Widespread Infection with Leukemia Virus from Meat and Milk

[Guest guest]

Widespread Infection with Leukemia Virus from Meat and Milk

 

One little Holstein dairy cow from a Yakima, Washington farm

introduced mad cow into America's food supply and changed the world

forever. Can you imagine the response when consumers discover 9 out

of 10 of the herds in the US (89%) are infected with leukemia virus?

This means millions of cows presently have live, infectious,

leukemia viruses ? bovine leukemia virus ? living inside them. These

viruses are known to cause cancers of the immune system, called

leukemias and lymphomas, in these cows. More startling will be the

reaction when they learn that consuming tainted beef has already

infected as many as 74% of people living in the US.1

 

Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call that turns people from

sausages to sweet potatoes and porterhouse to potatoes. A revolution

is long overdue, especially since scientists have known about this

health hazard for more than 35 years. Yet, you have heard little or

nothing about leukemia viruses infecting your food supply because of

the spin placed on this information by the cattle industry and the

United States Department of Agriculture. They have taken the

position: " until proven guilty beyond any doubt, eating live leukemia

viruses is perfectly safe. " Crude testing methods available during

the past two decades have failed to find evidence of widespread

infection in humans from this cancer-causing virus.

 

Now however, that excuse for keeping the public in the dark is gone

forever. Using state-of-the-art detection methods, in December of

2003 researchers from the University of California, Berkeley

published their findings that three-fourths (74%) of people from

their community ? a study population of 257 humans ? have been

infected with bovine leukemia viruses. This conclusion was based on

the discovery of antibodies against this infectious agent in the

people's blood.1 The investigators hedged on the relevance of their

conclusions by taking the position that this common presence of

antibody could have been from dead, thoroughly cooked, viruses, as

well as live, highly infectious ones. Anyone who remembers eating

burgers or steaks " pink on the inside " knows exposure to live viruses

is universal. The virus resides in white blood cells (blood

lymphocytes) where circulating antibodies are unable to neutralize

it. Therefore, once an animal is infected with the virus, it is

infected for life. (This is the case with humans, too.)

 

Disregard for the importance of this widespread problem is not

universal. Many European countries have conducted programs to

eliminate infected herds. For example, in 1996, after thirty years of

effort, Finland completely eradicated the infection from its

cattle.2 Obviously, the Finns take eating live leukemia viruses

seriously. However, in other countries, where the beef and dairy

industries make up a large part of the economy, there has been no

effort to clean up this cesspool of infection; for example 84% of

herds in Argentina and 70% in Canada are found to harbor the bovine

leukemia virus.3-5

 

The spread of infection in cattle arises from accepted practices in

the cattle industry, such as feeding blood from slaughtered cows as a

formula and feeding pooled colostrum (early milk) to calves ? and the

use of syringes, tattooing, and de-horning instruments on multiple

animals without proper sterilization between uses.6 BLV is also

passed directly from mother to calf through her milk. Most infected

cattle do not live long enough to develop actual disease ? they

remain " healthy " and therefore, are not separated from the herd.

Approximately 1% to 5% of infected cattle do develop leukemia or

lymphoma ? many of these obviously diseased animals still become part

of our food supply. This virus is easily spread from cow's milk to

other species of animals, and once infected they can become ill with

leukemia. For example, in 1974 it was reported that when 6 infant

chimpanzees were fed infected cow's milk 2 died of leukemia within a

year.7 So what more evidence could there be that these well-known

animal infections are a threat to you and your family (who, by the

way, are also animals)?

