Hormone Debate

US agrees to postpone duty hikes in beef hormone row: EU
19 hours ago

BRUSSELS (AFP) — Washington agreed Wednesday to postpone for two weeks introducing additional duties on a number of EU products in a long-running row over beef hormones, the European Commission said Wednesday.

The new duties, including a crippling 300-percent import duty on France's Roquefort cheese, were supposed to take effect on Thursday, but the two sides agreed instead to seek a negotiated solution.

The EU has had a ban on hormone-treated beef in place since the early 1980s which has long been a source of trade disputes with partners such as the United States and Canada.

The World Trade Organization in 1998 ruled that the EU had violated trade rules by banning the hormone-treated beef, thereby allowing the United States and Canada to impose trade sanctions on the bloc. Read More

The EU doesn’t want our beef because of the estrogen implant we use to increase efficiency. What the news media never tells you is that even conventionally raised beef has less estrogen in it than most other foods. Take for example cabbage, it has over 1000 times more naturally occurring estrogen in it than in beef. And after several decades of use, it’s safety has been proven.