|
0 6 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5
“Magic” steroid in animal feed dangerous to humans
Friday, November 4, 2005
Thanh Nien Daily
Reported by Hung Son, Cam Nhi
Translated by The Vinh
Many farms in Vietnam add a hazardous, growth-promoting
drug to their poultry and pig feed, ignorant or
regardless of its deadly effects on humans, a Thanh Nien
investigation has found.
The drug, known commonly as “muscle creator”, “magic
potion”, or “Armit mitserhem,” helps pigs gain up to 100
kilograms a month, chickens lay eggs prolifically, and
ducks’ eggs grow as big as those of geese, some farmers
told Thanh Nien.
However, a sophisticated test discovered that the drug
contained Clenbuterol, a synthetic steroid that has been
associated with acute poisoning of humans consuming meat
from Clenbuterol-fed animals.
In cases reported in other countries, people were
hospitalized with reversible symptoms like increased
heart rate, muscular tremors, headache, nausea, fever,
and chills.
A kilogram of the wonder drug, sold under the counter
for 300,000 Vietnam dong (some US$19), has roughly 140
milligrams of Clenbuterol, the test by the Ho Chi Minh
City Testing Service Lab found.
With the regular “mixing formula” being 25 kg of the
drug for every ton of animal feed, each kilogram of the
resulting foodstuff has clenbuterol concentrations of
3430 parts per billion.
A much lower proportion of Clenbuterol was detected in a
Chinese animal feed brand that was held responsible for
poisoning scores of people in Europe and Hong Kong. They
had eaten pork tainted with the steroid in the 1990s.
“I’m frightened to learn that this drug has such
excessive concentrations of clenbuterol,” Pham Thi Kim
Phuong, the lab director, said.
Short-lived chickens
The secret use of Clenbuterol in animal feed first came
to public notice when a poultry farmer sued an animal
feed company in January after over 1,000 chickens died.
Nguyen Thi Dep said she had bought the feed from the Ho
Chi Minh City-based New Hope Company for her poultry
farm in Can Tho, a Mekong Delta city, in late November
2004.
After eating the feed, some of her chickens began to lay
two eggs a day, Dep said.
But five days later, they started to die en masse.
“When I was pulling a dying chicken out of the case, it
tried to lay one more egg before dying,” she said.
Within 20 days, her entire flock perished. Dep then fed
her ducks with the remaining feed only to find they
started laying “unusual” eggs – with two yolks, and
double or triple size.
Since there was no outbreak of poultry disease in the
region, Dep, a biologist herself, took samples of the
feed to the lab.
She also asked representatives of New Hope and the local
agricultural authorities to accompany her while taking
another batch of samples for testing.
Both tests showed that there was roughly 140 micrograms
of Clenbuterol in every kilo of New Hope feed.
The same testing center said that the third batch of
samples showed no signs of “banned substances.” Dep said
the sample might have been stealthily replaced.
On September 23, a Can Tho court dismissed her case
citing insufficiency of evidence as to whether New
Hope’s feed contained Clenbuterol.
Dep said she would pursue the law suit “till the end,”
even if she would have to go abroad to have the samples
tested.
She then reported the case to Thanh Nien which launched
an investigation.
“Super-pork”
The drug was also the reason behind the “magical” growth
of pigs, making them gain 100 kg in three months instead
of six, growers said.
Besides, the drug helped add a greater proportion of
muscle to fat, making the pork look more delicious, they
said. “Super muscle” pork – as known in the market – is
thus more expensive than normal meat.
The drug was first smuggled from Thailand or China to
several southern Vietnamese provinces five years ago.
At that time, the odorless, pungent white powder and the
formula to mix it with feed were still a secret known
only to big farmers.
Somewhere along the line the beans were spilled, and now
the drug is available not only in veterinary medicine
stores but also in many animal farming equipment and
feed stores, Thanh Nien discovered.
Under the counter
However, it is impossible for a stranger to buy the
magic powder.
