Groups petition HHS secretary to reduce or eliminate ractopamine levels

More than 50 groups, led by Friends of the Earth, have sent a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Martin Makary asking the agency to reduce or eliminate allowable levels of ractopamine in farmed animals.

In the letter, dated April 29 and also sent to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Center for Veterinary Medicine Acting Director Timothy Schell, the groups call ractopamine a “dangerous drug” that “causes animals’ bodies to suffer tremors, lesions and deterioration, elevates meat consumers’ heart rates, and harms the environment.”