A Tipperary farmer, who pleaded guilty to 13 charges relating to the administration of synthetic hormones to cattle, received a 12-month suspended sentence and was fined £13,000 plus £1,800 witness expenses at Nenagh District Court yesterday.
Thomas Slattery, Clashnevin, Nenagh, was sentenced on charges relating to the administration, possession and control of banned growth substances contrary to the Animals Remedies Act 1993. Summing up, Judge Tom O'Donnell said the growth hormones mentioned had been prohibited for some time and Slattery, an experienced farmer, should have known the facts in relation to the substances and the consequences of their use. Since a whole range of synthetic hormones was in use, he was treating the matter extremely seriously.
The judge said he was impressed with the evidence given by the Department of Agriculture, which had brought the case.
Samples taken between January and May 1998 led to the 13 charges. Two charges arose from samples taken in January, when a crucial discovery was made at an abattoir in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow. Mr Ned Fellan, a veterinary inspector with the Department, said he noticed heifers he considered had "good confirmation". He detected pellet-like substances in the ear of an animal and considered this as evidence of prohibited substances.
Four charges related to a sampling exercise conducted on Slattery's farm, Mountsack, Carrigatogher, Nenagh, on January 22nd, 1998. Two charges related to the detection of trenbolone acetate, a synthetic substance that helps enhance the growth rate in animals. "In pellet form it leaks into the animal system over a period of time," said Mr Brian O'Flaherty, of the Department of Agriculture.
In February similar tests were carried out at Slattery's farm and more samples were taken in Kildare and Charleville.
Commenting on the synthetic hormones, Mr O'Flaherty said the main effect was that they increased the growth rate and decreased the amount of fat in an animal, with "the overall monetary effect of £100 per animal. Meat from the animals would have ended up as steak, mince, roast, burgers."
Mr Oliver Langley, a veterinary surgeon, told the court the World Trade Organisation accepted there was no hard evidence that the substances in question were harmful to human health.