Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T22:59:19.763Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Trenbolone and Other Cattle Growth Promoters: Need for a New Risk-Assessment Framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2006

Emily J. Willingham
Emily J. Willingham
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, and Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas
Get access

Abstract

The “six-pack” of hormone growth promoters used in feedlot cattle deserves closer investigation from researchers and policy makers. The potential effects of exposure to such compounds are of particular interest in the field of endocrine disruption, which focuses on the effects these compounds can have during sensitive developmental periods, rather than using a carcinogenesis model. Steroid hormones participate in a delicate balance during fetal development. Interference with that balance can lead to disruptions that manifest as health problems at birth and later in life. Although we need more studies of the effects of feedlot compounds on human and wildlife development, some industry and government literature leads consumers to conclude that all the data are in. Governmental reviews of the literature from the European Union (where hormone use is banned) and Australia (where hormones are used) reveal different attitudes and conclusions about the same body of research, and these differences may relate to a different understanding of the value of the endocrine-disruption model. It is important to approach examinations of the effects of trenbolone and other growth promoters without bias and to acknowledge that cattle growth promoter research in the context of endocrine disruption has just begun. The scientific jury is still out regarding whether introducing these compounds into the human food supply and ecosystems—research suggests that hormonally active feedlot effluent may harm wildlife—can be deleterious.

Type
FEATURES & REVIEWS
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 58 - 65
Copyright
© 2006 National Association of Environmental Professionals

