rBGH Milk Production: Animal Cruelty, Genetically Modified Hormones and E. Coli

[JBeukema]

With the current controversy surrounding the government crackdown on wholesome, organic, and locally produced milk, it is important to understand the products we are being pushed toward, as well as those we are being pushed away from. While the benefits of organic and raw milk is largely undeniable when compared to the industrially produced substitute, the dangers of the latter are not discussed quite as frequently. Of these dangers, rBGH is a central figure.

Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (also known as Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin) is a genetically engineered hormone that is injected into cows for the purpose of increasing milk production.[1] It is derived from bovine somatotropin (bST) which is a hormone that is produced naturally in the cattle by the pituitary gland. This hormone is very important for growth and development, as well as other functions of the animal’s body.

Sometime in the 1930s it was discovered that injecting cattle with bST increased milk production. However, because bST is produced in the animal itself, the only source available was in the pituitary glands of the slaughtered cattle. Genetic engineering thus came into play.
>By removing the bovine gene which controls the production of bST and inserting it into a bacterium called Escherichia Coli (E. Coli), scientists and manufacturers are able to reproduce large amounts of bST. This is due to the fact that E. Coli replicates in the human intestinal tract where it is originally found. Essentially, it acts as an industrial unit for the production of bST.

This Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) is then injected into the cattle where it replicates causing an increase in milk production.[2] This concept of genetic combination is the foundation for the name “Recombinant” Growth Hormone or Bovine Somatotropin.

As with any GM food, there are very serious health problems associated with the use of rBGH that affect both humans and the animals that are injected with it. Cows who receive the hormone, in addition to the deplorable conditions in which they already find themselves[3], often develop a condition called mastitis, an extremely painful inflammation of the mammary glands.

Of the two forms of mastitis (infectious and non-infectious) non-infectious mastitis accounts for only 1% of the cases in existence and is mainly a result of some kind of injury. The other 99% are a result of infections largely due to bacteria produced by the animals’ living conditions and the rBGH they receive.

Activist Post: rBGH Milk Production: Animal Cruelty, Genetically Modified Hormones and E. Coli

 

[waltky]

Granny says its one o' dem end time plagues...

E. Coli Outbreak Is A New Strain
2 June 2011 - A leading microbiologist has warned the E. coli outbreak may worsen

The E. coli outbreak in Germany is a new form of the bacterium, researchers and public health experts believe. It can cause the deadly complication - haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS) - affecting the blood and kidneys. More than 1,500 people have been infected and 18 have died: 17 in Germany and one in Sweden. Seven people in the UK have the infection, including three British nationals. They are all thought to have contracted it in Germany. The World Health Organization said the variant had "never been seen in an outbreak situation before." Scientists at the Beijing Genomics Institute in China are also reported as saying the new form was "highly infectious and toxic".

The Health Protection Agency said it was likely to be a new variant of the rare strain O104 - possibly with a newly acquired ability to infect large numbers of people. In a statement it said: "While there is a lot more that we need to learn about this bacterium, the evidence that is already available tells us that the German authorities have been dealing with something new." Professor Gad Frankel, from Imperial College London, the Sanger Institute and the Medical Research Council, said: "This is a new combination and a deadly combination. "It has a gene which produces a toxin and another which helps the bacterium colonise the gut more efficiently, which effectively means even more toxin is produced. "Research we published last year showed this same factor mediates attachment to the human gut and the surface of salad leaves."

Compensation

The outbreak remains centred on Germany, where there have been 1,064 cases of bloody diarrhoea and 470 cases of the potentially deadly complication in the blood and kidneys. The source of the infection, originally blamed on Spanish cucumbers, is unclear. The head of the Robert Koch Institute, which monitors the infection in Germany, said the outbreak could last for months and that "we may never know" the original source. Fresh vegetables from the European Union have been banned in Russia and the country's chief medical officer said such produce will be seized. Meanwhile Spain is threatening to seek compensation from the EU for lost vegetables sales.

UK cases

 

[waltky]

Deadly cucumbers...

E. Coli Outbeak in Europe Is the Deadliest in History
June 4, 2011 - The rapidly developing European E. coli outbreak that has killed 18 people and sickened thousands, including four suspected cases in the United States, has become the deadliest outbreak of E. coli in modern history.

Where exactly people are being infected with the disease is still unknown, although 17 people fell ill after eating in the northern German city of Luebeck in May, according to the local media. Researchers from Germany's national disease control center are inspecting the restaurant in question. Other health experts suspect the disease first spread last month at a festival in the northern German city of Hamburg that was visited by 1.5 million people. But as of yet, there is no concrete proof that either site is the cause of the outbreak.

In a briefing Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the four suspected cases in the United States are all people who likely contracted the infection while in northern Germany in May and brought it back to the United States. Three of the victims are hospitalized with hemolytic-uremic syndrome and the fourth reported bloody diarrhea consistent with the outbreak strain of E. coli. Two American military service members stationed in Germany are also suspected cases. The CDC said both of them have a similar diarrheal illness.

Government officials stressed that the outbreak has not affected the United States directly. The Food and Drug Administration is monitoring lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers from Spain and Germany based on information it has received from European investigators. Produce from those countries accounts for less than 0.2 percent of produce imported into the United States every year. The FDA says it is also stepping up its food safety regulations.

Hygiene Key to Avoiding Spread

 

[waltky]

Granny `fraid to read possum `bout Jack anna Beansprout, might scare the lil fella...

Bean Sprouts Likely Source of Europe's E. coli Outbreak That Killed 22
June 05, 2011 - Officials in Germany say they believe the deadly E.coli outbreak that has killed 22 people in Germany and Sweden is linked to locally grown bean sprouts.

Lower Saxony state agriculture minister Gert Lindemann told reporters Sunday that definitive test results will be available Monday. He recommended that people in northern Germany stop eating bean sprouts immediately. He said a company in the Uelzen region has been shut down as the likely source of the contamination.

Earlier Sunday, health authorities reported the deaths of an additional three people in Germany, bringing the death toll to 22. Except for one woman who died in Sweden after a visit to Germany, all of the fatalities have been within German borders. Health authorities say about 2,000 people, most of them in Germany, have been infected. Ten other European nations and the United States have reported 90 infected people, nearly all of whom have recently been in northern Germany.

The outbreak is the deadliest in modern history to involve E. coli, and appears to be the second- or third-largest in terms of the number of people who have become ill. Scientists say the bacteria is a previously unknown genetic recombination of two different E. coli strains. Symptoms of E. coli infection include stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever and vomiting.

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