The Benefits and Risks of Food Steroids, Antibiotics, and Sprays in Research Paper

The Benefits and Risks of Food Steroids, Antibiotics, and Sprays in the Eye of the Food Manufacturers and the Consumers - Research Paper Example Diseases that can be acquired from eating processed foods with food steroids, antibiotics, and sprays. 1. Cancer 2. Diabetes 3. Heart Diseases B. The routine use of antibiotics was a contributing factor in the surge of drug-resistant bacteria. C. Research of different scientists showing the risks of using food steroids, antibiotics, and sprays to humans. IV. The role of the government in the use of food steroids, antibiotics, and food sprays by food manufacturers. A. The research done by the National Research Council as commissioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). B. The regulations and guidelines issued by the government 1. The Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act 2. The Animal Drug Availability Act C. The recommendations of the government for the food manufacturing industry for the safety and health of consumers. I. Introduction Additives such as antibiotics, steroids and other s prays were created for food for a reason. Providing food quickly and cheaply to a rapidly expanding population was not an easy task for the food industry over the past century. The short shelf life of most products made storage costly, and adverse weather conditions, animal sickness, and other environmental challenges maintained a high risk of losses to the industry. A way out for combating these challenges was offered by scientific developments: the use of pesticides to kill pests that destroy farms, antibiotics to ensure the health of livestock, and steroids to make the livestock reproduce fast enough to meet the growing demand for meat. These interventions made food more affordable, accessible, and helped reduce losses (National Research Council). However, they also brought a new series of challenges to the table. As scientific knowledge grew, so did the concern about possible ways that additives in food could harm the people consuming them. In particular, were concerns of how th e chemical effects on food may promote obesity and lead to heart disease. Agricultural chemicals, pesticides, and veterinary drugs are now included among the most significant chemical hazards in food (Lawley, Curtis and Davis, 4). This paper will discuss the benefits, potential harmful effects, and governmental policies regarding the use of food steroids, antibiotics, and sprays in food manufacturing. It shall also discuss how the government can help resolve the conflict between health advocates and the food industry. The thesis for this paper is as follows. The government should implement strict guidelines on the use of food steroids, antibiotics, and sprays in the production process instead of banning their use in order to balance the claims of the food manufacturers as well as the advocates of public health of the benefits and risks of these food enhancers. II. The benefits derived by food manufactured in using food steroids, antibiotics, and sprays. D. Production cost is low. Ma thhew Perrone has reported that early studies on antibiotics in the 1940’s and 1950’s showed that adding antibiotics to animals’ diet reduced their feeding costs, and made them ready for consumption faster. Feeding takes up about 70 percent of the cost of raising animals, and the use of antibiotics was thus a windfall for farmers. This led the FDA to approve the use of antibiotics for farm animals in the 1950’s. No harmful effects of this policy were known until then. Since the