ANIMAL FORUM

We REALLY must read up on Mycotoxins as it affects each and every one
of us.


A recent conversation in UBA alerted me for the need to revisit the
aflatoxins/peanut issue and I have discovered a whole world of cover
up and neglect in hygiene standards in our staple foods such as corns,
nuts etc.

Basically these toxins in our source foods are permissible under EU,
and in fact the permitted toxin level has recently been increased by
the EU.

nut allergies have almost become a safe isolated illness far removed
from the problem source. Do you now exactly what a nut allergy is?
Its the bodies immune system reacting perfectly naturally to a highly
toxic substance and trying to fight it off! Get rid of the toxic
substance and the body would not need to react so severely. That
doesnt mean those of us without allergies are safe, we are still
being poisoned but just present differently, and maybe result in
cancers later on.

We are slowly being legally poisoned, resulting in cancers, which
could well explain the huge increase in cancers within the general
public.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/canc-a26.shtml
WHO report: alarming increase in cancer rates
Global cancer rates are expected to increase 50 percent by the year
2020

Our lives are in the hands of the farmers who are supposed to take
measures to, not stop, but reduce the toxins from our crops. This
means regulated cultivation and storage and the tolerances of a highly
toxic crop/good crop are very narrow. Looking at our average farm can
we trust this is really being done?

Livestock food is even less regulated, as bad crops unsuitable for
human consumption are mashed up and put in animal feeds. We then get
the toxins through the meat/dairy chain.

Remember the fairly recent scare over dodgy peanuts killing birds etc?
this was due to these toxins. Farmers dont grow peanuts for wildlife.
They are grown for human consumption, and feed is the rejected
produce. Its a thin line twixt pass/fail and who decides?

We see lots of scare stories about animal feeds/pet feeds and one big
cover up when the very same issue is related to human feeds.

If you eat nuts/corn/peanut butter/dairy you really need to be
questioning the source of your foods.


What are mycotoxins?

http://www.knowmycotoxins.com/ndairy.htm
The word mycotoxin stems from the Greek word mykes, meaning mould,
and toxicum meaning poison. Human cases of ergotism or St. Anthonys
Fire have been described in Europe since the Middle Ages and are now
known to be caused by alkaloids produced in rye by the mould Claviceps
purpurea. In 1960, an outbreak of Turkey X disease in England and the
subsequent discovery of the aflatoxins stimulated great interest in
the field of mycotoxin research (Bullerman, 1979). Since then many
more mycotoxins, such as trichothecenes, zearalenone, ochratoxins and
fumonisins have been discovered..

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi growing
on crops in the field, during handling and in storage. They enter
animal production system via feed (concentrate, silage or forage) or
via bedding. Mycotoxins negatively affect animal performance, animal
health and product quality. Thus mycotoxin control is crucial for
production economics, animal welfare, product quality and food safety
reasons.

Mycotoxins are chemically different representing a variety of chemical
families and range in molecular weight from about 200 to 500 kD. There
are hundreds of known mycotoxins, but few have been extensively
researched and fewer still have good methods of available analysis.
Mycotoxins vary greatly in their severity.

Mycotoxins exert their effects through four primary mechanisms:



Intake reduction or feed refusal
Alteration in nutrient content of feed in terms of nutrient absorption
and metabolism
Effects on the endocrine and exocrine systems
Suppression of the immune system
Those changes often lead to rather unspecific symptoms, which can also
be caused by many other factors making if difficult to properly
diagnose mycotoxin problems. General symptoms (reduced performance,
impaired immunity) are seen when dealing with moderate mycotoxin
levels, while symptoms caused by higher mycotoxin levels are often
more specific. Further complications in mycotoxicosis diagnoses can be
caused by secondary symptoms resulting from opportunistic disease
related to the suppression of the immune system following mycotoxin
exposure.

In order to effectively identify mycotoxicosis, experience with
mycotoxin-affected animals is important. This experience, combined
with adequate feed and tissue analyses, provide the basis for the most
accurate diagnosis of mycotoxicosis.


Overview of mycotoxins

Under the appropriate conditions, fungi proliferate, grow colonies and
mycotoxin levels become high. As conditions for fungal growth vary
greatly between field and storage, different fungal populations may be
present, resulting in cocktails of mycotoxins being produced. This has
to be taken into consideration when conducting an appropriate risk
assessment and implementing preventative measures. Although several
hundred mycotoxins are known, the mycotoxins of most concern, based on
their toxicity and occurrence, are aflatoxin, ochratoxin A,
trichothecenes (DON, T-2 toxin, DAS, etc), zearalenone, fumonisin, and
moniliformin (Table 1).












