WHY THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE IMPLANTS IN CATTLE?
The controversy was started in two places, even though there was no scientific basis. In 1979, one branded beef company created a way to sell beef by niche marketing. By the 1980s, a lot of natural beef companies, including ourselves, felt that natural beef was what the public wanted. In developing our natural beef program, we felt that we could provide a tasty, high quality beef by using genetically superior cattle and testing all the beef in our program for the absence of artificial steroids, antibiotics, pesticides and bovine growth promotants. About the same time, the EU banned U.S. beef in Europe. This was, in reality, a trade barrier designed to keep U.S. beef from entering Europe and putting a greater burden on European governments who subsidize cattle production in their own countries. More beef from the United States in Europe meant more cash subsidization for European cattle producers by their governments. European scientists have never been able to identify any harmful effec
