Modern Meat

by Orville Schell

A journalist and cattle rancher recounts the history of the use of antibiotics and hormones in livestock feed and details the potential risks involved in the consumption of such treated meat

Genres: Nonfiction

337 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1984

About the author

Orville Schell is the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society in New York. He is a former professor and Dean at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Schell was born in New York City, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University in Far Eastern History, was an exchange student at National Taiwan University in the 1960s, and earned a Ph.D. (Abd) at University of California, Berkeley in Chinese History. He worked for the Ford Foundation in Indonesia, covered the war in Indochina as a journalist, and has traveled widely in China since the mid-70s.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN EXCELLENT SURVEY OF ALL ASPECTS OF MEAT PRODUCTION IN AMERICA

Orville Hickock Schell III is an American writer, academic, and activist, who is Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York; he was previously Dean of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

He wrote in the Prologue to this 1978 book (revised in 1983), “Hardly a day goes by that the mail does not bring promotional literature advertising some new agricultural technology … The ingenuity of these scientific discoveries and new inventions attests to the creative genius and spirit of innovation that continue to make American agriculture the most productive in the world. But there are aspects of this revolution in livestock production, such as the increasing reliance on drugs and chemicals, that are unsettling. Compounds that are closely regulated for human use can easily be bought in any quantity for animal use without prescription… It is not surprising, then, that many consumers have a vague but fearful sense that modern meat may somehow be unsafe to eat. Wanting to know whether or not such fears were ill founded, I set off across the country to write this book… I have concentrated on three aspects of modern meat production: antibiotic feed additives that are used… to control disease and promote growth… several new animal-feed technologies to increase the efficiency of feedstuffs, and hormonal compounds that are … used to enhance the growth of cattle or to manipulate their reproductive systems.” (Pg. xiii-xiv)

He recounts, “Biologists and clinicians … were aware that the practice of feeding antibiotics to livestock ‘subtherapeutically’---that is, at dose levels below those required to treat an actual disease---was widespread… The practice… was adopted by farmers in the early fifties… also to promote growth… The practice has been responsible for changing the way livestock is raised in the United States, it has also alarmed a growing number of scientists, who worry about the effects of introducing such large amounts of antimicrobial drugs into the environment.” (Pg. 19-20) He adds, “many clinicians and researchers … fear that bacterial genes that code for resistance are being developed in dangerously large numbers through the use of such additives… resistant animal bacteria that end up in the intestinal tracts of human beings may transfer their capacity for resistance to indigenous human bacteria.” (Pg. 23-24)

He notes, “much discussion among scientists about the dangers of unregulated meddling with the genetic determinants of life… But ironically, while the regulators concerned themselves with the potential dangers of gene-splicing research, genetic trading caused by the widespread use of antibiotics went on unabated, in the form of R-plasmid transfer.” (Pg. 39)

He observes, “A growing number of studies … lend plausibility to [the] presumption that antibiotic resistance generated in animals is spreading to human beings… The ability of the salmonella bacteria to survive on both sides of the animal-human divide renders people vulnerable not only to the diseases they induce but also to increased levels of antibiotic resistance from whatever transferable R plasmids these bacteria may have acquired while in their animal hosts.” (Pg. 105-106)

He explains, “In larger feedlots… managers sometimes turn to aerial spraying… The slightest breeze… is capable of blowing the spray off target, so that people and animals and property downwind may end up being at least partial recipients of any insecticide applied in this fashion. Another way in which people and animals may become exposed to toxic farm chemicals is through improper disposal of residues…” (Pg. 157)


Turning to DES [diethylstilbestrol], he quotes an FDA source who said, “the current situation ‘is more a legal situation than a health situation.’ The FDA has in fact made statements to this effect… this whole affair has indeed been difficult for them in the sense that for more than twenty years… the FDA has allowed DES to be used in meat animals. Now that it is illegal, the FDA people find themselves in the awkward position of suddenly having to claim that its continued use constitutes a health hazard. If they expect anyone to obey their regulations in the future, they must give this situation some appearance of gravity, if not as a health hazard, then at least as a serious legal infraction.” (Pg. 205)

Explaining a drug used to abort heifers, he states, “why would a cattleman want to abort a heifer? Because once in a feedlot, the job of a cow is gaining pounds as rapidly as possible, not reproduction. An animal that is expending energy developing a fetus may be a big eater, but she will also be a slow gainer. And since occasional herds have as many as 30 percent of all new heifers accidentally bred, some feedlot operators automatically inject each heifer with Lutalyse as they come not the lot off the trucks for their final three-month fattening period.” (Pg. 274)

He records, “Melengesterol acetate (MGA) is a synthetic. steroidal female hormone that is manufactured … to promote growth by preventing feedlot heifers from coming into heat. The reason why cattlemen do not want heifers to come into heat while they are being fattened is not because they fear they will be bred (there are rarely any bulls around in a feedlot), but because those several days when a cow is in estrus, it tends to get very restless and rambunctious. Instead of placidly putting on pounds, it is likely to be trying to mount or ‘bull’ its pen mates, not only disturbing them, but also raising clouds of dust that can lead to respiratory problems for the whole herd.” (Pg. 276)

He observes, “In fact, in talking about antimicrobial and hormonal products used in livestock production, I have repeatedly noticed the tendency of drug company officials and their promotional literature to avoid discussions of what these compounds are, how they biologically work and how they can affect those people who come in contact with them. It is not that research is unavailable, or that the people in question are ignorant about this information, but rather that in focusing on a drug’s efficacy, these other considerations seem quite irrelevant.” (Pg. 278)

He summarizes, “There are of course many scientists who are not quite as ready to acknowledge that agricultural hormones… are ‘biologically without impact’ on humans even when they are ‘properly used.’ But even if we were to assume that they are… we are still left with an incomplete assessment. What is the impact of these drugs when they are not ‘properly used’? For … agricultural drugs are often used improperly and illegally. What is the effect of this improper and illegal use? It is virtually impossible to say.” (Pg. 303-304)

He says, “Another kind of dangerous residue in meat comes from the use of injectable worming agents, and pour-on grubicides and dipping agents which are used to control such parasites as lice and ticks. All of these chemical compounds are legal, although each has a required withdrawal time, a period of days or weeks before slaughter time when the farmer must cease using the chemical to avoid harmful residues in the meat. Unfortunately, these withdrawal times are frequently not observed, which means that animals get shipped to slaughter houses before residues in their systems have been completely metabolized. The result is that consumers end up eating meat containing violative levels of active chemical compounds. And since such carcasses show no outward sign of such residues, inspectors are rarely able to detect the problem and impound the meat.” (Pg. 315)

He concludes, “it also behooves us to remember that a fearful concern that leads to the rejection of all of these new livestock technologies will be as blind as one that leads to embracing them indiscriminately. Certain feed-additive antibiotics… can be a great asset to livestockmen if used judiciously… Certain hormones… may prove not to pose unreasonable risks when used properly in meat animals… But in those cases where the consequences of continued widespread use are still not clearly known, or where reputable have provided evidence that continued use may proved injurious to us or to our environment, we would be ill-advised to blunder recklessly on.” (Pg. 331-332)

This book is part-‘travelogue,’ as the author reports his attendance at conventions, meetings, and conducts numerous enlightening interviews. It will be ‘must reading’ for anyone concerned about the way that modern technology affect meat production.