Alli Tepperberg's List: Steroids in food

Wayne M. The meat you eat: steroid use in livestock [Internet]. New York: The Low Density Lifestyle; 2008 [modified 2009 Sept; cited 2013 Nov 4]. Available from: http://www.lowdensitylifestyle.com/the-meat-you-eat-steroid-use-in-livestock/

This web article describes the rapid increase in the use of steroidal implants in the livestock of food industries. The author starts the article bluntly by giving harsh facts about steroid use in animals. The article slowly starts to gear more towards specific steroids that are being used, and eventually the author narrows the steroid use to "six anabolic steroids given, in various combinations, to nearly all animals entering conventional beef feedlots in the U.S." The author goes on to describe the six steroids, which are all very similar, and discuss the harsh results that can occur from each one. The main result is very similar to the effects of growth hormones in children: young girls entering puberty at an early age.

This article is extremely helpful when writing about the effects of steroid use in the food industry because it gives clear examples about the consequences, as well as the definite steroids that are being used in the industry. The author being a Ph.D. helps strengthen the credibility of the article as a whole. There is also another overlap in information between the steroid use and the hormone use. This is very interesting because it shows that the factual information may not be as biased as people think it is, and it all is most likely very true. This article particularly adds to the argument because it gives yet another drug that is used in the food industry and is harmful the humans. The primary concern with choosing this article about steroids is the date in which it was published. The article was posted about 4 years ago, which means there could have been significant changes to the food industry within this time. It may be beneficial to research a different article about steroids to see if the information still matches up and is still reliable. However, through the use of this article and the similar information in the previous resources, there is enough information to state a clear argument agreeing that the food industry may have a harmful effect on the people of the United States.