Interesting note about what we are feeding to our beef and dairy cattle and poultry.
Dale Baney
Hello,
My name is Dale Baney. I am a cattle-producer from Indiana , near South Bend . We raise beef cattle, and have for fifteen years. While reading material on the internet in the last month I have learned that straight vegetable oil can be used as a many ways superior-quality fuel over petroleum diesel!
In my researching vegetable oils and the methods involved in their 'creation' or processing, I learned that 95 percent of all vegetable oils in the US are created using the very reactive neuro-toxins Hexane and Methyl-Chloride that solve tight budget desires for consumer to get cheap food.
The neurotoxin Hexane is said to be the most adversely effecting toxin of all of the toxic solvents, and Methylene Chloride is also a chemical that damages the immune systems, & causes birth defects of animals who eat it. The occupational exposure limit for inhalation of Hexane has been set by OSHA at 50 ppm (TWghAvg 8 -10 hours). How much Hexane & Methylene Chloride remain in the oils and the high fiber meals produced using Hexane and Methylene Chloride as the solvents?
One company selling Hexane-Free soybean oil says that a trace quantity of Hexane remains in the meals and the oils processed with Hexane. That website named the concentration number as "a 0.5% Hexane concentration" in meal.
http://www.alaffia.com/ingredients/oil_extraction.ph p
The EPA has published the following document on the internet that reveals what the average concentration found for Hexane in various stages of production of the meal, though which stage is the stage for production of high fiber, high protein meals for human consumption, and which stage and which plant & location produce for high-protein animal foods is not stated: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch09/bgdocs/b9s11-1.pdf
This official report reveals the average Hexane content of the meals in that study to be: (0.152) gallons, or about 1.14 pounds of Hexane remains per ton in food meal after the Hexane has been removed by the 'desolventizing toaster' process; (0.119) gallons, or about 0.9 pounds of Hexane remains per ton of food meal after the Hexane has been removed by the 'dryer' processing; (0.097) gallons, or about 0.75 pounds of Hexane remains per ton of food meal after the Hexane is removed by the 'cooler' processing. Rounding to one pound per ton, ballpark of the known numbers, A million pounds is 500 times 2000lbs. That means that the admitted average weight of Hexane per ton of meal is approximately 500 pounds of Hexane per million pounds of processed meal, or simply put: 500 parts per million!
I have searched for and pored over more than two thousand websites looking for some statements by someone who knows what the levels of Hexane and Methylene Chloride in cattle food and food for human consumption are and should be. I desire to learn what the concentration is of these neurological toxins that cause heart damage and brain damage, impotence (MSDS for Hexane) and reproductive system damage, loss of fur(hair) and irritability, that remain in the foods that I am feeding to my animals and eventually eating myself after the animal has effectively concentrated those toxins in his body for up to ten years or more, or who I drink the milk of that has not been allowed to have the Hexane and Methylene Chloride evaporated off from.
That first level of Hexane reduction is where it is cost effective to pelletize the Hexane processed meal and sell it as cattle food. I believed that there must be a mistake somewhere, because at that 0.5 percent Hexane level claimed by the machinery maker and the Hexane-free vegetable oil producer, with my simple calculations and math(one half of one percent is equal to one-half pound Hexane for every 100 pounds of feed), that seemingly small percentage amounts to approximately 5000 ppm Hexane toxin in the meal, a level that is one hundred, and ten, times higher than the OSHA permissible levels for incidental and temporary exposures to Hexane by inhalation for the lengths of time of 50ppm for 8-10 hours, and 500ppm for up to fifteen minutes.
Contact is contact, and contact internally is also contact, so the contact the Hexane and Methylene Chloride make with the parts of the stomach and intestines, is contact in that part of the body that is designed to dissolve, digest and deliver to the rest of the body, brain, heart, lungs and reproductive system, whatever is placed in it, should be at least as low as the 50 parts per million inhalation level, because it must be that the Hexane enters the blood supply. But the lower 50 parts per million occupational exposure limit time frame is only for 8 or 10 hours without reprieve, and the time that contact with the toxin Hexane and the dioxin Methylene Chloride contact occurs intestinally is far longer than 8 or 10 hours without reprieve, for it usually takes 36 hours, more or less, for food to pass through a body.
