Case of the Barren Mink

The U.S. Department of Agriculture once advised chicken raisers to dose broiler pullets with the synthetic hormone stilbestrol. The drug stops the growth of ovaries in pullets, turns them into the fat, tender female equivalent of capons, which fetch a premium price.

Agriculture said further that stilbestrol should be administered as a pellet thrust under the skin of the pullet's neck. If the head and neck were removed, according to instructions, before the broiler was marketed, no human chicken-eater would get the remains of the pellet. To avoid waste, the department suggested feeding the chicken head to ranch mink.

Last month Agriculture became the target of a bill in Congress to pay Mink Rancher Henry J. Krueger of Elgin, Ill. $55,591. Krueger's lawyers charged that, following official instructions, he fed stilbestrolized chicken heads to his mink. As a result, many young female mink had been made barren. They had to be prematurely "pelted," i.e., become mink coats before becoming mothers. So did the mink of almost 30 other ranchers.

Hearings on the bill, which start soon, promise to be lively. Krueger's lawyers have horrid tales to tell, not only of mink but of men. They tell of a male sex criminal who was given stilbestrol to keep him under control. His genitals shrank, but his breasts developed alarmingly.

Supported by chicken raisers, Agriculture contends that so far there is no evidence that stilbestrolized broilers caponize human consumers. The Canadian government, not so sure, has forbidden the sale of stilbestrolized poultry.

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