TTIP: US wants banned Ractopamine lifted in trade talks

[Ichingcarpenter]

The majority of the rest of the world has either completely banned or severely limited it's use (and refuse to import from countries who don't), and here in the us, the FDA knows the stuff is questionable, but in the name of the almighty dollar the practice is continued, and every farm animal that is raised is pumped full of it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ractopamine


TTIP TAFTA US positions.pdf

http://www.fichier-pdf.fr/2015/02/03/ttip-tafta-us-positions/


Ractopamine injected into animals is currently banned in 160 countries. The American Pork Council letter to US governement officials says europeans must lift the ban on it in the free trade agreement. The europeans must also avoid ALL "animal welfare" measures (page 2)

[Katashi_itto]

1. And still we get TPP apologists/3rd Wayers here on DU screeching we shouldn't judge it.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Hmm it looks like if there is a pass-through effect in humans

it would be hypertension.

I swear, the more I learn about farm practices, the more I want to go vegetarian again, and preferably only eat things I've personally grown, sigh.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. What's worse

What's worse, is it doesn't fall under certain "hormone" labels, so the meat packagers can claim their product is "hormone and anti-bacterial free", once again misdirecting consumers as to what they are really eating.

[DebJ]

4. I can't see Europeans agreeing to that at all. n/t

[Fred Sanders]

6. More click bait headlines. Folks need to calm down and click on their brains first.

[Fred Sanders]

5. Nonsense. Where is the offending negotiating document, it is not at the link? All of Europe will

reverse the hormone ban at the demand of America?

Yeah, that is going to happen.

How about getting outraged instead at the fact that the cheap pork in bacon loving America is full of hormones of all kinds, in fact, all the meat in America is Frankenstein meat?

And of course the European position is for America to join the world ban. So it could be a good thing.

The real outrage is America meat lovers being informed of these facts. How can bacon now be as beloved in America?

Sorry to rain on your morning trade outrage, but....really?

Do folks even bother to think things through or is a headline enough now to create Great Outrage and gnashing of teeth and then to the setting up of barricaded instant outrage armed camps?

If somehow Europeans cave and go with American Chemical Porkers, what difference does that make to America as it is is now?

The outrage is being misplaced. Trade negotiations may bring America UP to world standards, it is a backward country in many ways. Folks do realize that there is usually more than one party at negotiations?

Liberals are better than this.

[DebJ]

12. Frankenmeats. That's a keeper. n/t

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. The inherent terribleness of US pork/cattle/poultry...

is one of the reasons I don't want to see this pass. Not just things like ractopamine; use of antibiotics and growth hormone in beef is banned in the EU, most European beef is grass and forage fed, not grain fed. And don't even get me started on poultry; they vaccinate for salmonella here. (Not in the States because the fourteen cents a bird it'd cost to eliminate salmonella is apparently too much.)

[Fred Sanders]

8. Cheap, heavily subsidized fast food, where would Americans be without it? Eat your McHormones and

McMeat, 69 cents a burger, and let God take care of the salmonella poisoning.

Europeans say What?

[DebJ]

13. McHormones, McFat, McSodium, McGristle.

In 2003 I ate at a McDonald's in London and couldn't believe it was a McDonald's burger.

It was good, and it didn't leave my lips feeling like they had been smeared with Vaseline.

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. Chipotle founder said McDonald's chicken farm was the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen Read mor

Chipotle founder said McDonald's chicken farm was the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen



Chipotle once had a close relationship with McDonald's.
The Big Mac chain invested in Chipotle's business in 1998 when it had 14 locations. By 2005, McDonald's had a 90% stake — and Chipotle had 460 locations.

During that period, McDonald's executives invited Chipotle founder Steve Ells to one of the company's chicken farms, and Ells was apparently shocked by what he saw there, Bloomberg reports.

After McDonald's invited Ells to a chicken farm in Arkansas, Ells' father, Bob Ells, told Bloomberg, "he came back and said it was absolutely the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen in his life."

Ells said the cultural differences between McDonald's and Chipotle were stark, even when McDonald's owned the burrito chain.

"What we found at the end of the day was that culturally we're very different," Ells told Bloomberg. "There are two big things that we do differently. One is the way we approach food, and the other is the way we approach our people culture. It's the combination of those things that I think make us successful."

For example, McDonald's wanted Chipotle to add drive-thrus to its restaurants and change its name to Chipotle Fresh Mexican Grill, according to the report.

The company also forced Chipotle to franchise some of its restaurants, which it did reluctantly.

"Bless their hearts, McDonald's had a lot of great suggestions, and we were always polite about it," Chipotle chief operations officer Gretchen Selfridge told Bloomberg. "They really wanted us to do drive-thrus. They really wanted us to do breakfast. But we just really didn't do any of that."

McDonald's divested its stake in Chipotle in 2006.



Read more: http://uk.businessinsider.com/chipotle-founder-on-mcdonalds-farm-2015-2?r=US#ixzz3QmZDiIva

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. It's a long way from just being McDonald's:

Each year, contaminated food sickens forty-eight million Americans, of whom a hundred and twenty-eight thousand are hospitalized, and three thousand die. Many of the deadliest pathogens, such as E. coli and listeria, are comparatively rare; many of the most widespread, such as norovirus, are mercifully mild. Salmonella is both common and potentially lethal. It infects more than a million Americans each year, sending nineteen thousand victims to the hospital, and killing more people than any other food-borne pathogen. A recent U.S.D.A study found that twenty-four per cent of all cut-up chicken parts are contaminated by some form of salmonella. Another study, by Consumer Reports, found that more than a third of chicken breasts tainted with salmonella carried a drug-resistant strain.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/02/bug-system

[fasttense]

11. Why is the US always on the side of the devil in these TPP deals?

Seems to me we never hear that the US is pushing for stronger child labor laws, safer factory conditions or healthier food. The US is always pushing for trade deals that only the devil and corporate royalty will love.

By the way, this growth hormone is everywhere except in pasture raised, feed lot free, real farm raised animals. Get to know your local farmer and buy a CSA share to make sure you and your family are getting the safest food possible.