Hexane is strongly attached to the vegetable's protein as the vegetable oil is extracted, and Hexane's attachment to the protein is what effects the extraction of the oil from the meal. Hexane attaches itself to a protein and it does not let go of that grip on protein unless it is induced to do so, either by temperature causing its grip to lessen or by another solvent or acid that will effect that fracturing of the bonding. The stomach's acids are the catalyst to effect that separation, loosening the Hexane and allowing it to be carried into the person's bloodstream, where it then does those things that Hexane does to a person normally by possibly attaching itself to another protein cell of the animal's body.
I have recently learned that there is a problem with dairy cattle 'breeding back', or getting pregnant again, after they have produced milk heavily. One of the known effects shared by Hexane and Methylene Chloride is to cause reproductive system damage and problems in both male and female animals. Hexane causes impotence in men(MSDS for Hexane). Another effect associated with Hexane is fur loss. Our cattle were only fed the meal in the winter and were losing their fur, mid-winter through the springtime, in patches. The summertime being the time when the fur always grew back and the livestock then look healthier, while eating the green grass. Known effects of Hexane in people is listlessness, fatigue, confusion, and irritability. All characteristics I recall seeing in my cattle, particularly in the winter. Another effect of Hexane and Methylene Chloride is the damage it is known to do to fetuses in the womb. Last year we had two out of eight calves die, one who was born blind, visual maladies are a known effect of Hexane(MSDS for Hexane). Of the calves born and that lived, one has underdeveloped hind legs and walks with an odd gait, and stiff rear legs, a cripple. Rear end underdevelopment is also a noted effect of Hexane. It was noted in research of the effects of Hexane on rats in uterus.(I have wondered if the time at which these toxins were administered to the calves while in uterus is the reason that some of my calves are born perfectly healthy. Gestation is nine months long, and the toxin's effects could change depending on what stage of development the calf is in when the toxins are ingested by the mother. Some calves may be free of high levels of their mother's ingestion of Hexane if they are conceived and develop during the time of year when we are not feeding the cows the protein supplement.)
I spoke to an Amish dairy man by the name of Leon K. about my own theory of Hexane residues being the cause for these maladies; causing dairy livestock to have trouble re-breeding, and that the Hexane and Methylene Chloride effectively concentrated in the animal's meats being the cause for the men of America's need for Rogaine because their fur is falling off, the need for Viagra because they can no longer get it skyward, and is the cause for Road Rage from irritability, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Mad Cow Disease and Scrapie, etcetera. He said in reply that he had bought some soy meal once from ADM, NEVER AGAIN!- he said. He had fed the meal to a group of sows and when only three of them had gotten pregnant, he said that he will never feed the meal again.
I asked the man at feed center here in Wyatt, where I was buying our cattle food, what the level of Hexane his protein supplement carried on it, and the answer was: People get hung up on how much toxins are in the food… but he answered my question by not answering the question. A sample of the meal pellets I have taken to a local laboratory to have them analyzed for concentration of the toxin Hexane, although I now know that the official EPA measurement for that toxin is from reading that document noted above. Hexane's confessed average concentration after the toaster processing stage": (0.152) gallons, or about 1.14 pounds of Hexane per ton of food meal after the 'desolventizing toaster' process".
This concentration average, though lower than claimed by the machinery maker of oil processing equipment, (0.5%) and the same amount (0.5%), claimed by a producer of Hexane free soybean oils, (~507 part per million) is about at the OSHA limit set for temporary and incidental occupational exposure (500 part per million) for a maximum of fifteen minutes exposure. (MSDS for Hexane)
Then in my study I searched for articles relating to my query, that is, how much Hexane is in the food that we feed to the cattle and allow those cattle to concentrate that toxin that they carry until we eventually eat the meat of that livestock, I finally found your Federal study. I was reading it, and discovered that in your laboratory, when checking for various toxins, the same toxic solvents that I want to learn the concentration of, are the same neuro-logical toxins that were used as the solvent-mixture in the lab, the toxins Hexane and Methylene Chloride.
