Is lasalocid causing or making atrial fibrillation worse?

Lasalocid an "antibiotic" given to many food production farm animals is
also a highly toxic heart poison which is turning up with alarming
frequency in poultry and eggs. Twenty percent of all eggs are estimated to
be contaminated and about 2 percent of all eggs are thought to be
contaminated with high levels of the heart poison lasalocid.

Could this be a contributory factor in the "atrial fibrillation epidemic
which is estimated to cost the UK 1% of its annual national budget? It has
been estimated that 1 in 10 over 65's and that 1 in 100 people overall
suffer with atrial fibrillation" - BBC National Radio News 17 Feb 2004.

Part 1. Atrial fibrillation and Lasalocid - a finding. Part 2. Background
Information and News Reports about Lasalocid.

1. Atrial fibrillation and Lasalocid - a finding

A continuing experiment of some 24 months duration so far has resulted in
the complete abatement of lone atrial fibrillation attacks which were of
the order of about 18 hours long each and finally (after about 6 years
history) were occurring with a frequency of about one every two months.
These attacks which were first detected in 1997 and medically diagnosed in
1998 were severe enough to cause considerable shortness of breath and
syncope such that any movement from prone was mostly impossible. All
attacks resolved without medication. Since October 2002 all aspects of
diet which might possibly be contaminated with LASALOCID residue have been
eliminated and no further such AF attacks have occurred. In case you don't
know, atrial fibrillation is a progressive disease which does not
ordinarily just go away.

Background to the discovery:
It was reported in a news broadcast in 2002 that lasalocid was turning up
in poultry eggs at the rate of about 2 percent. With an egg consumption
rate of about 10 eggs a week (2 per day, sometimes more and sometimes
less) this would put the frequency of attacks very close to the frequency
at which a poisoned egg would turn up given 2 percent were contaminated.
Since farmers and other food producers feed the highly toxic "antibiotic"
lasalocid to cattle as well as poultry it was decided that all dairy and
beef would be eliminated from diet at the same time as a precautionary
measure however beef and poultry were never a regular food item of mine,
just the eggs, milk and cheese were and it is not known whether milk or
cheese are contaminated with the deadly residue. Though I have
concentrated on just one of the ionophores (lasalocid) a significant role
may have been played by other ionophores which are finding their way into
our food. Monensin is another extremely cardio-toxic ionophore routinely
given on farms which is active at the microgram level also.

Conclusion:
It would seem that lasalocid (or some other ionophore) residue in eggs (or
milk or cheese if any) may have played a significant role in illiciting or
sustaining atrial fibrillation or some mechanism associated with it in my
case. Also, given the worrying levels and frequency with which lasalocid
residue is being found in eggs and poultry and the epidemic proportions
that the incidence of AF is assuming (1 in 200 over 40's has it) then it
would seem that some research and action is urgently required in order to
stop this epidemic.

This report is not meant to be medical advice and nor do I advocate anyone
begin any particular dietary regimen without first consulting their
doctor. I hope to provoke thought and action among those who may help
themselves and others by appropriate means.

2. Background Information and News Reports about Lasalocid.

BBC Radio Four - Farming Today Programme 15 Dec 2003. Richard Young of the
Soil Association (UK) in conversation with Bob Stevenson of the British
Veterinary Association said that a new government report due out today
would show an alarming increase in levels of lasalocid residue in eggs.
Based on the sample rates he said that last year 500 million eggs were
estimated to be contaminated with lasalocid residues and that 40 millions
were contaminated to a worryingly high level.

Given that 27 million eggs are consumed daily in the UK the figure of 500
million poisoned eggs per year represents a whopping 20 percent
contamination rate and the 40 million highly contaminated eggs represents
a significant 2 percent of all eggs.

Richard Young went on to say that he thought the drug should be banned and
a safer alternative of which there are a few should be used instead or
failing that then vaccination of the birds should be brought in but he
didn't think that was likely because of the cost differential. Vaccination
costs are 7 times the cost of the toxic drug lasalocid. Bob Stevenson of
the British Veterinary Association urged caution at the idea of replacing
lasalocid with another drug because of a fear of eventual drug resistance
and the subsequent depletion in the drug armoury available for veterinary
medicine.
---

Soil Association (UK) press release 16 Jan 2002 Crack down on toxic drug
found in 750,000 eggs eaten every day Up to three-quarters of a million
eggs eaten every day contain residues of a toxic drug that is widely used
by intensive poultry farmers, according to a new report published today
(16 January) by the Soil Association.

The UK's leading organic organisation is calling for an immediate ban on
lasalocid (pronounced la-sal-o-sid) which is found in 2.6 per cent of
chicken eggs and also in chicken meat. Lasalocid was present in 60 per
cent of the quails eggs tested by the Government's Veterinary Medicines
Directorate.

The report will be discussed at a meeting with the Food Standards Agency
today, which will be attended by nearly 100 organisations and called as a
result of a previous Soil Association publication "Too hard to swallow"
the truth about drugs and poultry.

Lasalocid is too toxic to ever be used in medicine and has been shown to
have potent effects on animals at low levels: rabbit hearts contract when
exposed to the drug a discovery which prompted an experiment in 1974 using
human heart muscle. Rapid contractions were observed and were still
evident an hour after the drug had been given.

