'Turbo-pigs' turn off pork eaters

By IMRE KARACS

BERLIN - Panic-stricken Germans are revising their diet yet again after revelations that millions of pigs in Bavaria and Austria are being fed illegal drugs, including potential carcinogens.

As experts warned that the adulterated pork posed an even greater danger to human health than BSE, police raided dozens of farms and veterinary practices in Austria and southern Germany, confiscating a large quantity of smuggled drugs.

An estimated 1200 farms are believed to have bought growth-enhancing pharmaceuticals from a ring of veterinarians, two of whom have been held on suspicion of fraud.

The vets traded in hormones, antibiotics and vaccines, smuggled into the two countries from the Far East and the United States. The use of anabolic steroids in animal feed, allowed in the US, is banned under European law. One of the hormones seized, a synthetic version of oestrogen, has been proven to cause mutations and cancer.

Antibiotics can be administered to animals, but only under strict controls. Their widespread use gives rise to resistant strains of germs, the so-called "superbugs," some of which can also infect humans.

To farmers, however, such drugs offer immense advantages. Animals pumped full of vaccines and antibiotics are tougher in the face of disease and able to put up with poor hygiene without falling ill.

A happy side-effect of antibiotics is faster growth. Boosted with the odd shot of muscle-building steroids, these "turbo-pigs" are ready for the chop much sooner than animals raised the natural way, guaranteeing the farmers rapid returns.

Investigators have traced the illicit drugs trade to a veterinary practice in the Bavarian town of Straubing. Police said the so-called "autobahn-vets" conducted their business at motorway stations. The alleged ring-leader, who says he sold only fruit, has fled to Mexico.

Under EU guidelines, farmers must record all drugs fed to their animals in a log-book. The powerful farming lobby has, however, so far scuppered attempts to enforce the EU rule in Germany.

The pork scare comes on the heels of the discovery of 16 cases of BSE so far in Germany, most of them in Bavaria. At first, German consumers gave up beef, with consumption falling by as much as 90 per cent in some regions since November.

Then came revelations that some pork sausages also contain beef. Two ministers were forced to resign this month because they had failed to heed warnings from Brussels and misinformed their own public.

Now, after renouncing beef and wurst, Germans must consider giving up their favourite meat.

- HERALD CORRESPONDENT