 

In the laboratory this virus can infect the cells of many species of

animals, including humans.8 The bovine leukemia virus has been

classified in the same group as the Human T-cell

Leukemia/Lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), which is known to cause

leukemia and lymphomas in humans (Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma).9

Nationwide and worldwide, leukemia is more common in higher dairy-

and beef consuming populations.10,11 An increased incidence of

leukemia has been found among dairy farmers in multiple studies.12-

15 A recent study of Canadian workers found that those individuals

working in occupations associated with cattle have approximately

twice the risk of developing leukemia and lymphoma.16

 

In addition to infecting white blood cells, these viruses also attack

other cells in the body, such as cells of the breast and the lymph

nodes. Leukemia viruses infect the cells of a cow's mammary gland

(udder).17 One recent worrisome study found the virus in the breast

tissues of 10 of 23 human breast cancer patients.18,19 Beef and dairy

product consumption in various populations has been found to

correlate directly with an increasing incidence of another cancer of

the immune system called lymphoma.20-24

 

Meat from a thousand beef cattle often makes up a single hamburger

patty, because many body parts from many different cows are processed

at a single meat packer. Most milk, cheese, and other dairy products

are infected with these viruses, since the milk from many dairy farms

is mixed in large vats at the dairy factory before processing and

packaging. Pasteurization of milk kills many types of

microorganisms, but it is not foolproof. There is also concern that

pasteurization may break the viruses into fragments that may become

even more dangerous.25

 

If you live in the United States, Canada, Argentina or any other

country whose government is indifferent to this problem, you can be

pretty sure you will be consuming beef with live whole viruses, and

dairy products containing whole viruses or fragments. Avoiding meat

and dairy products is the most effective means to prevent future

infection. You are maybe thinking that the smart move is to switch

to chicken and other poultry. Unfortunately, they are also infected

with cancer causing viruses.26 Your only safe choice is a pure

vegetarian diet.

 

Each year about 30,000 new cases of leukemia and 70,000 new cases of

lymphoma occur for " unknown reasons " in the USA. I find it hard to

believe that none of these are due to infection with bovine leukemia

viruses. Viruses causing leukemia should not surprise people ? after

all, you take your cat to the veterinarian for feline leukemia virus

vaccinations in order to prevent leukemia in your cat. As always,

the burden of proof of safety of a product lies with those selling

the food to you and your family. It has not been proved safe to eat

leukemia viruses ? and the evidence is even more damning now that we

know these viruses infect the vast majority of people who eat meat

and milk products.

 

Don't despair. If you live in a country where people follow the

Western diet, your risk of developing leukemia or lymphoma each year

is only one in 3000. Plus, these are primarily diseases of children

and the elderly, suggesting the strength of our immune system largely

determines whether or not we will develop this kind of cancer. Our

diet is the major controllable asset we have for strengthening this

defense system. Even if you are infected with bovine leukemia

viruses already, a change to a plant food based diet, like the

McDougall diet, will still reduce your risk of developing leukemia.

27 Preventing infections in the first place is the most sensible

action parents can take with their children by never feeding these

tainted foods ? meats and dairy products ? to their children.

Clearly, there is sufficient evidence to take action; furthermore,

there are no negative nutritional consequences from removing these

hazardous foods from your diet.

 

References:

 

1) Buehring GC, Philpott SM, Choi KY. Humans have antibodies

reactive with Bovine leukemia virus. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2003

Dec;19(12):1105-13.

 

2) Nuotio L, Rusanen H, Sihvonen L, Neuvonen E. Eradication of

enzootic bovine leukosis from Finland. Prev Vet Med. 2003 May 30;59

(1-2):43-9.

 

3) Sargeant JM. Associations between farm management practices,

productivity, and bovine leukemia virus infection in Ontario dairy

herds. Prev Vet Med. 1997 Aug;31(3-4):211-21.

 

4) VanLeeuwen JA,. Seroprevalence of infection with Mycobacterium

avium subspecies paratuberculosis, bovine leukemia virus, and bovine

viral diarrhea virus in maritime Canada dairy cattle. Can Vet J.

2001 Mar;42(3):193-8.

 

5) Trono KG. Seroprevalence of bovine leukemia virus in dairy cattle

in Argentina: comparison of sensitivity and specificity of different

detection methods. Vet Microbiol. 2001 Nov 26;83(3):235-48.

 

6) Gonda M. Bovine immunodeficiency virus. AIDS. 1992 Aug;6(8):759-

76

 

7) McClure HM, Keeling ME, Custer RP, Marshak RR, Abt DA, Ferrer JF.

