Irriated Seed-Crops Sicken Cattle w/ Fatal Disease / Russia

UNDIAGNOSED DISEASE, BOVINE - RUSSIA: (TATARSTAN) REQUEST FOR


INFORMATION

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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 . The Republic of Tatarstan is

located in the Volga (Privolzhsky) Federal District, which forms the

southeastern part of European Russia. - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ]



[see also:

2008

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Undiagnosed disease, bovine - Russia (02): (Irkutsk) 20080107.0094

Undiagnosed disease, bovine - Russia (Irkutsk) 20080106.0073]

.................................................ats/arn/tg/mj/jw

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