>A quirky question here, but does anyone have any idea if growth hormones
>fed to cows or chickens, then eaten by lactating mothers would pass into
>the milk. If this does happen I'm wondering what affect that might have on
>the child.

Growth hormones are species-specific.  You cannot give cow growth hormone to
a human and have any effect on the human.  That is why children with growth
hormone deficiency had to have human growth hormone extracted from cadavers
until the mid 1980s, when human growth hormone was synthesized in the
laboratory.

Growth hormones don't affect growth if given to people who are not
growth-hormone deficient.  Your body can only use up to the normal amount,
extra is just excreted.  So you can't make a short child taller if their
shortness is due to anything other than growth hormone deficiency.  If they
are just genetically short, extra growth hormone does nothing for them.  Or
a normal sized child who would like to play basketball -- you can't make
them taller by giving them extra growth hormone.

Growth hormones are digested into the constituent components -- which is why
human children with growth hormone deficiencies must have injections, they
can't just swallow a pill.

Kathy Dettwyler

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