Alison Craig, the reports author says, "Even low levels of lasalocid are
dangerous to mammals and this raises concerns about how toxic the drug is
to humans. We know that this drug hangs around in the body, so we could be
accumulating it every time we eat eggs or chicken. The Government's
testing programme for such residues is wholly inadequate, only one out of
every 18 million eggs is analysed."

Consumers are theoretically protected from veterinary drugs residues by
maximum residue limits set by the European Commission. However, as
lasalocid is classified as a feed additive, no limit has been set.

Daily doses of lasalocid are routinely given to chickens and turkeys in
their feed as a preventative treatment against coccidiosis - an infectious
disease caused by a parasite which damages the birds intestines and causes
illness and sometimes death. When large numbers of animals are crowded
together (up to 100,000 birds may be kept in one unit) in warm and moist
conditions, outbreaks of coccidiosis are likely to occur. Lasalocid is not
prescribed by vets but sold as a feed additive directly to producers by
pharmaceutical companies and feed merchants.

Consumers who want to avoid poultry that may contain residues of this drug
should look for Soil Association certified organic meat and eggs as
lasalocid is not used by the organisation's licensed farmers.

Lasalocid is not the only highly toxic drug fed to poultry which was
finding it's way onto the kitchen table. A June 2001 Soil Association
report details the following:

Nicarbazin has never been carefully evaluated for safety in humans.
Studies have shown it can cause both birth defects and hormonal problems
in animals. In 1999, the last year for which full figures are available,
17.8 per cent of chicken livers tested has residues of nicarbazin in
excess of the Maximum Residue Limit of 200 micrograms per kg., the highest
being 10,500 micrograms per kg., over fifty times the legally permitted
level. Since then 127 out of 700 (18 per cent) of chicken livers tested
have contained residues of nicarbazin. It is also been found in
approximately 2 per cent of eggs. Where nicarbazin is present in liver it
will also be present in flesh at lower levels.

Dimetridazole (DMZ) has never been properly evaluated for as a contaminant
of human food. Scientific committees disagree about its safety, but it is
suspected of being able to induce both cancer and birth defects. It is
licensed for turkeys and pheasants rather than chicken or laying hens yet
in 1998 2 per cent, and in 1999, 0.5 per cent of eggs contained residues
of DMZ.

Lasalocid is not licensed for laying hens. It is a member of the potent
cardio-toxic ionophores which have never been properly evaluated as
residues in food. No Maximum Residue Limit has been set. Yet in 1999, one
in every dozen eggs (8.5 per cent) tested contained residues of lasalocid
above the informal action level of 100 micrograms per kg. The highest of
these was 5,400 micrograms per kg. 12 per cent of chicken muscle also
tested positive. In addition the drug is found in quail muscle and chicken
liver.

Here is the rest of the report:
In a new report published today the Soil Association believes government
regulators have seriously misled the public about the high incidence of
dangerous drug residues found in chicken and eggs. Richard Young,
coordinator of the Soil Association's campaign against the overuse of
antibiotics in intensive farming says, 'Despite repeated assertions by
regulators that nearly all poultry products are free from detectable
residues, figures show clearly that about 20 per cent of chicken meat and
10 per cent of the eggs tested contain residues of drugs deemed too
dangerous for use in human medicine.'

Richard Young and Alison Craig, authors of the Soil Association report
'Too Hard to Swallow, the truth about drugs and poultry' challenge
statements from senior officials in the Veterinary Medicines Directorate
(VMD, the executive agency of Maff responsible for residue surveillance),
who assert that approximately '99 per cent of poultry meat and 97 per cent
of eggs are free of detectable residues.'

The report exposes that this distortion is achieved by a statistical
trick. The results of positive tests for individual drugs are expressed as
a percentage of all tests undertaken for all substance (most of which are
never found).

Of most concern are the drugs used to control tiny intestinal parasites in
poultry and game birds that can cause severe losses in intensive
production systems. These include nicarbazin, lascalocid and
dimetridazole, all of which pose potential risks to animal or human
health.

Mr. Young continued, 'These antimicrobial drugs have never been properly
evaluated for safety, but there is evidence that they have the ability to
cause cancer, birth defects and heart attacks. Some residue samples are
more than 50 times over the legal limit, yet the VMD has brought no
prosecutions. We want to see their use stopped as quickly as possible.'

The Soil Association says that more chickens should be reared organically
where the routine use of drugs is not permitted. Intensive poultry
producers could use vaccines instead of adding antimicrobials to feed,
which would effectively reduce the risk of residues. However, vaccines
cost almost 7p per bird, which for some producers is their entire profit
margin per chicken. The Soil Association believes that consumers would
willingly pay a little extra for chickens produced without these drugs.
---

www.foodwatch.ca/know/eggs.htm:
There are no studies evaluating the toxicity of ionophore to humans.
Laboratory tests have, however, shown that the ionophore lasalocid has a
strong effect on the human heart muscle at low levels and monensin,
another routinely used ionophore, has been found to have a similar
cardio-vascular effect in dogs at levels as low as one millionth of a gram
per kilogram. Many of the animals that have died from ionophore poisoning
have died from heart failure.

Ionophores could be a particular danger to children and older people as
they eat more eggs than any other group. Also, ionophore drugs can react
negatively with some prescription medicines, yet doctors have not been
notified of the possible presence of dietary ionophore residues in eggs.
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