British government urged to keep the ban for hormone-treated beef
A report released by professors from University of Sussex and City and the University of London warns the public and the British authorities about the risk presented by a lift of the ban for US hormone-treated beef.
Erik Millstone, Emeritus Professor of Science Policy at the University of Sussex, and Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City, University of London are the two co-authors of the report that questions the safety of hormones in beef production, informs Drovers magazine.
According to the two of them, at least one hormone routinely used in U.S. beef production has been judged by the EU as a cancer risk, and they claim the available evidence on the five other hormones used in the U.S. is insufficient to judge their safety.
"There is a triple risk here: to health, to British beef farmers’ livelihoods, and to the UK’s ability to determine its own food safety standards. Hormone use is a test case for whether the UK seeks a more sustainable food supply. Hormone use would be a stupid step towards intensive beef feeding lots," said Lang.
Nevertheless, beef produced with hormones has long been deemed safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and even the World Trade Organization. EU has imposed the ban on hormone-treated beef since 1989 and the Brexit process that is about to start on 29 March 2019 could lift the ban on the UK market.
According to the report, "After Brexit, the UK Government should ensure either that food standards remain fully aligned with EU standards, or that we adopt higher standards. Food standards should not be weakened, especially not sacrificed to facilitate trade in undesirable and/or unsafe products". Also, British academics recommend that "the UK consumer movement should strongly resist moves to weaken current levels of consumer protection as part of future trade deals and UK food and farming industries should publicly commit themselves to produce and sell only beef from cattle never treated with synthetic hormones".
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