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MPA is banned
in the EU because scientists believe it might cause infertility in humans
and they have ordered the destruction of products containing it. mindfully.org note: This is but one of a million reasons to grow, buy, and eat organic foods. Purchase food produced as close to home as possible, and eat as low on the food chain as possible. |
DANGEROUS waste from an Irish pharmaceutical plant appears to have been illegally diverted into Dutch pig feed, without the company's knowledge, prompting a major new food scandal in Europe.
The Belgian authorities have been in touch with the Food Safety Authority here over the discovery in pig feed of a banned hormone feared to cause infertility in women, which had been legally exported to Belgium for disposal, before winding up in the human food chain.
The matter is being criminally investigated and the perpetrators must be prosecuted, as it "casts a shadow over European food production," said Alan Reilly, FSAI Deputy Chief.
However, consumers could be assured that none of the feed had been used in Ireland and the pharmaceutical waste had been legally exported under proper licence for detoxification before being allegedly criminally diverted, he said.
The hormone Medoxyprogesterone-acetate MPA was discovered in Dutch pig feed and Belgian investigators are probing whether it came from a Belgian firm called Bioland which recently went bankrupt.
MPA is banned in the EU because scientists believe it might cause infertility in humans and they have ordered the destruction of products containing it. However it is approved as a growth stimulant in the US, Australia and New Zealand.
The problem came to light when pigs on a Dutch farm were not going into heat, prompting concerns they had been exposed to some hormone, said Mr Reilly.
Belgium's AFSCA food safety agency was in contact with the FSAI and the Department of Agriculture on Friday over the matter. A Department spokesman said last night their Special Investigation Unit had established the waste was legally exported to Bioland for proper disposal.
An AFSCA spokesman said information would be passed to the Belgian prosecutors, but that did not mean anything illegal had taken place here. Alan Reilly said it was "extremely serious" that such material could get into animal feed.
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