Four months ago, Abdul Mannan, a poor farmer from Kazuria village in Pabuna, bought a bull for 26,000 taka.
Then he plans to fatten it as much as possible, sell it before Eid, and make some quick money.
Like many of his neighbors, he began to feed the bulls "little baiyao", which the locals called "vitamins." Soon, the bull's weight increased significantly, and the buyer's bid was almost twice the price when he bought it.
"It looks healthy, and a trader bid 50,000 taka for this. But my husband decided to wait a few more days and he injected it with [steroids] to make it look fatter," Mannan's wife Mazeda Khatun told "Daily Star" reporter, she visited her home last week.
But the poor bull could not survive the overdose, and died a few days later.
Although Mannan took a shortcut to earn excess profits and ended in a disastrous defeat, when Muslims sacrificed their livestock, hundreds of people still made a fortune in this way before Eid al-Fitr.
These reporters visited Beira, Sansia and Atekulaupaziras in Pabna, as well as different villages in Shajadpur and Bahabari in Sirajganj and found that almost every family has Using steroids, antibiotics and other chemicals in flagrant violations of the law for several months. Everyone — from cattle farmers to landless farmers — wants to make the most of this.
These cattle fattening drugs are also widely used in Chuadanga, Jhenidah, Nilphamari, Barisal, Faridpur, Manikganj and other regions.
According to experts, eating the meat of these animals poses a serious health risk to humans.
Due to the vast pastures in the Chalan Beel and Char areas, Pabna and Sirajganj have been known for decades of dairy cow farming and cattle fattening practices. There are 13,480 dairy farms in Sirajganj alone.
Officials of the Bangladesh National Animal Research Institute (BLRI) stipulate that a mixture of straw, molasses, urea fertilizer and lentils is a safe fattening diet for cattle.
“This year, there are 99,876 dairy cows in Sirajganj that are being fattened. Last year’s figure was about 125,000,” said Mazharul Islam Akand, a regional animal husbandry officer.
He claimed that all of these animals were fattened in a natural way, except for "insignificant numbers."
But the actual situation is completely different. Cow fat medicines and chemicals can be found everywhere in the pharmacies, and the prices are cheap.
Decason, Dexamet, Paradexa, Oradexason and Predexanol steroids in the dexamethasone group; Butaphosphan intravenous drugs such as Catophos and Catasol; digestion and appetite enhancers such as Digimax and potash; these stores sell other vitamin additives.
Most of these drugs are smuggled from India and sold publicly without supervision by government agencies.
Although the law prohibits drug advertisements, a large number of so-called cattle manure chemical posters have been found in stores.
Md Abdullah, the owner of a small pharmacy in Baghabari, said he sells 10 to 12 packs of steroid pills a day.
Another pharmacy owner from Kashinathpur said that this season he has sold about 200 kilograms of Indian vitamin supplement "Super Growth", which can fatten cattle very quickly.
After visiting some shops, the reporter found that the shopkeeper not only sells medicine, but also recommends the amount of medicine.
In some cattle farms, many empty bottles and packages of fattening chemicals were found.
Shahidur Rahman, a farm manager in the TR-Bandh village of Shahjadpur, admitted that they were using these drugs, but claimed that none of them were harmful.
“Last week, we sold three bulls fattened with these drugs at a price of 250,000 taka. We do not use any toxic chemicals,” he claimed.
Cattle dealer Khan Asaduzzaman Bipu came to Shahjadpur from Barisal to buy some healthy cattle. But he is trying to find people who gain weight naturally.
When asked how to distinguish the two, Bipp said that cows fattened with chemicals look healthy but move slowly. "For example, if you poke a cow that has been fattened with steroids, it will not react as fast as a naturally fattened cow."
A study published in the Bangladesh Journal of Animals in 2012 showed that 63.7% of farmers in the country use cattle fattening tablets.
The 2010 Animal Feed Law prohibits the use of antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids or other harmful chemicals in animal feed. Violators of this law may face up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 50,000 taka, or both.
When these reporters relayed the findings to the regional livestock officials, he ruled out the widespread use of cattle fattening chemicals.
"People are aware of the harmful effects of these drugs. They will not risk using them," he claimed.
But the fact is that farmers usually choose a relatively fast but extremely dangerous way to raise cattle, because it takes about six months to raise cattle naturally. Experts say that steroids can cause fluid to accumulate in cattle, making them look fatter.
“We ask farmers not to use harmful drugs. But some farmers want to fatten their animals faster,” said Dr. Humayun Kabir, a scientific officer at BLRI in Shajadpur.
Experts say that steroid variants such as Decason, Oradexon, Prednisolon, Betnenal, Cortan, Steron and Adam-33 are often used as life-saving drugs for critically ill patients. But when fed to cattle, these drugs can damage their hearts, kidneys, and liver, and eventually lead to death.
Because cattle farmers often use higher doses of antibiotics and steroids, the meat of these animals contains chemical residues.
"If someone consumes beef fattened with this drug, it will definitely have a negative impact on his health. It may even cause cancer and kidney failure," said Abdus Samad, a professor at the Bangladesh Agricultural University.
Bangladesh has not conducted specific research on this, but the adverse effects of these chemicals on humans are well known. He added that as early as in children or the elderly, this effect was not seen in adults because they consumed beef that was fattened with drugs.
Out of public health concerns, EU member states banned the import of steroid-treated meat in 2010.