- From ProMED-mail
- Source: PA News Wed 14 Apr 2004
-
- Limit Egg Intake Warning As Traces Of Toxin Found
-
- By Laura Scott
- The Scotsman
-
- Children and people with heart conditions were today
being warned to limit the number of eggs they eat after traces of a toxic
drug were found in around one in 10 tested.
-
- Organic farming group the Soil Association issued the
advice in light of new [UK] Government figures which reveal 12 percent
of eggs tested contained residues of Lasalocid.
-
- The antibiotic, which is used to treat parasitic stomach
infections in livestock, gets into laying hens and consequently eggs through
batches of chicken feed which have been contaminated by accident.
-
- People with cardiac arrhythmia, children, and adults
who eat 3 or 4 eggs a day are most at risk from the drug, the association
claims.
-
- It says Lasalocid has been linked to increased heart
and breathing rates, paralysis and even death in poultry. It has also
voiced concerns that there may be a link between the consumption of contaminated
eggs and Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.
-
- Richard Young, policy advisor at the Soil Association,
claims current egg testing methods are not thorough enough to weed out
the majority of contaminated eggs.
-
- "In this country [UK] we eat 26 million eggs a day,
and there are only about 250 sample egg tests, so the question is how many
contaminated eggs slip through the net?" he said. "If you're
a consumer that gets the bad eggs, you're not just going to get one bad
egg. The whole batch that egg came from is probably contaminated, so you're
going to get a whole bad lot at one time."
-
- Consumers should be aware of the potential danger and
limit their daily egg intake, according to the association. Mr Young said:
"We advise people to be moderate in the way they eat eggs. Eat organic
if you can and certainly give organic eggs to children, and 2 eggs in one
day would be the maximum you should have."
-
- http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm
-
-
- --
- ProMED-mail
- <promed@promedmail.org>
-
- [Lasalocid is a feed additive drug in the class of ionophores.
It is a drug for use in animals only, and there is no comparable drug or
drug category for humans.
-
- However, rules of the European Union have banned lasalocid
from being added to feed that is given to laying hens. The Veterinary Medicines
Directorate (VMD) is responsible for enforcing this legislation within
the UK.
-
- Although this problem may have existed before, the maximum
level of lasalocid reported in eggs has risen significantly over the past
year from 620 micrograms/kilogram in 2002 to 3450 in 2003. 2 of the 250
samples contained levels above 3000 micrograms/kilogram.
-
- According to the Food Safety Agency (FSA), the levels
of lasalocid in eggs do not raise any immediate health concerns for consumers.
The FSA doesn't recommend a limit on how many eggs should be eaten. However,
babies under 6 months should not be fed eggs because of the potential risk
of allergic reactions.
-
- Some eggs contain salmonella bacteria, which can cause
serious illness, especially among elderly people, babies, toddlers, pregnant
women and people who are already unwell. So that means you always need
to be careful how you use eggs, but particularly when you are preparing
food for one of these groups.
-
- There are 3 main issues you should be aware of: - avoiding
the spread of bacteria - cooking eggs properly - storing eggs safely. -
Mod.TG]
-
- [The carboxylic ionophores are open-chained oxygenated
heterocyclic rings with a single terminal carboxyl group of moderate molecular
weight (200-2000). Ionophores form lipid-soluble complexes with polar cations
(K+, Na+, Ca ++ and Mg++), have a diverse antibacterial spectra and are
produced by fungi, predominantly _Streptomyces sp_.
-
- These compounds are used as anticoccidial and growth
promotant feed additives. Lasalocid is used in broiler chickens (brand
name Avatec) for the prevention of coccidiosis caused by _Eimeria sp._
and in cattle (brand name Bovatec) for improved feed efficiency and increased
rate of weight gain.
-
- Clinical pathology of ionophore-induced toxicity includes
elevated enzyme levels of muscle origin such as aspartate transaminase
(AST) and creatine phosphokinase (CPK). Other serum enzymes that may be
elevated are lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and alkaline phosphatase. Additonally,
there may be elevations in blood urea nitrogen and bilirubin. Serum calcium
and potassium levels may fall to life-threatening levels in horses. Hemoconcentration
may also occur.
-
- The ionophores are generally safe at prescribed levels
in intended species. Certain management situations increase the possibility
of toxicoses including overdose, mixing errors, premix consumption, and
misuse in non-target species such as horses, adult turkeys, and dogs. Concurrent
administration of other drugs, including chloramphenicol, erythromycin,
sulfonamides and cardiac glycosides, can potentate ionophore toxicosis.
-
- Calcium ionophores (Lasalocid is a divalent ionophore)
clearly have effects in human cells. Binding of calcium can produce the
signs and symptoms of hypocalcemia and can upregulate or downregulate cellular
functions based on the role of calcium in such processes. It is unclear
if the levels in the eggs would cause clinical or subclinical effects in
humans.
-
- Source: <http://www.abvt.org/ionop.html>
-
- Veterinary References
- -------------------
- Blanchard PC, Galey FD, Ross F, et al. Lasalocid toxicosis
in dairy
- calves. J Vet Diagn Invest 1993;5:300-302.
-
- Hanson LJ, Eisenbeis HG, Givens SV. Toxic effects of
lasalocid in
- horses. Am J Vet Res 1981;42:456-461.
-
- Galitzer SJ, Bartley EE, Oehme FW. Preliminary studies
on lasalocid
- toxicosis in cattle. Vet Hum Toxicol 1982;24:406-409.
-
- Galitzer SJ, Oehme FW. (1984) A literature review on
the toxicity of
- lasalocid, a polyether antibiotic. Vet Hum Toxicol 1984;26:322-326.
-
- Safran N, Aizenberg I, Bark H. Paralytic syndrome attributed
to
- lasalocid residues in a commercial ration fed to dogs.
J Am Vet Med
- Assoc 1993:1273-1275.
-
- Human References
- -------------
- Serrani RE, Gioia IA, Corchs JL. The homogeneous effect
of calcium
- ionophore A23187 on potassium loss in human foetal red
cell populations.
- Physiol Res. 1995;44: 275-280.
-
- Rittenhouse SE. Activation of human platelet phospholipase
C by ionophore
- A23187 is totally dependent upon cyclo-oxygenase products
and ADP.
- Biochem J. 1984;222:103-10. - Mod. LL]
- .........................tg/pg/jw
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
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