selenium

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Permalink Reply by Rob Stuart on February 9, 2010 at 3:22pm

Hi Deanna,
I would offer two university professors for you to contact. For swine selenium levels, contact Dr. Don Mahan, Animal Sciences Department at The Ohio State University, Columbus. For cattle, contact Dr. John Maas, Extension Veterinarian, University of California, Davis.

Rob Stuart
Stuart Products, Inc.

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Permalink Reply by Deanna Quan on April 5, 2010 at 2:38pm

Hi Rob,
Dr. Mahan has been incredibly helpful to me concerning the selenium toxicity issue.
I am looking for more people who have proven their livestock are injured by the high amounts of selenium in the feeds.
Dr. Mahan said that "at 1.0 ppm in the complete feed would make a sow go toxic by the time she is 1 1/2 years old or less".
Since the majority of commercial feeds tested are close to, and above, that amount, what does the feed industry say about it? They can't say anything because of liability issues. They will also have a hard time fixing it.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Stuart on April 14, 2010 at 9:36am

Hi Deanna,
There are several companies in the Midwest that are selling a liquid vitamin E-selenium product for inclusion in drinking water. This is unapproved, yet they keep selling the product. One of the companies has a product that is simply propylene glycol, vitamin E oil and sodium selenite. The label says to shake well before using. That is a really bad product because there is nothing in the product to solubilize the sodium selenite and if a worker does not shake well before using the selenium will settle to the bottom and result in a possible selenium toxicity.

Rob Stuart

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Permalink Reply by Deanna Quan on April 14, 2010 at 2:04pm

Hi Rob,
Wow! Thanks for the info.
Look at this, next to last paragraph:
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/FDAVeterinarianNewsl...
Here is that paragraph from the FDA Website:
"Subsequently, CVM approved the use of selenium yeast, which contains an organic form of the trace element, in complete feeds for turkeys, swine, beef and dairy cattle. No selenium source has been approved for addition to the drinking water of animals."
The majority of people I talk to, think everything on the market has met FDA scrutiny before it is allowed to be sold. The FDA has told me they can't keep up and it is up to the consumer to file formal complaints with the FDA, and have products tested on their own. And if the FDA has no written rule, they also told me "The FDA's hands are tied unless it is shown to be an epidemic and the Media makes a big deal of it." In the case of "naturally" occurring selenium in a product, there is no written rule. The company may add up to .3 mg/ppm, no matter how much is already there.

There is always someone breaking the law. If a company gets shut down, they just change the name and go on to the next thing they think they can sell to the ignorant. Selenium is the only non drug supplement regulated by written law.

If they haven't been shut down already, maybe somebody should complain. Go to the FDA/CVM website, I believe they have a consumer complaint page they recently set up. I will do the same.

The FDA is very busy fielding the continous requests from supplement companies to approve the claims they want to make on labels. Even though the companies have read the "written rules" that clearly spell it out, they blatantly make requests that will obviously result in a big "NO" from the FDA. It sure wastes the taxpayers time and money.
Remember the Polo Ponies? Selenium is poison, at a very small amount higher than what the FDA set as the RDA. The FDA states this on their web site as does the CDC. If somebody sneezes while measuring it they can kill you.
Deanna

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