Ractopamine pork in china is a Bust!

 

What is Ractopamine?   It is a  drug that is used as a feed additive to promote leanness in animals raised for their meat. Pharmacologically, it is abeta-adrenoceptor agonist. It is the active ingredient in products known as Paylean for swine and Optaflexx for cattle, developed by Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company, for use in food animals for growth promotion.

In other words Ractopamine is a growth  hormone. Legal  in the USA and Canada? Wonder why?

 

Interesting though, check this out.

 

Who is Eli Lilly?

The  Fortune 500 corporation, Eli Lilly had revenues of $20 billion in 2008, making it the 148th largest company in the United States and the 10th largest corporation by global pharmaceutical sales. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and is a member of the S&P 500 stock index. Eli Lilly was one of the Nifty Fifty stocks that propelled the mid 20th century bull market.

Eli Lilly is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations (EFPIA).

Back up a minute here. So the maker of  the growth hormone Ractopamine is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations where the drug has been made ILLEGAL, yet it is legal in the USA?

 

Industrialist Eli Lilly

 

Eli Lilly’s claim to fame! Read it ALL THE WAY THROUGH for the punch line!

Among other distinctions, Lilly is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of medications used in a broad range of psychiatric and mental health-related conditions, includingclinical depressiongeneralized anxiety disordernarcotic addiction, insomniabipolar disorderschizophrenia, and others.

Cialis

Further information: Tadalafil

In 2003, Eli Lilly introduced Cialis (tadalafil), a competitor to Pfizer‘s blockbuster Viagra for erectile dysfunction. Cialis maintains an active period of 36 hours, causing it sometimes to be dubbed the “weekend pill”. Cialis was developed in a partnership with biotechnology company Icos Corporation. On December 18, 2006 Lilly bought Icos in order to gain full control of the product.

Cymbalta

Further information: Duloxetine

Another Lilly manufactured anti-depressant, Cymbalta, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor used predominantly in the treatment of major depressive disorders and generalized anxiety disorder, ranks with Prozac as one of the most financially successful pharmaceuticals in industry history. It is also used in the treatment of fibromyalgia,neuropathychronic pain and osteoarthritis.

Gemzar

Further information: Gemcitabine

In 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Gemzar for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Gemzar is commonly used in the treatment of pancreatic cancer (usually in coordination with 5-FU chemotherapy and radiology). Gemzar also is routinely used in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

Methadone

Further information: Methadone

Eli Lilly was the first distributor of methadone, an analgesic used frequently in the treatment of heroinopium and other opioid and narcotic drug addictions.

Prozac

Further information: Fluoxetine

Prozac was one of the first therapies in its class to treat clinical depression by blocking the uptake of serotonin within the human brain. It is prescribed to more than fifty-four million people worldwide.

Prozac has given rise to a number of comparably-functioning therapies for the treatment of clinical depression and other central nervous system disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorderbulimia nervosa, and panic disorders.

Secobarbital

Further information: Secobarbital

Eli Lilly has manufactured Secobarbital, a barbiturate derivative with anaestheticanticonvulsantsedative and hypnotic properties. Lilly marketed Secobarbital under the brand name Seconal.

Secobarbital is indicated for the treatment of epilepsy, temporary insomnia and as a pre-operative medication to produce anaesthesia and anxiolysis in short surgical, diagnostic, or therapeutic procedures which are minimally painful. With the onset of new therapies for the treatment of these conditions, Secobarbital has been less utilized, and Lilly ceased manufacturing it in 2001.

Secobarbital overdoses

Secobarbital gained considerable attention during the 1970s, when it gained wide popularity as a recreational drug. On September 18, 1970, rock guitarist legend Jimi Hendrix died from a secobarbital overdose. On June 22, 1969 secobarbital overdose was the cause of death of actress Judy Garland.

Thimerosal

Further information: Thiomersal

Eli Lilly has developed the vaccine preservative Thiomersal (also called Merthiolate and Thimerosal). Thiomersal is effective by causing susceptible bacteria to autolyze.

 

Here is the big one, as if those were not enough!

Eli Lilly has been involved in numerous controversies, including political and medical ethics controversies.

 

Eli Lilly is now the sole manufacturer of BGH having purchased the rights to manufacture the drug from Monsanto!!!

 

Read the three of the Monsanto  aquisitions here : http://www.lilly.com/Search/Results.aspx?k=monsanto&s=lilly.com

Check out Mr. Lilly’s commitments to food, it will astound you! http://www.lilly.com/Search/Results.aspx?k=food&s=lilly.com

 

12-3-2012  BUSTED!   “US beef laden with ractopamine, a controversial additive used to promote lean meat, was dumped into a furnace in downtown Taipei today.More than six tonnes of such beef imported by a local company that contained the drug allowed in the US but banned in Taiwan was destroyed.”

