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Bute does pose a risk, and it's unrelated to dosage.

According to the US Dept. of Agriculture, “phenylbutazone is considered to be one of the most toxic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. It is not approved for use in food animals and there are no regulatory limits, such as acceptable daily intake or safe concentration for meat, established by the Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, the presence of any amount of phenylbutazone in food animal tissue will be considered a violation and likely to be unsafe for human consumption.”

No safe levels were set by food-safety regulators. Therefore, the drug was banned for all animals intended for human consumption, and there is no withdrawal time.

Read about the health hazards posed by bute and other drugs in “What’s In Your Horse Burger: Chemicals That Cause Serious Health Risks” published today by Newsweek.

http://nswk.ly/XfVTj7

If the food industry wants to express concern for consumers, let it be by either keeping drugged horses out of the food chain, or at the very least, labeling every horse meat product: “Warning: this product could contain numerous, unknown, banned prescription drugs for horses known to be fatal to humans.”