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Ethoxyquin
By
Carol
Kufner
(as posted to the Wellpet List)
Hi, fellow listers,
Put
on my Sherlock Holmes hat and came up with some interesting
info on Ethoxyquin.
Ethoxyquin
is not used as a preservative for HUMAN foods with the following
exception: to "promote colour retention" in paprika
and ground chili pepper in a maximum concentration of 100ppm.
The
maximum allowable residue in eggs, meat, poultry, apples,
pears, poultry fat and livers for HUMAN use is 0.5ppm.
In
ANIMAL feeds, the maximum allowable concentration of ethoxyquin
is 150ppm.
Ethoxyquin
is also classed as a Pesticide - Usage - Food/Vegetation
Chronic
feeding studies in rats of 0.2 % of ethoxyquin in the diet
caused transient depression in growth rate. At necropsy, damage
to kidneys, liver and thyroid gland were seen in many of the
male rats but not in the females.
In
another study, diets containing 0.5 % ethoxyquin fed to rats
for up to 18 months, produced renal lesions in all of the
study animals.
Continuous
administration to rats fed a diet of 0.2 % ethoxyquin, caused
tumors in some of the animals according to one study.
Toxicity
in chicks was "significantly greater when the diet was
low in protein." (Details of this study were not given).
A
five-year study in dogs (1959-1964) by Monsanto Agricultural
of St. Louis, Mo., found no pathological changes attributable
to ethoxyquin. A 1982 literature search by FDA's Center for
Food Safety and Applied Nutrition found no evidence that ethoxyquin
was carcinogenic. In 1988, a second literature search carried
out by FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine found a 1987 paper
that reported on a 23-week study in rats. The study used a
dose level of 5,000 ppm ethoxyquin -- far higher than approved
levels -- that suggested a carcinogenic potential.
I
remember reading somewhere that ethoxyquin remains in the
system for a very long time. Assume that a pet owner feeds
a kibble containing Ethoxyquin every day for approximately
10yrs, (much longer than the 23 week rat study). Knowing that
Ethoxyquin tends to "stock pile" in the system,
wouldn't this lead to such an accumulation of this chemical
as to put the animal at risk of cancer? If 23 days at high
dose the FDA says could potentially cause cancer then would
not years of "stock piling" at a lower dose have
the same end result?
Something
to think about.
Carol
Kufner
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