The European Union’s ban on hormone-treated beef is illegal, this according to a panel of the World Trade Organization, potentially giving the American cattle industry a big victory, but also turning over new ground on issues of national sovereignty. In a preliminary report, which has not yet been released to the public, the organization says that Europe’s import ban on beef produced with growth-enhancing hormones is illegal because it has no scientific justification, this according to American officials who have seen it in a report in The New York Times.