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On 15 Nov 2007 18:49:30 GMT, greymaus wrote:


Oh they have generally. However not every batch, and not every source
is tested, and the EU has permitted an increase in toxins allowable in
the food!


Certainly is to the general public. Outside of the producers the sheer
level of toxicity is little known. A good cover up indeed.











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On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:45:52 +0000, Malcolm
wrote:


Although supplies from many sources have been killing birds for some
time. Even the RSPB have been warning about it, or did you forget to
mention that? Maybe you thought deaths of wildlife, like humans was
unworthy of mention?













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On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:05:33 +0000, Gloria
wrote:


30 million Americans affected by liver disease
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/61729.php
The American Liver Foundation Warns Of An Increase In U.S. Liver
Cancer Deaths

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2001/may/17/cancercare.cancer
Alarm at increase in liver cancer deaths
James Meikle Society Guardian Thursday May 17 2001 Scientists are
investigating the possibility that chemical pollutants in the
environment or food have helped to almost double the number of deaths
from liver cancer in England and Wales in the last 30 years.

The huge rise is mainly down to a once-rare form of the disease that
has increased 15-fold among people over 45 and has been the most
common killer since 1993.

Tumours form in the bile ducts and may be linked to wider use of
cancer-inducing chemicals in agriculture or industry after the second
world war, Simon Taylor-Robinson, of Imperial College school of
medicine, London, suggested.

The effects may have taken 30 years to manifest themselves. The lines
fit nicely but it is supposition. A lot of work has to be done. Are
there clusters around the country? Are they rural? Does one think
about pesticides and sheep dip; or is it something industrial or in
the water?

Dr Taylor-Robinson insisted: I dont want any scare. Maybe we are
visiting the effects of previous generations.

More studies were required, including whether some peoples jobs put
them at extra risk, and to what extent the rise in the particular type
of cancer was a phenomenon in developed countries. Some were already
under way at Imperial College, he said.

Liver cancer is difficult to treat, with many patients not surviving a
year after diagnosis and just 2% of sufferers surviving more than five
years.

Dr Taylor-Robinson and his colleagues found that 1,822 people in
England and Wales had died from liver tumours in 1996, compared with
967 in 1968. Deaths among women rose from 1.29 per 100,000 in 1968 to
1.93 per 100,000 in 1996. The comparable figures for men were 2.56 per
100,000 in 1968 and 3.7 per 100,000 in 1996.

But a study of the figures, reported in the medical journal Gut, shows
how much of the rise is caused by intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma,
found in the bile ducts. In 1968, just 38 people died from this, 17
women and 21 men. By 1996 , this had risen to 736 - 387 women and 349
men. Later figures suggested this rose to 864 in 1998.

Better diagnosis might account for some of this, but other factors
must be involved, the team suggested. These include alcohol and
smoking and the once common use of a substance called Thorostat in
x-rays, although it was banned many years ago.

Wide use of the contraceptive pill has also been suggested but case
control studies had failed to substantiate increased risk. But Dr
Taylor-Robinson suggested certain toxins have enzyme-disrupting
capabilities and act like the oral contraception pill.

He added: The liver has a blood purifying capability and many toxins
which are in blood will get exported out of the system in bile.

The new death figures had to be looked at carefully but the trend
could not be ignored, he said. The tumours responded poorly to
treatment. Nobody knows what causes them. If we can pinpoint an
at-risk population, we can screen for them... Colon cancer still kills
20 times more people, but in the next few years we could be talking
about a significant problem.

He added that if exposure to chemicals was a factor, then genetic and
other factors must make some people more susceptible than others.

Nigel Hughes, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said it was
imperative that more work was done in examining the cases of the
Cinderella disease. He added: The liver is the sewage plant of the
body and we have to raise awareness of just how important it is.

Brad Timms, scientific information officer at the Cancer Research
Campaign, said: There has not been a great deal of evidence to
suggest environmental carcinogens cause liver cancer or any other
cancer at the moment. There is a feeling the jury is still out. We may
not see the full effect for 30 years.

The European Commission and the food standards agency in this country
are considering reductions in maximum limits of dioxins in animal feed
and human food












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