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Australian Advisory Committee on Pesticides and Health. 2003. A Review to Update Australia's Position on the Human Safety of Residues of Hormone Growth Promotants (HGPs) Used in Cattle. Chemical Review and International Harmonisation Section, Office of Chemical Safety, Therapeutic Goods Administration, Department of Health and Ageing Canberra, 175 pp. Also available at http://www.animal-health-online.de/drms/review_hgp.pdf. Accessed January 28, 2006.
Bauer, E. R., A. Daxenberger, T. Petri, H. Sauerwein, and H. H. Meyer. 2000. Characterisation of the Affinity of Different Anabolics and Synthetic Hormones to the Human Androgen Receptor, Human Sex Hormone Binding Globulin and to the Bovine Progestin Receptor. APMIS 108:838–846.Google Scholar
Canadian Animal Health Institute. Undated. Hormones, A Safe and Productive Tool for the Canadian Beef Industry. Fact sheet. Guelph, Ontario, Canada. http://cahi-icsa.ca/pdf/Beef-Hormones-Factsheet.pdf. Accessed February 25, 2005.
Crews, D., E. J. Willingham, and J. K. Skipper. 2000. Endocrine Disruptors: Present Issues, Future Problems. The Quarterly Review of Biology 75(3):243–260.Google Scholar
Diagnostic Products Corporation. 1997. Sex Hormone Binding Globulin and the Assessment of Androgen Status. Los Angeles, CA, 3 pp.
Elf, P. K., J. W. Lang, and A. J. Fivizzani, Jr. 2002. Dynamics of Yolk Steroid Hormones during Development in a Reptile with Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination. General and Comparative Endocrinology 127:34–39.Google Scholar
Health Canada. 2004. For Your Information: Growth Hormones. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/vet/faq/growth_hormones_promoters_croissance_hormonaux_stimulateurs_e.html. Accessed January 27, 2006.
Henricks, D. M., S. L. Gray, J. J. Owenby, and B. R. Lackey. 2001. Residues from Anabolic Preparations after Good Veterinary Practice. APMIS 109(4):273–283.Google Scholar
Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. 2001a. Trenbolone Acetate. TRS 788-JECFA 34/40. http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jeceval/jec_2172.htm. Accessed January 28, 2006.
Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. 2001b. Zeranol. TRS 763-JECFA 32/26. http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jeceval/jec_2275.htm. Accessed January 28, 2006.
Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. 2005. Melengestrol Acetate. TRS 925-JECFA 62/22. http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jeceval/jec_1234.htm. Accessed January 28, 2006.
Landrigan, P., A. Garg, and D. B. J. Droller. 2003. Assessing the Effects of Endocrine Disruptors in the National Children's Study. Environmental Health Perspectives 111(13):1678–1682. Also available at http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2003/5799/5799.html. Accessed January 28, 2006.Google Scholar
Lange, I. G., A. Daxnberger, H. H. D. Meyer, E. Rajpert-de Meyts, B. E. Skakkebaek, and D. N. R. Veeramachaneni. 2002. Quantitative Assessment of Foetal Exposure to Trenbolone Acetate, Zeranol and Melengestrol Acetate, Following Maternal Dosing in Rabbits. Xenobiotica 32(8):641–651.Google Scholar
Marchand, P., B. Le Bizec, C. Gade, F. Monteau, and F. Andre. 2000. Ultra Trace Detection of a Wide Range of Anabolics in Meat by Gas Chromatography Coupled to Mass Spectrometry. Journal of Chromatography A 867:219–233.Google Scholar
McLachlan, J. A. 1977. Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol in Mice: Toxicological Studies. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health 2:527–237.Google Scholar
Metzler, M., and E. Pfeiffer. 2001. Genotoxic Potential of Xenobiotic Growth Promoters and Their Metabolites. Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavia 109:89–95.Google Scholar
National Residue Survey. 2003. National Residue Survey Annual Report 2002–2003. Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra. http://www.affa.gov.au/corporate_docs/publications/pdf/animalplanthealth/nrs/nrs_operations_rept_02_03.pdf. Accessed January 28, 2006.
Newbold, R. R., R. B. Hanson, W. N. Jefferson, B. C. Bullock, J. Haseman, and J. A. McLachlan. 1998. Increased Tumors but Uncompromised Fertility in the Female Descendants of Mice Exposed Developmentally to Diethylstilbestrol. Carcinogenesis 19:1655–1663.Google Scholar
Newbold, R. R., R. B. Hanson, W. N. Jefferson, B. C. Bullock, J. Haseman, and J. A. McLachlan. 2000. Proliferative Lesions and Reproductive Tract Tumors in Male Descendants of Mice Exposed Developmentally to Diethylstilbestrol. Carcinogenesis 21(77):1355–1363.Google Scholar
Orlando, E. F., A. S. Kolok, G. A. Binzcik, J. L. Gates, M. K. Horton, C. S. Lambright, L. E. Gray, A. M. Soto, and L. J. Guillette, Jr. 2004. Endocrine-Disrupting Effects of Cattle Feedlot Effluent on an Aquatic Sentinel Species, the Fathead Minnow. Environmental Health Perspectives 112(3):353–358.Google Scholar
Pottier, J., C. Cousty, R. J. Heitzman, and I. P. Reynolds. 1981. Differences in the Biotransformation of a 17-Beta-Hydroxylated Steroid, Trenbolone Acetate, in Rat and Cow. Xenobiotica 11:489–500.Google Scholar
Raloff, J. 2002. Hormones: Here's the Beef. Science News 161(1):10.Google Scholar
Sadek, I. A., H. M. Ismail, H. N. Sallam, and M. Salem. 1998. Survey of Hormonal Levels in Meat and Poultry Sold in Alexandria, Egypt. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal 4(2):239–243. Also available at http://www.emro.who.int/Publications/EMHJ/0402/06.htm. Accessed January 28, 2006.Google Scholar
Schiffer, B., A. Daxenberger, K. Meyer, and H. H. Meyer. 2001. The Fate of Trenbolone Acetate and Melengestrol Acetate after Application as Growth Promoters in Cattle: Environmental Studies. Environmental Health Perspectives 109(11):1145–1151.Google Scholar
Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures Relating to Public Health. 2002. Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures Relating to Public Health on Review of Previous SCVPH Opinions of 30 April 1999 and 3 May 2000 on the Potential Risks to Human Health from Hormone Residues in Bovine Meat and Meat Products. European Commission, Health and Consumer Protection Electorate General, 34 pp. List of studies and discussion available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scv/out50_en.pdf. Accessed January 28, 2006.
United States Department of Agriculture. 1999. A Primer on Beef Hormones. Washington, DC. http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/policy/hormone2.html. Accessed January 28, 2006.
United States Mission to the European Union. 1999. WTO Finds US Trade Damaged by EU Beef Import Ban. Press release, July 12. http://www.useu.be/issues/beef0713.html. Accessed January 28, 2006.
Weissenfels, W. D., H. J. Klewer, and J. Langhoff. 1992. Adsorption of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) by Soil Particles: Influence on Biodegradability and Biotoxicity. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 36:689–696.Google Scholar
Wilson, V. S., C. Lambright, J. Ostby, and L. E. Gray, Jr. 2002. In Vitro and In Vivo Effects of 17-Beta-Trenbolone: A Feedlot Effluent Contaminant. Toxicological Sciences 70:202–211.Google Scholar