990530 U.S. Accuses EU Of "Misleading" Hormone Report

Washington - The Clinton Administration accused the European Union of issuing a deliberately misleading report to try escape opening its market to beef from cattle raised on artificial growth hormones.

With a May 13 deadline approaching for the EU to comply with two World Trade Organization rulings on its decade-old import ban, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said the new study merely repeated "the same unsubstantiated arguments" the EU has already made about the safety of the growth hormones.

"Instead of preparing to meet its international obligation to comply with the WTO ruling against its hormone ban, the European Union Commission has issued yet another misleading report," the two top Clinton aides said in a joint statement.

Having failed at every step of the WTO process, the EU "appears to be once again searching for a way to avoid its international obligations," Glickman and Barshefsky said.

U.S. cattle producers also dismissed the the interim report issued by the EU's Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures as "an 11th-hour tactic by the EU" to avoid dropping its ban.

"The report talks about results when these drugs are used incorrectly, said Ann Soli, a spokeswoman for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "Cattlemen do not have any incentive to use these drugs incorrectly. It's not cost efficient. It doesn't give any extra gain to the cattle."

The United States has threatened to impose punitive duties on hundreds of millions of dollars on EU goods -- ranging from motorcycles to pork to chocolate -- if the EU does not comply with the WTO ruling by May 13.

In its report, the EU panel said that "excess intakes" of six growth promotants used in cattle production could cause a wide range of health problems for consumers. One hormone, 17 beta estradiol, might cause cancer, the report said.

Dr. Bert Mitchell, acting deputy director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said the report does not appear to contain any new evidence of adverse health effects -- at least not in the executive summary that U.S. officials have seen.

"We will examine this again to make sure that there isn't anything we've overlooked," Mitchell said.

While large doses of estridiol -- the chemical name for estrogen -- could cause cancer, the small amounts used in growth promotants for cattle do not pose any risk, he said.

FDA has allowed the use of artificial growth hormones in cattle production for decades.

Pellets of the hormones are injected under the skin in an animal's ear. Three of the hormones -- estradiol, progesterene and testosterone -- occur naturally in cattle and people.

Two others approved for use -- trenbolene acetate and zeranol -- are synthetic hormones.

The pellet provides a small, steady dose of hormone, most of which is metabolized and excreted. What remains in meat from a treated animal is a tiny fraction of what humans produce naturally, the FDA has said.

FDA studies have also found virtually no difference in hormone residues in meat from treated and untreated animals of the same age and sex.

In their statement, Glickman and Barshefsky said the new EU report "deliberately ignores the body of scientific data developed by international scientists."

"Study after study over the last four decades has confirmed that the proper use of these compounds, according to approved registered labels, poses no risk to human or animal health," the two Clinton Administration officials said.

Most recently, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the U.N.'s World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization reconfirmed the safety of growth hormones when used properly. The EU's own Scientific Conference on Growth Promotants reached the same conclusion in 1995, Glickman and Barshefsky said.

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