Minority report on hormone food risks
3 July 2006
The independent Food Ethics Council [1] has today made publicly available a minority report [2] by one member of an official expert committee that looked into the safety of hormones in beef.
According to reports this morning by the BBC and the Daily Mail, Defra is soon expected to publish a long-awaited review by the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) of 'Risks associated with the use of hormonal substances in food-producing animals'.[3] The minority report highlights additional evidence on potential cancer risks left out of the VPC's review. The Food Ethics Council has agreed to make the minority report available through its website after the VPC broke with accepted good practice by opting not to publish the dissenting view. The VPC's decision is contrary to the UK government's Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees, which states that "any significant diversity of opinion among the members of the committee should be accurately reflected in the report".[4]
John Verrall, a member of the VPC and of the sub-group that wrote the official report, argues in his minority report that the committee did not consider relevant scientific evidence to support concern that even very low-level exposure to hormones used in beef production could cause cancer in humans.[5] Nevertheless, according to Verrall, the key message to take from the official report is caution, since it documents considerable scientific uncertainty over whether it is safe to eat hormone-treated meat. His concern is that the level of scientific uncertainty and the need for caution that it implies are both downplayed in the summary of the official report - the only part most people will read - which states that hormone residues in food "would not be sufficient to induce any measurable physiological effect".
All the hormones reviewed in the report are banned from EU farming on safety grounds but they are used in the USA, Canada and other countries. The EU has been under pressure from the World Trade Organisation to lift its ban, and it pays about 120 million US dollars per year in compensation to countries that export beef produced using hormones. The report is crucial because it comes at a moment when the EU is challenging the WTO to lift that fine, on the basis of new scientific evidence.
"The VPC report supports the EU position that these hormones should not be used in meat production because it underlines the considerable doubt that exists over their safety," says Dr Tom MacMillan, Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council. "But Verrall's report is important because experience shows that the detail really matters in WTO disputes - the outcome can hinge on how a report like this is interpreted, so there is no room for ambiguity. It would be tragic if some EU countries continued to pay millions of dollars in wrong-headed fines or, worse still, public safety was compromised, just because the experts overlooked recent evidence or chose their words poorly."
The Food Ethics Council calls on the government to reassure consumers by:
--
For further information and interviews contact Tom MacMillan on 07973 137185.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The Food Ethics Council is an independent champion for better food and farming. We challenge government, business and the public to tackle problems ethically, providing research, analysis and tools to help. For more information visit www.foodethicscouncil.org.
2. The minority report is available at www.foodethicscouncil.org/files/verrallreport.pdf. The report was initially intended by the author to be appended to the official report and it is published here in the draft form in which it was submitted to the VPC for consideration.
3. The Veterinary Products Committee is a scientific committee that advises the government on the use of veterinary drugs, including in farming. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, an executive agency of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), provides the secretariat for the committee. In 2002, the committee established a Working Group on the Review of Hormones. The Working Group's brief was to evaluate the latest statement warning against the use of hormones in meat production from the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Veterinary measures relating to Public Health.
A draft version of the official VPC report is available at www.vpc.gov.uk/comments/report.pdf. The Daily Mail, BBC Farming Today and BBCi report this story.
4. The Code of Practice is available at www.ost.gov.uk/policy/advice/copsac/index.htm. The same paragraph (64), in full, states:
"Committees should not seek unanimity at the risk of failing to recognise different views on a subject. These might be recorded as a range of views, possibly published as an addendum to the main report. However, any significant diversity of opinion among the members of the committee should be accurately reflected in the report." In addition, the Code of Practice emphasises the need for committees to take special care in interpreting and communicating uncertainty. It quotes the BSE Inquiry Report (Vol 1, para 1275):
"An advisory committee should not water down its formulated assessment of risk out of anxiety not to cause public alarm."
5. Verrall's minority report highlights relevant papers and statements by expert bodies that are not considered in the official report. In addition, since his minority report was drafted, further analysis of potential risks associated with low-level exposure to hormones used in meat production has been published by the University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark, which under Professor Niels E. SkakkebÃk is a recognised world authority on the subject. By kind permission of the authors, Human Reproduction Update and Oxford University Press, the article is reproduced on our website at www.foodethicscouncil.org/files/oestrogenarticle.pdf. The article states:
"The question of possible effects of sex steroid exposure of children is extremely relevant, as we have been unable to find good evidence of a safe margin for exposure of children to sex hormones added to food products. Previous calculations seem to be based on flawed assumptions." (p.6)
"Because no lower threshold for estrogenic action has been established, caution should be taken to avoid unnecessary exposure of fetuses and children to exogenous sex steroids and endocrine disruptors, even at very low levels."(p.1)
The independent Food Ethics Council [1] has today made publicly available a minority report [2] by one member of an official expert committee that looked into the safety of hormones in beef.
