Transcript Lupine-Induced Crooked Calf Disease

Lupine-Induced Crooked
Calf Disease
Situation Analysis
• Baby born in NW CA with severe bone
deformities.
– Partial absence of forearm bones
– Absent thumbs
Possibilities
• Herbicide spraying in area linked to birth defects.
• Lupine (type of herbage) found in area also shown
to be responsible for “crooked-calf disease” in
domestic animals.
– Goats have been giving birth to stillborn/abnormal kids.
– Puppies from dog fed goat milk also exhibit
abnormalities.
– Human mother also drank goat milk during her
pregnancy.
Crooked-Calf Disease
• Causes bone abnormalities in forelimbs.
– To a lesser extent affects spine and skull
• Directly linked to ingestion of lupine alkaloid (anagyrine)
by the mother.1
Hypothesis
• Birth defects result from contaminated goat
milk consumption by mother during early
pregnancy.
– Other plants in region (poison hemlock, wild
tobacco, skunk cabbage) also may be
responsible for birth defects.2
Evidence
• Alkaloids from consumed plants have been shown
to readily transfer into the milk of the mother.3
• Deformities exhibited by human child nearly
identical to crooked-calf disease caused by toxic
plants.
• Lupine consumption has been widely accepted as
the cause of crooked-calf disease.
Conclusions
• No conclusive evidence is available.
– Ethical constraint of knowingly feeding poisons
to pregnant women.
• Evidence points towards supporting
hypothesis.
References
1. Animal Science 434 Case.
www.wisc.edu/ansci_repro
2. University of Purdue Veterinary School.
www.vet.purdue.edu/depts/addl/toxic/plant28.ht
m
3. University of California Cooperative Extension
Environmental Toxicology Newsletter.
http://extoxnet.orst.edu/newsletters/n23_81.htm