“The move came as Taiwanese government is mulling a plan to lift a ban on ractopamine-treated US beef to facilitate stalled trade talks with the US, a key trading partner and arms supplier of the politically isolated island.”

Back in March of 2011, a comparable drug known as  Clenbuterol , which is  a bronchodilator prescribed for human use outside of the U.S. was also found in meat products in China. It is popular with bodybuilders and athletes for its ability to increase lean muscle mass and reduce body fat. Clenbuterol can have significant adverse cardiovascular and neurological effects. “Like other beta adrenergic agonists, cenbuterol, can produce adverse cardiovascular and neurological effects, such as heart palpitations, muscle tremors, and nervousness”. Clenbuterol is not approved by the FDA, and is banned for IOC-tested athletes.

According to a report in China’s state news agency, Xinhua, three senior officials in central China have been suspended, and 22 have been arrested in the Henan province on charges of adding the drugs clenbuterol and ractopamine to pig feed to produce leaner meat. Some of those arrested were pig farmers in Henan province, China’s main pig producing area. Arrests were also made at a slaughterhouse in Nanjing city, where the tainted meat was being butchered. http://blog.friendseat.com/tainted-pork-china-food-scandal/

In Russia 12-14-2012

ANALYSIS – The Russian authorities are clamping down on US meat products because of concerns over the use of ractopamine in the animals as a growth promoter.

“Now any imports of meat have to be certified by a government veterinary inspector before they can go on the Russian market.

If the meat products are not accompanied by the appropriate certificate, they will only be admitted onto the market after laboratory tests.

The lab testing system will be in place during the transmission period during which the Russian Veterinary authority Rosselkhoznador said that the Veterinary Services of exporting countries must establish systems of laboratory checks for the presence of ractopamine in imported products and support each product consignment meant for the Russian Market and other CU countries with a laboratory act that testifies the absence of ractopamine in it.

However, now the US trade representative, Ron Kirk pictured, has attacked Russia for breaking the obligations of the World Trade Organisation and has called on Russia to restore market access.

He said: “The United States calls on Russia to suspend these new measures and restore market access for US beef and pork products. The United States sought, and Russia committed as part of its WTO accession package, to ensure that it adhere rigorously to WTO requirements and that it would use international standards unless it had a risk assessment to justify use of a more stringent standard.”

http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/31800/russia-and-us-clash-over-ractopamine-tests

 

 

Ractopamine is also used as a feed additive to promote lean meat in pigs. In the US, ractopamine is the active ingredient found in the feed additive Paylean, produced by Elanco Animal Health, previously owned by Eli Lilly.

Paylean was approved by the FDA in 1999, and has also been approved in more than 20 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Thailand.

Most pork products sold in the US contains Paylean. Paylean is banned in China and Malaysia, however, as well as the European Union, and 150 other countries. Paylean is also a beta-agonist which is associated with cardiac stimulation, including increased heart rate and systemic dilation of blood vessels. Elanco Paylean Another Food Scandal in China   Tainted PorkPaylean has the potential for causing cancer and cardiovascular disease. Natural News claims no long term studies have been conducted to determine the safety or the effects of ractopamine hydrochloride in humans, the active ingredient in Paylean. “No data exists relating to the long-term exposure of humans to the chemical. Since some beta-adrenoceptor agonists have been found to be carcinogenic, Dr. L. Ritter of the Bureau of Veterinary Drugs at Health and Welfare, Canada, recommends studies of Paylean’s genotoxicity and pharmacology”. http://blog.friendseat.com/tainted-pork-china-food-scandal/

 

And back in the news again by popular demand!

DECEMBER 18, 2012

A food and Safety report came out &  once again wehave Russia in the news!

“The long-running international dispute over ractopamine, a drug used to boost growth and leanness in pork and beef production, has become even more contentious in recent weeks. Russia, which is an increasingly important export market for U.S. meat products, announced it will no longer accept meat from animals raised on the drug, and it will require countries to certify that their meat is ractopamine-free.” TTD thinks this is a good thing!

So why is the USA so infuriated with Russia?

“The move infuriated United States trade and agriculture officials, who point out that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved ractopamine as safe for use in cattle, pigs and turkeys and that more than two dozen other countries have approved the drug.”

Is it possible that the FDA is becoming more and more transparent? As it states above, the FDA gave it’s stamp of approval for the drug ractopamine, but guess what? Russia’s not buying it! 

As stated earlier, Russia will now require “countries to certify that their meat is ractopamine-free.”

That’s a good thing, right? YES it is!

“The United States is very concerned that Russia has taken these actions, which appear to be inconsistent with its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement last week. “The United States calls on Russia to suspend these new measures and restore market access for U.S. beef and pork products.”

Ractopamine

To add to the mix:

The drug, which is a beta-agonist and mimics stress hormones, is fed primarily to swine and cattle in the weeks leading up to slaughter to improve the rate at which they convert feed to muscle.

