Photo of the Week; Steroids in the food chain.

Bovine Death Row
Originally uploaded by dougb61.

Once again congress is misguiding it's energy. We've been hearing a lot about Congerssional hearings concerning steroid use in professional sports this month. Suddenly some members of Congress think it is the government's role to over see and regulate activities of the NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL. What business does congress have that concerns any of us in pro sports?

If congress wants to concern itself with steroids it needs to turn its attention to the use of steroids and hormones in American beef production. Beef producers use steroids to alter the way cattle use energy in food. The results are leaner/bigger cattle. Maximizing the profits for ranchers and corporate beef producers. Dairy farmers use bovine growth hormone to stimulate the production of milk. What is the effect on us? Studies into the safety of steroid and hormone use in food production are more that 20 years old. While better research techniques have evolved over the years a bonified modern study into the effects has not been conducted. The regulatory goal of the FDA and the Department of Agriculture is to ensure that anyone eating beef will get a dose of residual hormones that's less than 1 percent of the highest dose that caused no ill effect in test animals. But is any amount of these substances safe? It is interesting to find that since 1988, concerns about the potential health risks of drug residues has led the European Union to ban importation of the meat of hormone-treated animals. My question is why is congress more concerned with baseball that the public health?