It might be if National Public Radio keeps up its attack on the beta-agonist.

In a recent broadcast, NPR began what may be picked up by others with a story titled: A Muscle Drug for Pigs Comes Out Of The Shadows.

The title alone implies that hog farmers have been using this product secretively, behind the walls of their confinement units.

Calling it a “muscle drug” makes it sound even scarier.

They could have added that it is a beta-agonist similar to beta-agonists used in human medicine and administered by an inhaler to kids with asthma and intravenously in women who go into labor too early.

Doesn’t sound so scary now, does it?

The story goes on to say that “Regulators in the EU, China, Russia and a variety of other countries have not approved the drug. They say there’s not yet enough evidence to prove that pork produced using ractopamine is safe to eat.”

Amazing stretch of why agonists are not used in those countries where there have been several outbreaks of human illness caused by the illegal use of clenbuteral, another beta-agonist but one with a very long half-life, meaning the meat consumed still had the active ingredient.

The half-life of ractopamine is something like four hours, meaning it is gone by the time the pig is slaughtered.

The USDA used to test for ractopamine residues, but since the tests always came out zero they use their dollars to test for something that might make us ill.

Ractopamine received FDA approval in 1999 after years of testing to confirm safety.

Since then, hundreds of millions of pigs have been fed ractopamine to produce a leaner meat in higher volumes, feeding billions and billions of people, including the very young and the very old.

In all that time, and with all of those servings of bacon, ham, sausages and pork chops, there has not been one single case of a human suffering any adverse effects.

How much evidence of safety for humans does NPR want?

The story goes on to say that the USDA recently approved a label for pork that will state the product was made with “no ractopamine — a beta-agonist growth promotant.”

Consumers won’t know what that phrase means, but they will interpret it to mean that this is really bad stuff, even though beta-agonists save lives every day in the human side of health care.

This bus has left the station and will pick up speed as those anti-GMOers hear about this.

And if this turns into a ground swell of pressure by our large retailers, producers and restaurants like we are seeing in “raised without antibiotics,” the only results I can see will be fatter bacon, smaller pork chops, and rising pork prices.

Will ractopamine be the next 'pink slime'?

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