“In Russia, (ractopamine) is not included in the register of products approved for use,” Gennady Onishchenko, Russia’s chief health inspector and the head of Rosselhohznadzor (the agency charged with meat safety), told Interfax. “We can only regret that American Federation analysts on meat exports lacked even a tiny bit of imagination to classify the 27 countries of the European Union, China and all other 167 countries that have banned the use of this product as opponents of the ‘Magnitsky Act’ adopted by the U.S. Senate.”http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/12/u-s-and-russia-spar-over-ractopamine-in-pork-and-beef/#.UOoqzW9fCiw

We will be sure to keep an eye on this folks!

BRAZIL get’s behind Russia! (ractopamine free exports!)

“While the U.S. appears to be sticking to its guns on ractopamine, Brazil is now assuring Russia that its exports of meat products to the country will be free of ractopamine residues. A pork trade publication reported late last week that, even though Brazil and Russia were on opposite sides of the Codex vote, Brazilian officials have “expressed willingness to comply with the requirements” and “provide additional guarantees about the absence of ractopamine in production” for Brazilian meat headed to Russia.”

The U.S. has not publicly signaled it will move in the same direction, but in an online document detailing the export requirements for Russia, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said, “At this time, FSIS is not requiring documentation that demonstrates that the product is free of ractopamine before issuing export certification. FSIS likely will soon provide additional instructions that will require such documentation.”

The agency already has a ractopamine-free program in place for meat headed to the European Union, which strictly bans all non-therapeutic growth promoting drugs from meat production.

For more on the food safety and animal welfare debate over ractopamine, see: “Dispute over drug in feed limiting US meat exports

 Human safety of Ractopamine

On 6 July 2012, the Codex Alimentarius Commission approved safe limits of residual ractopamine in meats.[9] In the United States, as codified under 21 CFR 556.570, the safe concentrations for total residues of ractopamine hydrochloride are: 0.25 ppm in muscle, 0.75 ppm in liver, and 1.5 ppm in kidney and fat. The acceptable daily intake for total residues of ractopamine is 1.25 micrograms ractopamine hydrochloride per kilogram of body weight per day. The human safety of meat products derived from food animals fed ractopamine has been confirmed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in 2004, 2006, and 2010 and by 27 regulatory authorities from around the world.

Cardiovascular effects

Dose-dependent changes of heart rate and cardiac output are observed within the first hour after administration of ractopamine and gradually return to baseline values. The systolic blood pressure will also increase in a dose-dependent manner, while the diastolic pressure remains unchanged.

Musculo-skeletal effects

Skeletal muscle tremor is the most common adverse effect of beta-agonists, and is more likely to be seen after oral administration than after inhalation. Tremor results from an imbalance between fast- and slow-twitch muscle groups of the extremities, and its severity varies greatly between individuals. No such effects were recorded at the NOELdetermined in the toxicological studies conducted in laboratory animals given ractopamine or in the study in humans on cardiovascular effects of ractopamine.

Behavioral changes

Feelings of restlessness, apprehension, and anxiety were reported side-effects after the use of various beta-agonists, particularly after oral or parenteral treatment. In pilot clinical trials with ractopamine, four patients showed little evidence for central nervous system stimulation. It is unclear whether long-term treatment with these drugs results in the development of tolerance to these adverse effects.

 

Ractopamine usage benefits producers, but not consumers.”

It is bad for animal welfare and has some bad effects on humans,” Donald Broom, a professor at the University of Cambridge’s department of veterinary medicine, concluded in his 30-minute brief at a forum in Taipei.”http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/03/30/2003529068

 

The Facts about U.S. Beef and Ractopamine

Ractopamine hydrochloride is a feed ingredient that helps increase the animals’ ability to efficiently turn what they eat into lean muscle rather than fat. This leads to reduced feed demand, less waste and higher quality and more affordable meat for consumers. The United States has approved the use of ractopamine in cattle since 2003. Major beef producing or importing countries, including Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Canada and many others, have also determined that meat from animals fed ractopamine is safe for human consumption. Ractopamine is sold under the brand name Optaflexx for use with cattle and Paylean for use with pigs. http://www.ait.org.tw/en/officialtext-ot1201.html

 

SOURCES:

http://blog.friendseat.com/tainted-pork-china-food-scandal/

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/12/u-s-and-russia-spar-over-ractopamine-in-pork-and-beef/#.UOoqzW9fCiw

http://blog.friendseat.com/tainted-pork-china-food-scandal/

http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/31800/russia-and-us-clash-over-ractopamine-tests

http://www.lilly.com/Search/Results.aspx?k=monsanto&s=lilly.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ractopamine

http://www.lilly.com/Search/Results.aspx?k=food&s=lilly.com

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/03/30/2003529068

 http://www.ait.org.tw/en/officialtext-ot1201.html

 

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