Drug residue in eggs

This Week In The HSI Forum

It’s egg time again.

You could easily imagine that a Forum topic about eggs might have been prompted by the recent Easter holiday. But something else inspired an HSI member named Jo to begin a thread titled “Toxic Eggs.” Jo (who lives in the UK) offers a “snip” from the news that warns of drug residues found in eggs.

The article discusses a report from the UK Soil Association, which claims that as many as one in every eight eggs may contain residues of lasalocid; an antibiotic intended for livestock, not poultry. Consumers in the UK may be eating as many as three million contaminated eggs every day. This drug can cause severe illness in humans, including paralysis. A Soil Association spokesman advises that children and adults with arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) “consider buying organic eggs since these have to be the safest option.”

Jo notes that, “If this is happening in UK, how much worse is it in USA, where the population’s toxic load is known to be greater? We should all keep our own chickens!”

After some searching on the Internet, I can’t confirm that lasalocid is used on poultry in the U.S., but there’s no doubt that the typical hen that produces commercial eggs may be subjected to antibiotics, growth hormones and conditions that are a far cry from free range.

A member named Joyce who also lives in the UK and who also saw the Soil Association article observes, “While some of it may well be true, I feel there is a bit of anti-Atkins here too.” The article speculates that those following the Atkins Plan may be at greater risk, assuming that these dieters consume more eggs than your average egg eater. It’s true that anti-Atkins types enjoy pointing to any problem with high-protein or high-fat food sources. But a member named Ethel knows how to work around such a problem: “I only buy pasture fed eggs from my neighbors farm. I want no part of the toxic eggs full of hormones and antibiotics.”

As I’ve mentioned in previous e-Alerts, William Campbell Douglass, M.D., considers a farm-fresh egg to be a “perfect food” – loaded with a wide variety of nutrients, including essential amino acids, vitamins B, D, A, and Riboflavin, and minerals, including calcium, potassium, and iron.

In the April 2003 issue of his Real Health Breakthroughs Newsletter, Dr. Douglass offers some advice about what to look for when searching for a good egg: “The ones claiming to be organic are generally the most expensive. They may or may not be of the same quality as the ones you buy directly from the farmer, but there’s an easy way to tell if you’re getting what you paid for. The color of the higher quality yolk will be a bright orange, and the yolk itself will be firm and round. Cheaper, lower-quality eggs will have paler yellow yolks that are flat and easily broken.”

Most of us will have to make special efforts to find uncontaminated, farm-fresh eggs, but given the excellent nutrition they provide, the trouble will be worth it.

I’ll give Jo the last word today with this observation about where to place the cart in relation to the horse: “Surely the government agencies ought to be advising the intensive farming groups to avoid toxins in their eggs, not advising consumers to restrict their egg consumption. But then, we know that they don’t have OUR best interests at heart!”

Other topics on the HSI Forum this week include:

• Lowering cholesterol and CRP
• Supps for brain performance?
• Need advice on good facial skin care product
• Alzheimer’s treatment
• Calcium deposits – how do you get rid of them?
• Glaucoma

To join in with any of these discussions, just go to our web site at www.hsionline.com, find your way to the Forum, and add your own insights and comments about health, nutrition and natural treatments.