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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
Date: Wed 20 Apr 2011
Source: Epidnews.Ru [in Russian, trans. Corr.ATS, edited]
Spasskiy district plague: are the cattle killed by radiation?
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The environmental protection activists in the Republic of Tatarstan
have reported mysterious cattle death cases in Spasskiy district since
last summer [2010]. The cause of these deaths remains unknown;
however, the activists connect it with a recent gamma irradiation
experiment of the seeds in the region. The affected animals develop
muscle weakness, start limping, and at the end die. A representative
of the environmental protection activists has visited one of the
affected villages and asked the villagers about these cases. All 3
respondents have had a dead cow in their farm. They have said that the
same situation exists in their neighbor's yards. There are no official
statistics available for these fatal cattle cases.
A local veterinarian considers that the disease could be
osteodystrophy due to affected metabolism in these animals. He also
thinks that the quality of the local forage could be low because of
the very hot summer last year [2010], which led to decreased
nutritional value and less vitamins in all vegetation. Such problems
with feed sometimes can cause similar health problems in cattle in
early spring, he says.
The environmental activists consider that seed irradiation also can
lead to a low content of vitamins in forage plants. To prove their
claims they point out clustering of cattle deaths only in Spasskiy
district, where the irradiation experiment took place. The neighboring
districts, which had similarly hot summers last year, did not report
cattle health problems at all. The environmentalists also cite
scientific articles from the 1950s, which document loss of vitamins in
irradiated seeds. Additionally, they say, there is evidence about
development of radiation sickness in animals if they are fed
irradiated forage.
There is an ongoing project in Russia to establish a centralized
radiation facility for cattle forage and maybe chicken feeds as well.
The local environmentalists consider this a dangerous development and
are lobbying for local legislative measures against such radiation
projects.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Russian service PRO/RUS
[This report is rather turbid, lacking quantitative as well as
qualitative data, seemingly belonging to the "hearsay" party. No
epidemiological or clinical information on the population which is
said to be affected are included.
Food irradiation is the process of exposing food/feed to ionizing
radiation to destroy microorganisms, bacteria, viruses or insects that
might be present in the food/feed. There are also other applications,
including sprout inhibition. Irradiated food does not become
radioactive, but in some cases there may be subtle chemical changes. -
Mod.AS]
[The undiagnosed illness/death affecting the cattle is not from
radiation. I am also hard pressed to believe the radiation effect on
the plants. Osteodystrophy and what the vet said sound correct. -
Mod.TG]
[Maps of Russia can be seen at
and
located in the Volga (Privolzhsky) Federal District, which forms the
southeastern part of European Russia. - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]
[see also:
2008
----
Undiagnosed disease, bovine - Russia (02): (Irkutsk) 20080107.0094
Undiagnosed disease, bovine - Russia (Irkutsk) 20080106.0073]
.................................................ats/arn/tg/mj/jw
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