Ok, on the topic of off topic gametes reduction, I'll rise to the bait.. the usual suspects are probably as usual guilty in some way. And while, Like Conrad Black, the jury is out, it may be in soon someday.. and this could be the answer.. estrogen disruptors.. hormone, antibiotics and insecticides.. in your friendly McChickenwich, ham sandwich and Large McBurger regent.
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Richard M. Sharpe, research physiologist with the Medical Research Council in Edinburgh, hypothesized that estrogens in the environment can disrupt the body's hormonal balance, possibly explaining phenomena such as earlier puberty, lowered sperm counts, and other reproductive anomalies exhibited by late 20th century females and males of many species. "Of all the hormones we know, the estrogens are the most potent. You can get biological effects from estrogen at levels so low you cannot measure them by any analytical method," Sharpe has found through his research. Other environmentalists and scientists postulate effects ranging from behavioral changes to motor, intellectual, and immune system impairment.
Pesticide is a term encompassing a wide variety of substances used in food production to control undesirable plant, insect, and other animal populations. These may include Chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, organophosphates, plus others on an "as needed" basis Many factors influence the persistence of pesticide residues in or on food. Residues may vary depending on the time between application and harvest, exposure to wind, rain, or sunlight, and the amount removed during processing (washing, peeling or cooking). Residues of pesticides can be found in many foods including breast-milk. Particular care in assessing the safety of exposure to pesticide residues needs to be exercised for pesticides which could be transferred from food into breast milk and result in a relatively high exposure level to babies, and also to those which leave residues in foods which may be consumed in relatively higher amounts by children.
Certain antiparasitics are fat soluble and will therefore persist in the fat component of foods containing animal fats such as dairy products and the fatty parts of meat. This means that foods such as fatty meats, cheese, butter and other dairy products should be avoided when trying to lower the workload for the liver. Similarly, it is these fat soluble toxins that may be tucked away in our fatty deposits.
Hormones
Hormones may be used to accelerate the growth rate of animals so that they can reach market earlier. They may also be used to improve or manage breeding programs. Natural and synthetic hormones are used. In some countries inadequate monitoring and education of the users of these hormones resulted in meat (both beef and chicken) and eggs to contain high levels of hormonal residues. This caused health concerns in the population consuming these foods including early puberty, cessation of puberty, breast development and ovarian cysts in young girls.
Some scientists believe that the potential for hormones in food to cause metabolic and reproductive problems in humans needs further evaluation.
Hormonal Growth Promotants (HGP) are in implants designed to slowly release small quantities of hormones from the ear of cattle to the tissues. The hormone is similar to natural hormone found in animal species and humans or they mimic the effects of natural hormones. They can also act as hormone replacements for castrated animals (steers, spayed heifers) HGPs increase weight gain and the efficiency of food conversion in cattle.
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Most of the beef raised in the United States today is produced with the use of hormones of some kind and have been used for more than 40 years. Low levels of hormones, delivered through pellets placed in animal's ears, are commonly used as growth enhancers. The arguments for using hormones in meat production are mostly economic. With hormones, conversion of feed into meat is more efficient, thus theoretically lowering producer's costs. In the United States, there are six FDA-approved hormones: three naturally occurring hormones (estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone) and their synthetic surrogates (zeranol, melengestrol acetate and trenbolone acetate). There is an ongoing dispute on the subject of hormones used in cattle. The US government and beef growers associations maintain that the use of hormones as growth promoters is safe and has no adverse effect on human health. However In 1988, the EU (European Union) prohibited of the use of oestradiol 17 , testosterone, progesterone, zeranol, trenbolone acetate and melengestrol acetate (MGA) for growth promotion in farm animals. This prohibition applies to Member States and imports from third countries alike. This had major implications for trade and has caused an ongoing dispute. As a result the United States has opposed the EU prohibition on the use of these hormones since its implementation.
The use of antibiotics in food animals has been a human health concern since the 1970s when American FDA first called for restrictions on antibiotics used in animal feed.
Resistance of dangerous bacteria is proportional to use therefore overuse of antibiotics in animals, especially as growth promoters, poses unnecessary dangers to human health via the food chain. Resistance to antibiotics is not harmful in itself, but it may create health hazards if humans become infected with a strain of micro-organism that cannot be controlled by available antibiotics. In other words, antibiotics not working against bacteria that they've managed to kill before. |
