-XBAR- said:
What type of formal education or background do you have that would allow you to make an informed opinion regarding synthetic hormone exposure? I have none but that's why I look to those who do.
The root of the issue likely lies in our differing opinions of what exactly 'moving forward' means.
I do have formal education in this field, and although I don't directly deal with food related issues, I deal with human and ecological risk assessment on a daily basis.
Frankly, this issue is popular in the public because its something that suburban house frau's with too much time and money on their hands can sink their teeth into because it's something they think that threatens their kids. Restaurants and high end food chains have figured out its something they can use to get that extra money from the house frau's. It's not something that many professional researchers in universities, FDA, or elsewhere are putting that much money into studying relative to other problems.
The reality is many, many products that we use in the world contain chemicals that mimic synthetic hormones. For example, there is a very serious decline in amphibian populations in this many developed countries and there is strong evidence it is due to synthetic chemicals that mimic estrogen. Serious researchers are much more concerned about chemicals (herbicides, pesticides, etc) that are applied directly too crops and enter the environment through runoff and/or are directly ingested by humans than they are hormones in meat products. Plastic products are thought to be one of the biggest contributors to the presence of trace levels of these types of substances in the environment. That wealthy house frau that shops at Whole Foods in her yoga pants likely gets much higher doses of synthetic chemicals in her body from drinking her "purified" water that has been sitting in a plastic bottle for months + eating her soy whatever than she does by eating steak/chicken/pork and getting a glass of water out of the sink. Not to mention the makeup she cakes on her face everyday. Chemicals are everywhere.
Despite all of this, human lifespans are rapidly increasing worldwide BECAUSE our food and water supplies SAFE AND CHEAP. Engineers and farmers are more responsible for the dramatic increase in lifespan than doctors are. Frankly, everything else is background noise. Everyone is going to die of something. Frankly, I'll trade obesity and cancer in my 70s-80s for plague, cholera, etc. in my 30s and 40s any time. In 50 years we will probably have recognized that we have more problems caused by living too long than vice versa. Dying about the time you've lost your usefulness has its benefits. Quality over quantity applies to more than just cows.
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