Date sent: Wed, 9 Feb 1994 08:11:05 EST
Send reply to: "Dairy Discussion List." <DAIRY-L@UMDD.UMD.EDU>
From: Jack_britt@NCSU.EDU
Subject: Re: Clinical Mastitis Treatment
Originally to: "Dairy Discussion List." <DAIRY-L@umdd.umd.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list DAIRY-L <DAIRY-L@UMDD.UMD.EDU>
It has been interesting seeing all of the discussions about bST or
bGH. Here is food for thought:
1. Genetic selection has increased the levels of bST in cows by over 50%
in the last 20 years. We have not heard voices raised regarding that.
2. Milk contains steroids (progesterone, estradiol, testosterone),
peptides (oxytocin, GnRH, etc), and many more hormones. Fortunately, none
of these are orally acitve. In contrast, the estrogens that one gets from
soybean oil, alfalfa sprouts, beans, leafy vegetables and other plants are
orally active. In fact, oral contraceptives are made from plant
precursors, not animal precursors. Why hasn't there been an outcry about
hormones in plants? These are the ones that are more associated with
health problems.
3. An article in December's Molecular Endocrinology showed that the two
most preservatives (antioxidants) added to bread activate c-fos and c-jun,
two genes associated with acivation of tumors and other activities within
cells. I have heard no outcry about this, and bread consumption has not
declined.
4. Cows are routinely injected with PGF (an abortion-inducing hormone) and
oxytocin (a labor inducing hormone) and dairy producers or processors do
not seem to be concerned about these. Have you ever read the label on a
PGF product ???
I have seen almost no consumer reaction here in a fairly affluent
area of the country. Are we informed? Or do we simply have fewer
activitists? We are not a major media market, so the activists would not
get much publicity here as they would in LA, Washington, etc. Did you ever
wonder why most of them are headquartered in those places?
**************************************
Jack H. Britt
Assoc. Dean for Res & Grad Prog
NCSU College of Vet Med
Phone 919-829-4213
FAX 919-829-4222
e-mail jack_britt@ncsu.edu
*************************************
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