These Drugs Fatten Up Cattle And Make It Painful To Walk

Beta-agonists are drugs that were originally developed to help people with asthma and are now given to cattle to make them grow faster in a shorter period of time to “produce more beef with fewer cattle.” A recent video of “lame” cattle fed such drugs raises concerns about the safety of beta-agonists for animals and, also, for humans who eat beef from them.

Beef from cattle fed drugs such as Merck’s Zilmax and Optaflexx from Eli Lilly Co’s Elanco Animal Health can be labeled as hormone-free and antibiotic-free because, under U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, beta-agonists are not growth hormones or antibiotics. Such meat can also be labeled “natural,” which seems rather inaccurate, given that animals fed beta-agonists in the weeks before they are slaughtered add thirty pounds to their body weight; the drugs also reduce the fat content of the beef.

More