

It is possible that the growth hormones that are injected into agricultural livestock may be affecting the human population. Medical texts printed prior to 1920 advise of girls having their first menstrual periods at ages 17 to 19, when they completed their formal schooling. Today, girls as young as 10 years of age have been reported as having experienced their first menstrual period. This younger generation of girls also become potential customers for such pharmaceutical products as Yasmin, Ocella and HPV vaccinations.



Government officials who are responsible for agriculture and public health seem committed to directly and indirectly protecting the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry. The CFIA report will likely disregard the possible occurrence of “leaky gut syndrome” in a percentage of grain-fed, antibiotic-dosed cattle, where digestive bacteria from the intestines, stomachs and colon may enter the animal’s bloodstream prior to its arrival at the abattoirs. Such a matter would likely be outside the mandate, responsibility and jurisdiction of the CFIA, the ministry of agriculture and the department of public health.



During the tenure of former Alberta premier Ralph Klein, foreign markets banned the importation of Canadian beef during the occurrence of mad cow disease in Western Canada. Likewise, several foreign customers are now refusing to import Canadian beef due to the bacteria problem at the XL Foods plant. Despite government officials protecting the commercial interests of pharmaceutical companies that manufacture antibiotics, genetically modified grains and a range of feminine products, there is still a free market in the beef industry that could assert its power.



The outbreak of mad cow disease a few years ago and the more recent case of bacteria-contaminated beef at the XL Foods plant suggest that government officials are losing their grip on the beef industry. The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria may threaten the future viability of the grain-fed, antibiotic-dosed cattle industry as well as erode the power of government agriculture officials. The day may come when foreign food distribution companies assert their market power by declaring that they will only purchase ground beef from antibiotic-free, grass-fed cattle that have been slaughtered and processed at an abattoir that deals exclusively with such cattle.