According to reports this morning by the BBC and the Daily Mail, Defra is soon expected to publish a long-awaited review by the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) of 'Risks associated with the use of hormonal substances in food-producing animals'.[3] The minority report highlights additional evidence on potential cancer risks left out of the VPC's review. The Food Ethics Council has agreed to make the minority report available through its website after the VPC broke with accepted good practice by opting not to publish the dissenting view. The VPC's decision is contrary to the UK government's Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees, which states that "any significant diversity of opinion among the members of the committee should be accurately reflected in the report".[4]
John Verrall, a member of the VPC and of the sub-group that wrote the official report, argues in his minority report that the committee did not consider relevant scientific evidence to support concern that even very low-level exposure to hormones used in beef production could cause cancer in humans.[5] Nevertheless, according to Verrall, the key message to take from the official report is caution, since it documents considerable scientific uncertainty over whether it is safe to eat hormone-treated meat. His concern is that the level of scientific uncertainty and the need for caution that it implies are both downplayed in the summary of the official report - the only part most people will read - which states that hormone residues in food "would not be sufficient to induce any measurable physiological effect".
All the hormones reviewed in the report are banned from EU farming on safety grounds but they are used in the USA, Canada and other countries. The EU has been under pressure from the World Trade Organisation to lift its ban, and it pays about 120 million US dollars per year in compensation to countries that export beef produced using hormones. The report is crucial because it comes at a moment when the EU is challenging the WTO to lift that fine, on the basis of new scientific evidence.
"The VPC report supports the EU position that these hormones should not be used in meat production because it underlines the considerable doubt that exists over their safety," says Dr Tom MacMillan, Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council. "But Verrall's report is important because experience shows that the detail really matters in WTO disputes - the outcome can hinge on how a report like this is interpreted, so there is no room for ambiguity. It would be tragic if some EU countries continued to pay millions of dollars in wrong-headed fines or, worse still, public safety was compromised, just because the experts overlooked recent evidence or chose their words poorly."
The Food Ethics Council calls on the government to reassure consumers by:
- Stating clearly in public that the government understands the key message of the expert report, which is that the use of hormones in beef production may pose risks to consumers.
- Supporting the EU challenge against the WTO's punitive fines.
- Commissioning an independent review of all expert advisory committees to ensure that they follow best practice on communicating minority views and scientific uncertainty, in reality and not just on paper.
--
For further information and interviews contact Tom MacMillan on 07973 137185.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The Food Ethics Council is an independent champion for better food and farming. We challenge government, business and the public to tackle problems ethically, providing research, analysis and tools to help. For more information visit www.foodethicscouncil.org.
2. The minority report is available at www.foodethicscouncil.org/files/verrallreport.pdf. The report was initially intended by the author to be appended to the official report and it is published here in the draft form in which it was submitted to the VPC for consideration.
3. The Veterinary Products Committee is a scientific committee that advises the government on the use of veterinary drugs, including in farming. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, an executive agency of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), provides the secretariat for the committee. In 2002, the committee established a Working Group on the Review of Hormones. The Working Group's brief was to evaluate the latest statement warning against the use of hormones in meat production from the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Veterinary measures relating to Public Health.
A draft version of the official VPC report is available at www.vpc.gov.uk/comments/report.pdf. The Daily Mail, BBC Farming Today and BBCi report this story.
4. The Code of Practice is available at www.ost.gov.uk/policy/advice/copsac/index.htm. The same paragraph (64), in full, states:
"Committees should not seek unanimity at the risk of failing to recognise different views on a subject. These might be recorded as a range of views, possibly published as an addendum to the main report. However, any significant diversity of opinion among the members of the committee should be accurately reflected in the report." In addition, the Code of Practice emphasises the need for committees to take special care in interpreting and communicating uncertainty. It quotes the BSE Inquiry Report (Vol 1, para 1275):
"An advisory committee should not water down its formulated assessment of risk out of anxiety not to cause public alarm."
5. Verrall's minority report highlights relevant papers and statements by expert bodies that are not considered in the official report. In addition, since his minority report was drafted, further analysis of potential risks associated with low-level exposure to hormones used in meat production has been published by the University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark, which under Professor Niels E. SkakkebÃk is a recognised world authority on the subject. By kind permission of the authors, Human Reproduction Update and Oxford University Press, the article is reproduced on our website at www.foodethicscouncil.org/files/oestrogenarticle.pdf. The article states:
"The question of possible effects of sex steroid exposure of children is extremely relevant, as we have been unable to find good evidence of a safe margin for exposure of children to sex hormones added to food products. Previous calculations seem to be based on flawed assumptions." (p.6)
"Because no lower threshold for estrogenic action has been established, caution should be taken to avoid unnecessary exposure of fetuses and children to exogenous sex steroids and endocrine disruptors, even at very low levels."(p.1)
Work in food or farming? Join our Business Forum.
Think critically. Keep informed. Read our magazine.
Print this page