Thrissur: The Poultry Farmers and Traders Committee has announced a reward of Rs 25 lakhs to those proving that broiler chickens have been injected with hormones. This move is in response to the propaganda spreading throughout the country that people should not consume broiler chicken as they are injected with artificial growth hormones. 

Although veterinary doctors and scientists from the poultry field have repeatedly quashed these claims, there is a large-scale acceptance of such propaganda spread through new media. The propagators fuel these claims by claiming that broiler chickens gain 2 kilogram weight using hormonal injections. 

S. Harikrishnan, Officer at the Palakkad College of Avian Sciences and Management said that the assumption that broiler chickens have growth hormones is wrong. The increased weight is achieved through the development of genetically superior varieties. He added that factors like enriched feed, immunization and disease control also contribute to this. 

Mannuthy Veterinary Sciences University, Poultry department Associate Professor, Dr Binoj John, says that since growth hormone is a protein, it is broken down through the digestive process, offering it via feed and drink will not prove to be effective. He also said that hormone injections are an expensive affair and are not given to broiler chickens.