LETTER: 80% of us believe this even though it's false

How can this urban myth be so firmly ingrained in our beliefs?

A RECENT reader's letter published on September 4, entitled, 'Are chicken hormones changing us?' has prompted me to reply, in order to correct the commonly held but incorrect myth perpetuated by this contribution.

That myth is that hormones are somehow given to meat chickens.

This myth is indeed a common one. How many times have you heard people talk about hormones in chicken meat, that hormones are 'fed' to chickens and, as alluded to in this recent letter, that the hormones in chicken meat are causing an epidemic of early maturity/puberty in our young kids today?

Well, guess what? All the above are simply untrue!

In fact, hormones haven't been fed or in any other way administered to chickens here in Australia for more than 50 years.

Despite this reality, around 80% of Australians continue to believe the industry feeds hormones to its chickens.

How can this urban myth be so firmly ingrained in our beliefs? Well to read more on the origin of this myth, check out a blog I recently wrote: chicken.org.au/chookchat/the-hormone-myth/

The reality today is that added hormones aren't allowed; they're not available; they don't work; they're not needed; they're not used. You might also be interested to learn more about the genetic selection processes that have allowed the huge improvements in chicken growth and productivity in the absence of hormone use.

DR VIVIEN KITE

Aust Chicken Meat Federation