EU: MEP’s back plan to ban hormones in meat production

The European Parliament has approved moves by the European Commission to ban the use of  six growth hormones in the EU meat and poultry production industry, because of concerns that they may harm consumers. The Commission wants to ban oestradiol 17 beta, testosterone, progesterone, trenbolone acetate, zeranol and melengestrol acetate. The proposal has been backed by the parliament’s environment committee, which backed a report saying that the hormones "could have endocrine-disrupting, developmental, immunological, neurobiological, genotoxic and carcinogenic effects." The report also stressed that there were animal welfare grounds with the hormones, which are in use in the USA.