Day 092 - 27 Feb 95 - Page 17
1
2 Q. I will just see if I have any more questions about pigs,
3 then we will move on. You said before that it is legal to
4 use growth promoting hormones in the USA?
5 A. That is correct.
6
7 Q. For pigs and for cows?
8 A. I did not say for pigs.
9
10 Q. Is that for cows?
11 A. For cows, yes.
12
13 Q. For cattle?
14 A. For cattle, yes.
15
16 Q. So that is a fairly wide spread use?
17 A. Yes, it is.
18
19 Q. What is the situation for pigs then?
20 A. They usually do not use growth promoters.
21
22 Q. You also said -- this was for pigs and cows, I believe --
23 about pesticide residues, that the residues have not been
24 found to affect humans?
25 A. You are talking of pesticides?
26
27 Q. Yes, residues in the meat, whether they affect humans or
28 not; have you done tests on that?
29 A. Personally, no. I have, in fact, read a study (but for
30 a different reason, not for this trial) which is called the
31 National Quality Audit and it is also called -- there are
32 two of them -- the Strategic Alliance Field Studies that
33 were conducted by Texas A&M University as well as Colorado
34 State University, Texas State University and other trade
35 associations in co-ordination with the United States
36 Department of Agriculture.
37
38 They concluded in that study that the residues found in
39 that was specifically on cattle were safe in under the
40 regulations imposed by the United States Department of
41 Agriculture and concluded that the meat is safe to eat.
42 That includes pesticides, that includes hormones and growth
43 promoters. That was a fairly extensive testing conducted
44 in 28 slaughterhouses and 43, I believe, meat packing
45 plants.
46
47 Q. So they found residues of pesticide and growth promoting
48 hormone residues, but they found that they were not
49 dangerous for human consumption?
50 A. Let me take one at a time. You cannot tell residues of
51 hormones in animals. If you test the meat, you cannot
52 tell. There is no scientific method that will tell you:
53 "Yes, there are hormones, hormones are present in the
54 animals". The amounts that are used in cattle, it is so
55 small that you cannot tell by any means if it was implanted
56 with hormones. We are talking billions, so in terms of
57 hormones and the amount of, let us say, a billion. So,
58 what is implanted would be a billion and 2. For any method
59 to detect whether or not it is implanted, it is so small
60 that you cannot tell the difference.
