Millions of eggs contain drug residues
shows new report

Three million eggs eaten every day could contain residues of a dangerous drug according to Government figures seen by the Soil Association, the UK's main charity working to promote organic food and farming.

The Soil Association today warned in a report that babies could be at risk, along with people who eat a large number of eggs, such as those on the Atkins' diet, and people with certain heart conditions.

The drug, lasalocid, is an antibiotic which can legally be used in the feed of chickens sold for meat, turkeys, pheasants and quail. Lasalocid is contained in ready-made feed sold to farmers for these purposes. However it is not licensed for use for chickens that lay eggs.

Residues are increasingly being found in chickens' eggs. In 1999, only one percent of egg samples contained residues of lasalocid. This rose to over 12 percent in 2003 and one sample showed the highest level of contamination ever recorded (3,450 parts per billion). Contamination is now so widespread that even one sample of organic eggs has been affected at 60 parts per billion – almost certainly through feed mill contamination. Past Government assurances that residues of lasalocid pose no risk to health are shown to be based on false calculations which underestimate the consumption of egg, especially by children and take no account of toxic metabolites of lasalocid in food.

Many growth-promoting antibiotics used in farming have been banned in the EU. As a result, the use of lasalocid and related drugs (ionophore coccidiostats) has risen from 153 tonnes in 2000 to 195 tonnes in 2002: this appears to be linked to higher levels of residues in eggs.

Because lasalocid is not considered by the Government to be a drug but a feed additive, no "safe" limit (maximum residue limit) for residues has been established. Once limits are set, producers exceeding these can be prosecuted, and contaminated products may be withdrawn. Since there is no maximum limit for lasalocid no-one has ever been prosecuted and no lasalocid-contaminated food has ever been withdrawn from sale.

"The Government and the Food Standards Agency have done nothing to warn consumers about these residues. We believe that eggs contaminated at the high levels found in some samples last year pose real risks to some vulnerable consumers.

"When Edwina Currie revealed the problem of salmonella in eggs in the 1980s, the power of the intensive farming industry and the drug companies forced her to resign. Those in authority seem to care more about their own skins than they do about ours," says Richard Young, the Soil Association's Policy Advisor.

There have been many documented cases of severe illness (paralysis, respiratory-muscle failure, increased heart and breathing rates) and death in farm animals given feed containing lasalocid. Numerous laboratory experiments show that lasalocid is highly toxic to some species, even at relatively low doses. Lasalocid has a strong influence on the heart and circulation (causing sustained rapid heart beats and increased blood flow) even at extremely low levels. Tony Blair is one of half a million people in Britain who are at increased risk because they suffer from cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and other tachycardia.

The Soil Association is particularly concerned about the health effects on babies: egg yolks are now often recommended for babies as young as six months old yet lasalocid is mostly found in the yolks of eggs. There has been no testing of egg-based baby food for lasalocid residues since 1999. Egg yolk products are included in some infant formula milk, yet Government regulators have never tested these for lasalocid residues.

"Eggs contain beneficial nutrients and it is important that people who currently eat eggs continue to do so. But until this drug is banned those most at risk should limit the amount of egg eaten on any one day and consider buying organic eggs since these have to be the safest option," says Richard Young.

The Soil Association is recommending the following actions:

• Parents should avoid feeding conventionally produced eggs or products containing them to babies under a year old. Children over 12 months of age should have their weekly consumption limited to four eggs. Adults with heart problems should limit their daily consumption to a maximum of two eggs
  
  
• Egg-based baby food, infant formula, and supplementary feeds for premature babies containing egg yolk lecithin should be tested for lasalocid residues by the Government this year, using the most sensitive analytical methods available
  
  
• Until EU scientists agree a maximum residue level, a provisional level of 50 micrograms per kilogram should be adopted in the UK which is the level set in Australia. Last year in the UK, one in every eight samples of eggs tested contained residues above this level, with one sample showing 3,450 micrograms per kilogram, which is 69 times above the Australian limit
  
  
• The new advisory body, set up by Public Health Minister Melanie Johnson, to focus on sudden adult deaths and heart arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, should examine what part lasalocid residues in food might be playing in the incidence of these diseases

"Too hard to crack? The problem of drug residues in eggs" by Richard Young and Coilin Nunan is available from the Soil Association Mail Order Department on 0117 929 0661, mtrowell@soilassociation.org or from http://www.soilassociation.org/antibiotics price £12. It is the fourth report in the series "The use and misuse of antibiotics in UK agriculture".