The toxic solvent Hexane's stated effects have been recorded by many over the years and have the well-known fingerprint of solvent symptoms affecting the neorology, that I have seen in my cattle when feeding them that meal that is the leftover of vegetable oil processing using Hexane and Methylene Chloride. The tell-tale symptoms that those cattle display in their activities and manner after eating Hexane-laced high protein meals resembles the maladies of BSE and TSE. These toxins, Hexane and Methylene Chloride, fed to cattle, cause scrapie and mad cow disease. My simple mind sees the connection.
Spongiform Encephalopathy is brain damage caused by what an animal is fed, Hexane is known to cause brain damage(MSDS for Hexane), and Hexane is fed to cattle in serious quantities. To discover what does cause scrapie and mad cow disease, and what does not cause the malady, one could look to the only two countries in the world that do not have any scrapie or mad cow disease: New Zealand and Australia , and look at what they feed to their cattle. New Zealand and Australian cattle and livestock are normally only fed grass and grass hay, and not grain or high-protein supplements. The connection is so straightforward that it would take a great deal of effort to explain it in a simpler way.
The source(Hexane and Methylene Chloride remaining from vegetable oil solvent processing) I have noted, the results(locally in my own cattle, and in the dairy industry) I have noted. Is there any way for a person to govern how much Hexane and Methylene Chloride he eats? Is there a way other than growing his own grass hay to feed his own cattle? A little amount of toxin in food is good and acceptable, but a food concentration for Hexane that is over one hundred times the occupational limit for incidental and occasional contact(>5000 part per million [or even 500 part per million]) in food meal compared to <50 part per million 8-10 hour TimeWeighedAverage limit for the worker) is not acceptable in my food.
One study was named:
The "Study to Evaluate the Levels of Dioxin-Like Compounds in Dairy Feeds in the United States "
by: Matthew Lorber, Joseph Ferrario, Christian Byrne, Christopher Greene, Ann Cyrus
that was filed as: "ORGANOHALOGEN COMPOUNDS – Volume 66 (2004)"
1958 Introduction
The primary route for general population exposure to dioxin-like compounds is through the consumption of animal fats, with bovine-derived meat, milk and dairy products comprising over 50% of total exposure in the United States1. The primary route of exposure hypothesized for cattle is airborne deposition of dioxins onto the leaves of feed crops. Over the last few years additional pathways of exposure have been identified associated with contaminated feed additives such as ball clay, mineral supplements, and animal byproducts.
(my emphasis's)
This study points to different notices of some dioxins in and on grass feeds, meal pellets, and the alfalfas etcetera and is an honest study for sure. Very difficult for a three year old like me to follow, but the following are the laboratory procedures used:
The samples were extracted with 75/25 Hexane/Methylene Chloride in a soxhlet for 24 hours. All 12 of the WHO dioxin-like coplanar PCBs were evaluated in this project for most of the samples; a small subset only measured 7 coplanar PCBs. Limits of detection(LOD) for dioxins and furans (CDD/Fs) ranged from 0.01 pg/g for the lower chlorinated congeners to 0.20 pg/g for OCDD, and …
If the tests for contamination of foods for cattle were redone using EPA's method, the method who could detect what level is for hexane and surely methylene chloride, while looking for and measuring the concentrations of these two solvents used in the oil extraction industry, there could be a true measurement of the concentration of the most toxic of all petroleum distillates, Hexane and a measurement of the deadly dioxin Methylene Chloride in the animal foods that are destined ultimately for human consumption. Then we could know that the concentration is low as has been promised to me.( It has been promised to me by some speculators of the levels of Hexane in my food that "the levels of Hexane that remain in my food are probably very low") I agree, but since I have seen my cattle acting as if they had taken large doses of Hexane, and I see in the public of america many of the effects that have been notedas effects for Hexane exposure, Is it too much to ask: "how low of concentration is Hexane and Methylene Chloride in my food?"
