DHAKA: Bangladesh sent medical teams on Tuesday to check millions of cows set for slaughter due to fears they have been pumped with banned steroids for fattening ahead of the Eid holiday.

Some ten million cows and goats are expected to be slaughtered during the major Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha being celebrated in Bangladesh on Oct. 6, industry officials say.

Experts fear many have been artificially fattened with cancer-causing steroids in a bid to cash in on a surging demand for meat during the celebrations.

“In our estimate some 20 percent of the cattle to be sold during Eid are being fattened with banned steroids such as dexamethasone,” said Muzaffar Hossain, a professor of animal science at the Bangladesh Agriculture University. Cows fattened with such steroids can help farmers earn an extra $400-$1,000 per animal but can cause serious health problems for consumers, he said. “As a result, the use of steroids and other harmful drugs has become rampant all over the country,” he told AFP.

Ali Noor, joint secretary at the Livestock Ministry, said only a small number of farmers were using the steroids, with the vast majority using a government-prescribed natural cow fattening formula.

But he said authorities have deployed 20 medical teams in Dhaka’s cattle markets to try to detect sick animals and more teams were being sent to major markets across the country.