Stop Ractopamine From Hurting Animals And Poisoning Our Food Supply

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Animals are suffering, people are at risk, and the FDA is doing nothing to stop it — demand a ban on ractopamine before more lives are harmed.

Stop Ractopamine From Hurting Animals And Poisoning Our Food Supply

Millions of farm animals in the U.S. are fed a drug that’s banned in most of the world. That drug is ractopamine — a chemical additive designed to accelerate muscle growth just before slaughter. While it may benefit producers’ bottom line, the cost is staggering for animal welfare, public health, and the environment.

Over 160 countries, including all EU nations, China, and Russia, prohibit its use1. The United States does not. In fact, up to 80% of American pigs are still fed this drug in the final weeks of their lives2.

Brutality on Factory Farms

Ractopamine causes serious suffering. Animals fed the drug often experience trembling, inability to walk, broken limbs, respiratory distress, and even sudden death2. Transporting animals under these conditions increases stress and injury, yet the FDA acknowledges these effects without taking action to end them1.

This is not farming. It’s cruelty.

Health Risks for People

The FDA has approved ractopamine for use in livestock, claiming there is “reasonable certainty of no harm.” That claim collapses under scrutiny. The only human study the FDA ever conducted was shut down after one participant’s heart rate became dangerously elevated3.

Research now shows that even legal levels of ractopamine can worsen heart disease by damaging blood vessels, disrupting cholesterol metabolism, and increasing inflammation4. It poses risks to farm workers, too — causing dizziness, nausea, and respiratory problems when inhaled3.

Pollution in Our Waterways

Ractopamine doesn’t vanish when animals are slaughtered. It enters the environment through manure runoff, polluting groundwater and harming aquatic wildlife1. Communities near factory farms may be exposed to antibiotic-resistant pathogens spread through this contaminated waste5.

This drug endangers more than individual consumers. It’s a public health hazard hiding in plain sight.

The FDA Has Failed to Act

For more than a decade, scientists, doctors, animal welfare experts, and environmental advocates have urged the FDA to ban or restrict ractopamine. Their petitions have gone ignored. Even now, the FDA allows residue levels in meat that exceed global safety standards6.

The agency’s own files admit that pigs given ractopamine are more vulnerable to stress, injury, and death1. Yet the drug remains on the market, protected by the interests of powerful meat industry lobbyists.

Time to Ban Ractopamine

This drug has no place in our food system. It harms animals. It puts people at risk. And it pollutes the planet. Most of the world has already banned it.

Tell U.S. leaders: we won’t accept cruelty and contamination for the sake of cheap meat.

Sign the petition now and demand a federal ban on ractopamine in farmed animals.

More on this issue:

  1. Animal Legal Defense Fund (3 Jul 2024), "Petition Urges FDA to Reconsider Decision Not to Ban Controversial Drug Ractopamine."
  2. Kenny Torrella, Vox (12 Jul 2024), "The One Drug RFK Jr. Should Actually Ban."
  3. Clark Mindock, Reuters (27 Mar 2024), "Common Livestock Feed Additive Poses Risks to Human Health, Lawsuit Says."
  4. Chio-Hui Chen et al., ScienceDirect (15 Nov 2022), "Ractopamine at Legal Residue Dosage Accelerates Atherosclerosis."
  5. Amy Jones, Species Unite (3 Jul 2024), "Why Is a Drug Banned in More Than 160 Countries Still Used on Farmed Animals in the US?."
  6. Animal Legal Defense Fund (2 Jul 2025), "U.S. Supreme Court Declines Review of California’s Landmark Proposition 12 Animal Cruelty Law."
  7. ALDF, Animal Legal Defense Fund (3 Jul 2024), "Petition Urges FDA to Reconsider Decision Not to Ban Controversial Drug Ractopamine."

The Petition

To the Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,

We, the undersigned, urge the FDA to reconsider its decision to deny petitions calling for a ban or stricter limits on the use of ractopamine in farmed animals.

Ractopamine is a beta-agonist drug administered to pigs, cows, and turkeys in the final weeks of their lives to rapidly accelerate muscle growth. Its use has been linked to serious animal welfare violations, including trembling, broken limbs, organ stress, and death. The drug compromises animals’ ability to walk, breathe, and remain calm — especially under the intense pressure of transport and slaughter. These are not side effects. They are direct consequences of a system that prioritizes speed over sentience.

Beyond the animals, ractopamine also presents risks to human health. Studies have raised red flags about its impact on cardiovascular function, inflammation, and cholesterol metabolism. The FDA’s own halted human study documented significant heart rate increases. The drug’s residues remain in meat, exposing consumers and farmworkers alike to potential harm. Ractopamine also pollutes the environment, contaminating waterways and ecosystems through runoff from factory farms.

Over 160 countries — including the entire European Union, China, and Russia — have banned or strictly limited this drug due to its risks. Yet it remains permitted in the United States, where the allowable residue levels exceed international safety standards. This is not leadership. This is neglect.

Our society cannot claim to value human health, environmental protection, or animal welfare while continuing to allow a drug like ractopamine in our food system. Humane treatment of animals is not optional — it is a reflection of our shared values and the ethical future we hope to build.

We call on the FDA to:

  • Reevaluate the science with transparency and urgency
  • Reduce or eliminate the allowable levels of ractopamine in farmed animals
  • Align U.S. policy with international standards and modern understanding of both animal welfare and public health

These actions will protect our families, safeguard the environment, and uphold the humanity that should guide our treatment of all living beings. A better future depends on it.

Sincerely,

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