Does Clenbuterol make testicles smaller? Department of Health: Experimental dose is too high

The issue of American beef continues to rage. In response to media reports that a foreign study reported that male mice fed ractopamine "had smaller testicles," the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health issued a statement on the 11th that if Taiwanese people eat meat containing ractopamine residues, it will not cause male testicles to shrink or increase the risk of giving birth to autistic children.

The Department of Health emphasizes that eating meat containing ractopamine residues will not cause men's testicles to become smaller or increase the risk of giving birth to autistic children if they have a normal diet.

Chen Huifang from the Food and Drug Administration's Risk Management Group pointed out that a scientific study conducted by the European Union on palin showed that male mice fed with ractopamine "had smaller testicles." However, in that experiment, the minimum toxic dose that would cause a decrease in testicular weight in male mice was 25 mg/kg, which is 25,000 times the ADI set by Australia, Japan and JECFA. In other words, the dose used in this experiment was very high.

Secondly, the current international standards for ractopamine residues in meat are all at the ppb (parts per billion) level, and humans will not consume such high doses of meat that would cause toxicity and testicular weight loss. The experimental animals used in this study were mice. Other similar repeated-dose toxicity studies used dogs and monkeys, and even rats, which are also rodents. Histopathological examinations did not reveal toxicity such as testicular weight loss and lesions. Therefore, this toxicity may be species-selective.

Therefore, although this study on mice showed that extremely high doses would cause a reduction in testicular weight in mice, this phenomenon did not occur in other animals. Therefore, it is unlikely that ractopamine would cause male testicles to become smaller or even reduce the number of sperm and affect reproductive function.

In addition, there are medical and animal research reports that indicate that taking tocolytic drugs containing beta-receptor agonists such as terbutaline may increase the chance of giving birth to autistic children and cause neurotoxicity. However, the research report is an observational epidemiological study that explores risk factors. Its analysis results show that the only beta-receptor agonist that may be risky is terbutaline, but the causal relationship of this study remains to be confirmed. The same report also indicates that other beta-receptors have not been found to be associated with an increased risk of autism.

Chen Huifang emphasized that this research report has no evidence and cannot infer that ractopamine is related to causing autism in children. Regarding animal studies on the neurotoxicity of terbutaline, the dose used was as high as 10 mg/kg, which was injected subcutaneously in rats. This dose is 10,000 times the ADI of ractopamine set by various countries. Therefore, it is impossible to confirm and infer that ractopamine may cause the same effect based on the experimental studies on terbutaline.

Currently, countries around the world have set the ractopamine residue level in meat at the ppb (parts per billion) level. Under normal diet conditions, Chinese people who eat meat containing ractopamine residues should not be exposed to such high doses that would cause neurotoxicity.