Hormones are injected also into cattle and sheep to promote weight gains in the animals. The faster weight gains reduce the waiting time for the animals’ slaughter, speeding the meat to the dinner table. To increase milk production, dairy cows are injected with hormones. This increase in milk production requires frequent milking of dairy cows, which in turn leads to udder irritations and infections that require treatment with antibiotics. The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permits a certain amount of pus to remain in the milk, for that the infections doesn’t always completely clear up.
To increase the size of cattle and chickens in the early 1950’s, this is the same agency that permitted synthetic estrogens (DES) to be used. To be replaced by other steroid hormones, when DES was found to cause cancer, it was phased out in the late 1970’s only. According to a report by Cornell University, there are six different kinds of steroid hormones that are currently approved by the FDA for use in food production: Estradiol and progesterone which are natural female sex hormones; testosterone, the natural male sex hormone; zeranol, trenbolone acetate and melengesterol acetate which are synthetic growth promoters (chemicals that make animals grow faster.) And, let’s not forget the protein hormone rbGH to increase milk production in dairy cattle. There are long or short acting esters.
Very few independent studies have been conducted to determine the effect. The hormone given to dairy cattle by scientists at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine has reviewed the studies submitted by the manufacturers of rbGH. Based on the reports by the manufacturers, the FDA concluded rbGH does not affect human health. The FDA does not mention any independent studies in reaching this conclusion. Girls are maturing earlier than ever, doctors recognize. According to the University of North Carolina, girls are entering puberty as young as eight years old.
Several research studies from other universities indicate boys are experiencing decreases in sperm count. Estrogen as well as other hormones are known to increase the risk of breast cancer and may account for decrease in sperm count. Bacteria are becoming immune to antibiotics’ fighting properties. By the chemicals in our conventionally produced food, researchers are concerned cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and hyperactivity in children is exacerbated. These are the outgrowths of the Cumulative Effect, by long or short acting esters. We must eliminate the added hormones and antibiotics from our diet. The three most commonly eaten foods are milk, chicken, and eggs, with the highest concentrations of added hormones and antibiotics. Switching to organics for these three foods are the best first choices to removing these damaging additives in our children’s diet.