Right now Europe is fighting for the right to refuse to import beef from the U.S. and Canada that has been grown with the aid of artificial hormones. The purpose of these hormones is to force the livestock to grow in a rapid, unnatural way. Beef has been grown this way in North America for some time, and is sold with no special labeling. Here, meats that have been raised with artificial hormones are allowed to be labelled "All Natural." It is safe to assume that beef you are purchasing in Canada has been raised with the aid of artificial hormones. The one exception are meats sold at specialized organic food stores that clearly state that the meat was raised without added hormones. The World Trade Organization has consistently ruled that the North American system is correct. If Europe refuses to comply, it may be forced to endure a number of trade penalties.

The U.S., Canada and the W.T.O. maintain that testing has shown this beef to be safe. But is it? Lab testing has its limitations. Lab testing is fine when you are testing the outcome of something where the expected effect is immediate. But tests to determine what the long term effects of consuming small amounts of something over many

The new antibiotics that need to be created to fight these new bacterial infections will be paid for by patients when they buy their super antibiotics. The livestock producers have created a cost in their production methods, that they have dumped on society as a whole, and not solely on the consumers of their products. This breaks down arguments that free trade crusaders make that unrestricted sales of this beef will provide the best outcome. We clearly have a case of significant negative externalities.

Another valid concern that should be considered in the beef hormone issue is that animals grown this way are inevitably less healthy and require higher doses of antibiotics to stay alive. The problem here is that higher usage's of antibiotics are contributing to cows gaining immunity to these antibiotics and the emergence of super infections - those that cannot be cured with present antibiotics. These drug resistant bacteria have already found there way to humans - leaving them with serious infections.

A last point to be made is that naturally grown beef and hormone grown beef are different products. If Europe is not willing to produce and sell this product themselves, is it right for North Ameri

Some common words found in the essay are:
Canada WTO, North America, Americans WTO, Beef Europe, North American, artificial hormones, Trade Organization, naturally grown, aid artificial hormones, consuming beef, aid artificial, beef hormone, lab testing, bad science, grown beef,
Approximate Word count = 813
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)