CANCER CAUSING HORMONES IN MEAT

How many of you are aware that American and Canadian Beef has been banned from Europe for over a decade now? Why is this? Because the growth hormones that they are using in North American beef is harmful and dangerous! One of them is a complete carcinogen - estradiol (i.e. it  exerts both tumour  initiating and tumour promoting effects!). Even though the European Commission placed a ban on the meats, the health authorities in North America have to this day refuse to stop using these hormones on the basis that the levels being used are not enough to put the consumers at risk! They do this despite the common scientific consensus that there is no way of setting safe levels for carcinogens. Well I don’t know about you but as far as I am concerned, I do not want to be consuming these hormones at any level whatsoever! Now is there any wonder why since 1950 there has been a 55% increase in breast cancer; 120% increase in Testicular Cancer and 190% increase in Prostate cancer? [See Los Angeles Times March 24 1997 article in the News link page]

Now you might ask why are they doing this? Well the simple answer is money! Pure and simple math! These growth hormones will get the livestock to the slaughter house much faster than if they wait until Mother Nature pursues her normal growth phase. The farmers who use these hormones gain at least $80 per cow, hence the reason they are unwilling to stop this using these growth hormones.
I grew up in the country and I can distinctly recall that when my parents used to raise chickens for sale, these chicks took at least 6 to 8 weeks to grow before they were ready to be plucked. Well today these same chicks are being grown to maturity within 2 weeks all due to the use of these hormones.  (Do you notice the excessive slabs of fat that you see underneath the skin of the chickens you purchase in the supermarket?). It is my understanding that some of these poor chickens are unable to withstand such a fast growth rate and so their tiny hearts explode and they die before time! 

Apart from cancer, there are other harmful consequences of consuming meat that has these hormones such as shrinking of testicles, damage to liver, early onset of puberty, sterility, fibroids in women, feminizing of boys and the list goes on.

The best thing to do is to purchase only those meats that have a clear indication that they are hormone free (note that ‘grain fed’ does not necessarily mean ‘hormone free’). Make sure that the label says ‘hormone free’. It will cost you a couple of dollars more, but isn’t your life and your health worth more than the couple of extra dollars? You decide.

Another issue that is worthy of note is that Processed Meat also promotes cancer. Processed Meats contain Sodium Nitrate, which is a cancer-causing chemical additive that meat companies use as a color fixer to turn their meat products a bright red "fresh-looking" colour.  Stay away from it as much as you can and don’t feed your kids on it! These are items such as bacon, sausage, beef jerky, pepperoni, deli slices, sandwich meats etc. Just remember Processed meats = Sodium Nitrate = Cancer!

Stay blessed and stay healthy!

sharbs

Sources:

http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/general/hormones_meat.htm

http://www.naturalnews.com/022288_sodium_nitrite_processed_meat.html

http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/chemicalsafety/contaminants/hormones/index_en.htm