Although the WTO has issued decisions that have questioned the validity of the ban, the EU has
repeatedly voted to maintain it, citing consumer worries, questions of animal welfare, meat
quality, and effects of hormones on the EU’s beef and milk sectors. The laws governing the EU’s ban have been reissued and/or updated numerous times (in 1988, in 1996, and again in 2003).12
The EU claims that its position to maintain the ban is supported by studies on the potential human