AN English daily reported on Saturday that, in violation of the law and driven by motives for making quick money, traders and farmers are using excessive harmful steroids to fatten cattle for the forthcoming Eid market, posing a serious threat to public health. Veterinary experts said this harmful process to fatten cattle starts several months before Eid-ul-Azha and the animals are affected with serious diseases. They added that if people consume these steroids stimulated meat repeatedly, their kidneys, livers and other organs would be affected. The Ministries of Health, Fisheries and Livestock, and the law enforcers, the police in particular, are seen indifferent to this serious health issue. This is an unacceptable oversight of the government.
The greedy farmers and traders choose the time when millions of cattle are sacrificed by the Muslims. Cattle traders with the help of veterinary quacks and dishonest livestock officers are using ‘cheap’ steroidal drugs like Oradexon, Decason, Dexamithson, Streron and Presdnisolon, injecting the cattle with anabolic steroids and anti-histamine drugs, though use of steroids and harmful drugs for fattening cattle was prohibited by the Fisheries and Livestock Act-2010. A recent study conducted by Bangladesh Agricultural University said, 70.6 percent of the farmers involved with cattle fattening use anabolic steroids as a growth hormone.
According to Livestock Department’s statistics the number of cattle slaughtered as sacrificial animals on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha has almost doubled in the last five years. It showed that 65.39 lakh cattle, including cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep, were slaughtered during Eid-ul-Azha in 2013, up from 37.96 lakh in 2009. Cattle-head from India is the major source of supply.
Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research director Mahmudur Rahman said that excessive use of steroids could lead to many health problems, including arthritis, kidney and liver complications. The steroid is entering into our food chain as it is being used in fattening cattle and certainly causes health hazards. These cattle fattened by steroid drugs could die if not slaughtered within a certain period of time. Thus, consumption of steroid stimulated meat is a potential public health threat.
The dishonest traders and farmers fatten the cattle as the fatty cattle are in huge demand as some sections of people exhibit fattened cows as a prestige symbol. Exhibition of such sacrificial animals is completely prohibited in Islam and it goes contradictory to the spirit of sacrifice.
The Ministry concerned, the local government bodies who manage the makeshift bazaars should not skip their duties to protect people from the serious health risk.
