A group of environmental groups has filed suit to require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide “a substantive response” to their 2021 and 2020 rulemaking petitions, urging for the reduction or elimination of ractopamine, a feed additive, in livestock.
The groups claim the additive causes negative impacts on animals’ bodies, elevates consumers’ heart rates and harms the environment.
“For years the FDA has had evidence of the dire effects ractopamine has on animals physically and mentally but has refused to take action—risking the safety of public health and the environment,” the Animal Legal Defense Fund said in a statement.
The groups urge FDA to reduce allowable levels or withdraw the drug’s approval entirely.