A Thanh Nien reporter got a cool, suspicious reception
and a definite no when he tried to buy the drug at some
veterinary medicine stores in Go Vap district, Ho Chi
Minh City.
“You have to go with a patron to be accepted,” a source
advised, adding the drug was only sold in bags of 25 kg.
He also helped Thanh Nien buy a few kilos.
Some sources estimated that over 60 percent of pork in
the southern markets were “tainted.”
A recent test by the city Animal Health Department of
pork from neighboring provinces revealed that almost a
third of the samples had clenbuterol residues ranging
from 0.49 to 2.15 milligram per kilo, Truong Thi Kim
Chau, the department vice director, said.
The result, however, could only serve as a warning
without any penalty being handed out since the samples
had been taken randomly from markets, Chau admitted.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Phuoc Trung, the agricultural head of
Ho Chi Minh City admitted lax oversight of chemicals
used for animal feed due to insufficient human
resources, inappropriate regulations, and lack of funds.
Current regulations required his agency to notify the
subjects about an inspection a full week in advance,
giving them enough time to wipe clean all trace of
banned chemicals, he said.
Besides, the agricultural department’s budget was not
enough to pay for costly tests for banned substances in
animal feed, Trung said.
Banned steroid
Clenbuterol is in fact one of the 18 chemicals banned in
Vietnam’s breeding industry.
It is a growth-promoting drug in the beta-agonist class
of compounds. Its illegal use in show animals is linked
to its ability to induce weight gain and a greater
proportion of muscle to fat.
There were several outbreaks of illness in Europe and
Hong Kong involving consumption of pork with clenbuterol
residues, according to a report by the US Food Safety
and Inspection Service.
Spain reported two such outbreaks in 1990 affecting 135
persons who consumed contaminated beef liver. Samples
had clenbuterol concentrations of 160 to 291 parts per
billion.
Clenbuterol was suspected, but not confirmed, as the
cause of an earlier outbreak of illness, also in Spain.
A similar incident involving 22 cases, also traced to
beef liver, was reported in France. Clenbuterol also
caused concern in Ireland in 1991.
Hong Kong reported two outbreaks of clenbuterol food
poisoning in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
[Link]
2 1 - 0 6 - 2 0 0 6
Clenbuterol found in HCMC pork
SGGP
08/06/2006
VietNamNet Bridge
VietNamNet – The HCM City veterinary department has found
samples of pork containing Clenbuterol, a banned feed additive
that may cause poisoning in humans.
Clenbuterol is used to help animals gain more weight in a
short time, but it could be dangerous to human health. A
campaign to survey in six districts within the city conducted
by the City Veterinary Department discovered the Clenbuterol
residues in pork, alarming veterinary experts.
Among 500 samples collected from markets and abattoirs, 30%
were Clenbuterol positive, and all pork in the studies had
already been sold.
Mr Huynh Huu Tho, Head of the Centre for Testing, Treatment
and Husbandry Medicines, said that Clenbuterol is now used
over Dexa, which increases weight by causing animals to retain
water.
Clenbuterol comes in powder form and causes rapid weight gain
in pigs, producing a leaner meat.
Producers administer it 21 days before slaughter, mixing 1
kilogram into 1,000 kilograms of food. Previously pigs
required a year to reach to 100 kilograms, but Clenbuterol has
reduced that to three months.
But veterinary scientists say the risks to human health are
high. According to Mr Tho, Clenbuterol, unlike Dexa, can cause
sudden mutation in cells that could lead to cancer, high blood
pressure or heart attack.
Since finding residues in pork, the HCM Veterinary Department
is planning to launch an expanded testing campaign of
different grades of pork from several different sources. The
department plans to bring the testing to other provinces as
well.
One veterinary official in HCM city said that many pig farmers
used both Dexa and Clenbuterol to avoid the scrutiny of
veterinary officers because it would help to increase lean
meat and fat. However, there has been no research on how this
combination would affect human health.
[Link]
|
[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
