Herbicides

Beef contains the highest concentration of herbicides of any food sold in America, according to the national Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences. Eighty percent of all the herbicides used in the U.S. are sprayed on corn and soybeans, which are used primarily as feed for cattle. When consumed by cattle, the chemicals accumulate in their bodies and are passed onto consumers in finished cuts of beef.

     -- from National Research Council,
     Board on Agriculture, Alternative Agriculture, 44;
     National Research Council, Board on Agriculture,

Regulating Pesticides in Food, 78, Table 3-20 to 22.

Meat contains 14 times as much pesticide residue as plant foods; dairy products, more than five times as many. Fish is another source of dangerous residues. The EPA estimates that fishes can accumulate up to nine million times the level of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenals (PCBs) found in the water in which they live. Ninety-five percent of human exposure to dioxin, a "probable" cause of cancer and other health risks, comes through meat, fish, and dairy consumption.
     (3) McCarthy, Colman, "Dioxin Burgers," The Washington Post ,      Sept. 24, 1994.