Dutch farmers seek compensation from Irish firms

Dutch farmers today began slaughtering 50,000 pigs feared contaminated with an illegal hormone, and a group said it will seek compensation from two Irish companies.

Pig farms around the Netherlands were temporarily shut after infertile pigs on one farm were found last month to have been exposed to the hormone MPA, or Medroxyprogresterone acetate, used as a human contraceptive or hormone replacement in menopausal women.