that the amino acids differ. Some studies report an increased presence in humans of rBGH and its IGF-1 product molecule. Safety There exists customer concern about growth hormone use being linked to a number of human health problems, such as precocious puberty or cancer. However, there is no concrete evidence to give credence to these concerns. In Canada, all veterinary drugs used in food production processes are required to pass tests and regulations set by the Veterinary Drugs Directorate (VDD) and are enforced by the Food and Drug Act of Health Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) monitors all food products in Canada by sampling and testing by veterinarians and inspectors working on behalf of the provincial and federal governments. They monitor the food supply to condemn and destroy any product that is unacceptable. In the rare case where the CFIA have found a residue, it has been substantially below the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) acceptable for safe consumption, this is the maximum amount of a drug residue that may remain in a food product at the time of human consumption based on Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI). The ADI level is determined from toxicology studies to be the highest amount of a substance that can be consumed daily throughout a lifespan without causing adverse effects. Beef hormone residues are MRLs that have been established by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the United Nations. The World Health Organization stated that the hormone levels are indistinguishable between implanted and nonimplanted animals. There are three natural hormones (estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone), naturally present in cattle and humans, their synthetic alternatives (zeranol, melengestrol acetate, and trenbolone acetate) have been approved by the for use in Canadian beef production. Studies show that the contribution of hormones from beef consumption is minuscule compared to the quantities produced naturally in the human body. For comparison, an adult male will produce 136,000 ng of estrogen on a given day; whereas the estrogen levels present in a 6-ounce serving of beef from a treated animal is only approximately 3.8 ng. In other words, a human being will produce almost 36,000 times the amount of estrogen in one day that would be present in a piece of beef produced with the growth hormones. Thus, current scientific evidence is insufficient to support the hypothesis that any diseases are caused by ingested hormones due to hormonal substance use