, however warnings were also insufficient because of the criteria specified in the SPS (Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary agreement). This agreement allows members to use scientifically based measures to protect public health. Most specifically the Equivalence provision in Article 4 which states the following: “an importing country must accept an SPS measure which differs from its own as equivalent if the exporting country’s measure provides the same level of health or environmental protection." Therefore, although the E.U. is a strong proponent of labels and banning meat that contains growth hormones, requiring the U.S. to do the same would have violated this agreement.
Effects upon public opinion in the U.S.
One of the effects of the Beef Hormone Dispute in the US was to awaken the public's interest in the issue. This interest was not wholly unsympathetic to the EU. In 1989, for example, the Consumer Federation of AmericaConsumer Federation of America
The Consumer Federation of America is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 to advance consumer interests through research, education and advocacy....
and the Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for Science in the Public Interest is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group focusing on nutritional education and awareness.-History and funding:...
both pressed for an adoption of a ban within the U.S. similar to that within the E.U.. US consumers appear to be less concerned with innovative practices in food production. Because of current policy, in which all beef is allowed whether produced with hormones or genetically modified, U.S. consumers now have to rely on their own judgment when buying goods. However, in a study done in 2002, 85% of respondents wanted mandatory labeling on beef produced with growth hormones. The public in general is motivated to purchase organic or natural meats for several reasons. Organic meats and poultry is the fastest growing agricultural sector, from 2002-2003 there was a growth of 77.8%, accounting for $23 billion in the entire organic food market. The fact that the American public is transitioning to organic meat can imply a rejection of beef made with growth hormones.
Further reading
- Press Conference by professor Samuel S. EpsteinSamuel EpsteinSamuel S. Epstein is a medical doctor, and currently professor emeritus of environmental and occupational health at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health...
M.D. 1999-05-31
See also
- Organic foodOrganic foodOrganic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
- International trade of genetically modified foodsInternational trade of genetically modified foodsThe European Union and the United States have strong disagreements over the EU's regulation of genetically modified food. The US claims these regulations violate free trade agreements, the EU counter-position is that free trade is not truly free without informed consent.In Europe, a series of...
- JECFA
- Genetically modified organismGenetically modified organismA genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...
s - Dispute settlement in the WTODispute settlement in the WTODispute settlement is regarded by the World Trade Organization as the central pillar of the multilateral trading system, and as the organization's "unique contribution to the stability of the global economy"...