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Some growth hormones used in meat production are human carcinogens.
They have been banned in the European Community for this reason. Policing the meat trade is not an easy task because the black market is constantly making new drugs that do not show up in urine screening. Several projects within the Standards, Measurement and Testing programme have developed a range of reference materials to help testing laboratories check and optimise their hormone measurement techniques. G rowth promoting drugs for farm animals may be an easy way to increase a farmer's profits but they present a serious health risk to consumers. In particular, certain growth hormones, called stilbenes, can actually cause cancer and birth defects, as well as upsetting human hormone levels.