Reuters, via NewsEdge Corporation
BRUSSELS - A European Union court decided on Wednesday to maintain a ban on the use of beta-agonists, which when given to animals increase meat to fat ratios.
"The protection of public health must take priority over all other considerations," including economic consequences, the court said in a statement.
The European Commission found that some people who ate meat from animals given the beta-agonist clenbuterol suffered an increase in heart rate, severe headaches, a reduction in blood pressure and that generally the health risk was too high.
Beta-agonists are used to treat respiratory problems in humans and animals, and under the ban can still be used for pets and horses in the EU.
The use of hormones in meat production has led to trade friction between the 15-member EU and the United States.
The EU has refused to lift its import ban on U.S. beef produced using hormones, even though the World Trade Organisation ruled earlier this year that the ban could not be justified on scientific grounds.
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH (BI Vetmedia) sold more than 13 million DM per year of its beta-agonist, clenbuterol, before the 1996 ban imposed by EU legislation.
C.H. Boehringer Sohn and its wholly-owned subsidiary BI Vetmedica failed in their bid at the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance to overturn the ban.
(Elizabeth Greathouse, Brussels Newsroom +32 2 287 6854, fax +32 2 230 5573, [email protected])
