Compliance of Legislation with Toxicology

Drug examples for which toxicology and legislation do not always fit together are the nitroimidazoles, the growth-promoting sex hormones, and the re-combinantly produced somatotropins. 

In order to avoid contradictory drug regulations and to ensure consumer safety, tire European Union has recently initiated elaboration of an amendment 

Despite those advantages, use of these growth-promoting agents has been prohibited in the European Union since 1989. As a consequence, a ban has been implemented on imports of red meat from animals treated with growth-promoting hormones, cutting off US beef exports to the European Union valued at about 100 million annually. 

The Commission set up a Scientific Working Group on Anabolic Agents in Animal Production, which was composed of 22 notable European scientists, to determine whether use of these five hormones as growth promoters posed any 

In June, 1984, the EU Commission proposed amending Directive 81/602 to allow the use of natural hormones, and in July the EU Council president requested the European Parliament for an opinion on this proposal. In October, 1985, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the Commission s proposal. The resolution claimed that scientific information about the five hormonal substances was far from complete and that considerable doubt therefore exists about the desirability of their use and of their effect on human health. It endorsed a ban on zeranol and trenbolone on the grounds that their safety has not been conclusively proven, and rejected the proposed authorization of the three natural hormones except for therapeutic purposes. 

---