Hormone probe prompts animal-feed crackdown

TOUGH new rules on animal feed are to be drawn up by the EU after illegal growth-promoting hormones found their way into pig feed.

An investigation by the EU has found that the hormones, which are banned as growth promoters in Europe because of fears that they cause infertility in humans, were fed to pigs in at least 11 of the 15 member states.

The hormones were said to have been found in waste containing coating from hormone replacement therapy tablets, from Co Kildare-based Wyeth Laboratories. This was then exported by the Dublin-based firm, Cara Environmental Technology, to a company in Belgium, Bioland, which in turn supplied Dutch feed manufacturers.