Erythroleukemia in two infant chimpanzees fed milk from cows

naturally infected with the bovine C-type virus. Cancer Res. 1974

Oct;34(10):2745-57.

 

8) Graves DC, Ferrer JF. In vitro transmission and propagation of

the bovine leukemia virus in monolayer cell cultures. Cancer Res.

1976 Nov;36(11 Pt 1):4152-9.

 

9) Johnson J. Molecular biology and pathogenesis of the human T-cell

leukaemia/lymphotropic virus Type-1 (HTLV-1). Int J Exp Pathol. 2001

Jun;82(3):135-47.

 

10) Hursting SD. Diet and human leukemia: an analysis of

international data. Prev Med. 1993 May;22(3):409-22.

 

11) Howell MA. Factor analysis of international cancer mortality

data and per capita food consumption. Br J Cancer. 1974 Apr;29

(4):328-36.

 

12) Kristensen P. Incidence and risk factors of cancer among men

and women in Norwegian agriculture. Scand J Work Environ Health.

1996 Feb;22(1):14-26.

 

13) Reif J. Cancer risks in New Zealand farmers. Int J Epidemiol.

1989 Dec;18(4):768-74.

 

14) Blair A. Leukemia cell types and agricultural practices in

Nebraska. Arch Environ Health. 1985 Jul-Aug;40(4):211-4.

 

15) Donham KJ. Epidemiologic relationships of the bovine population

and human leukemia in Iowa. Am J Epidemiol. 1980 Jul;112(1):80-92.

 

16) Fritschi L, Johnson KC, Kliewer EV, Fry R; Canadian Cancer

Registries Epidemiology Research Group. Animal-related occupations

and the risk of leukemia, myeloma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in

Canada. Cancer Causes Control. 2002 Aug;13(6):563-71.

 

17) Buehring GC, Kramme PM, Schultz RD. Evidence for bovine

leukemia virus in mammary epithelial cells of infected cows. Lab

Invest. 1994 Sep;71(3):359-65.

 

18) GC Buehring, KY Choi and HM Jensen. Bovine leukemia virus in

human breast tissues. Breast Cancer Res 2001, 3(Suppl 1):A14

 

19) Buehring GC Evidence of bovine leukemia virus in human

mammary epithelial cells Semin Cell Dev Biol 199735: 27A; Abstract V-

1001.

 

20) Sarasua S, Savitz DA. Cured and broiled meat consumption in

relation to childhood cancer: Denver, Colorado (United States).

Cancer Causes Control. 1994 Mar;5(2):141-8.

 

21) Zhang S, Hunter DJ, Rosner BA, Colditz GA, Fuchs CS, Speizer FE,

Willett WC. Dietary fat and protein in relation to risk of non-

Hodgkin's lymphoma among women. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1999 Oct 20;91

(20):1751-8.

 

22) Fritschi L, Johnson KC, Kliewer EV, Fry R; Canadian Cancer

Registries Epidemiology Research Group. Animal-related occupations

and the risk of leukemia, myeloma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in

Canada. Cancer Causes Control. 2002 Aug;13(6):563-71.

 

23) Chiu BC. Diet and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in older women.

JAMA. 1996 May 1;275(17):1315-21.

 

24) Cunningham AS. Lymphomas and animal-protein consumption.

Lancet. 1976 Nov 27;2(7996):1184-6.

 

25) Ferrer JF. Milk of dairy cows frequently contains a

leukemogenic virus. Science. 1981 Aug 28;213(4511):1014-6.

 

26) Johnson ES. Poultry oncogenic retroviruses and humans. Cancer

Detect Prev. 1994;18(1):9-30..

 

27) Zhang SM, Hunter DJ, Rosner BA, Giovannucci EL, Colditz GA,

Speizer FE, Willett WC. Intakes of fruits, vegetables, and related

nutrients and the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among women. Cancer

Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2000 May;9(5):477-85.

 

 

 

 

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