Illegal, Deadly Drug Found in US Pork Exports
The banned drug clenbuterol increases muscle mass in animals but can cause tremors, cardiac problems, and worse in humans.
An illegal drug that can be deadly to humans has been found in some US pork exports.
Meat from the world’s largest pork producers - Virginia-based Smithfield Foods and Swift Pork Company - tested positive for clenbuterol, a drug that increases muscle mass in animals and can cause cardiac problems, tremors, and worse in humans.
The companies had exported the tainted meat from their slaughterhouses in the US to Mexico, where Mexican food safety officials denied entry to the shipments, and documented the violation in a memo to the USDA.
Following an investigation, the USDA informed Mexican officials that pigs from fairs or shows may have illegally been fed clenbuterol and mixed in with Swift’s “market” hogs. USDA records note that Smithfield management was “unable to provide any monitoring records” to show that the animals they receive are clenbuterol-free.
This information was only brought to media attention following a Freedom of Information Act request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who were reviewing government documents for research on a different issue.
Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
The drug clenbuterol is only legal in the US if used to treat horses for specific illnesses, and is banned for human use and for farmed animals. However, the drug’s muscle-building properties can result in farmers raising livestock with more lean muscle, less fat, and with a reduction in the amount of food eaten.
Human consumption of the drug can be dangerous and even fatal. Just last year, hundreds of people in the Mexican state of Yucatán were thought to have fallen ill after ingesting meat laced with clenbuterol, and in 2011, tainted meat from Smithfield owner Shuanghui (now WH Group) sickened 1,700 people and killed one in China.
“An illegal and dangerous drug in the supply chain of the world’s largest pork producers is one more reason people should stop eating animal products now,” PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch said following the news. PETA took the opportunity to encourage people to choose healthy, clean vegan foods, which the group says saves pigs from a “lifetime of misery”, and are healthier for humans too.
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