Meat, milk, and cheese for their concentrations of these two particular toxins, Hexane and Methylene Chloride? Meat and milk have how high of concentrations of these toxins? I Think that eggs may inadvertently have high concentrations of these two toxins in them also, and the meat of birds may have unacceptably high concentrations. As a youth I worked at an egg producing farm, and chickens are fed that same 'high protein' meal.
Thank you for taking the time to read and listen to my questions. I earnestly await your reply. As I intend to discover the answers to my questions and I think that people are the key to discovering the answer to any problem and any question, I am going to employ the newspapers of this area and Chicago and New York and some in California as well as the media in Australia, and England and other English speaking countries worldwide. The translation of this letter is also in process to share this question with the non-English speaking leaders in the world. I have sent a copy of this letter to various Newspapers and Libraries and Congressmen and Senators also, by email, and by postage, and face to face I hand this letter to people who I meet.
Also I intend to provide this questioning letter to anyone who is willing to help me to discover how much Hexane and Methylene Chloride is in cattle feed and human food. If my lab results come back as none detected, (it did) how do my local laboratory's first ever attempt to detect Hexane in cattle food compare with the average concentration of Hexane in the meals, as measured by the EPA?-- That meal contains ~507 ppm, detected by the EPA.
Because 95% of all meal processing is Hexane- Methylene Chloride based, and processing meal other than with Hexane-Methylene Chloride is more expensive and produces a meal more valuable for resale, could a person make me think that some cold-pressed meal accidentally was sold to me at the mill, and that is what meal I have taken to the lab for measurement? The cold-pressed meals are a much more nutritious supplement, as more oil remains in that meal, but they require more care and could never be used in the existing methods for meal delivery and storage. The meal processed by cold rolling contains more residual oil in the meal –more nutritional for the animals- but cold-rolled meal goes rank after some time, while the solvent-extracted meals store indefinitely)- my sample was solvent extracted, and so it has at least the average Hexane concentration as found by the EPA.
Perhaps an answer could be posed that the Hexane escapes by evaporation into the open air. It seems that open air evaporation would work well for evaporating off the toxin Hexane from the grain meal, if enough time and temperature could be supplied, but what would I do if an open air hexane evaporation processing plant was built in my back yard? The toxin Hexane is a reportable toxin and any corporation who releases more than one pound per year must report that release to the government. Since the meals are transported and stored in closed containers from the time of its processing until placed into watertight plastic bags for transportation to the feeding site by most farmers, there is no time or place for the hexane to evaporate after its processing.
Should our Dairy farmers account for the release of the known concentrations and weights of Hexane that they feed to their animals? How many tons of meal do 3500 cows eat in a year? High-producing dairy cattle each produce over 100 pounds of milk every day and they will eat more than 50 pounds of feed every day. If half of that (25lbs) is high protein meal, 3500 cattle would eat 31,937,500 pounds of Hexane processed meal in a years time. How much of the toxin Hexane is fed to those 3500 cows every year? In a year, using very conservative estimation, (Hexane concentration of .01%), that farm would pollute the environment and water supply local to that farm with 3,193.75 pounds of Hexane in a years time. At hexane concentration of .1%, 31,937.5 pounds of Hexane would be released into the local environment. If the Hexane-free oil producer and oil processing equiptment manufacturer were correct in saying that Hexane is residual in the meals at 0.5%, the release into the environment by that cattle farm would be 159,687 pounds of Hexane every year.
Using the official EPA findings for Hexane in the meals and the admitted average found at approx .04% of Hexane residue in Hexane processed meal, 12,775 pounds of Hexane would be put into the local environment and water supplies every year. Should the release of hexane to the environment and local water supplies through feed given to cattle be regulated?
Do Dairy farms report the release of the toxin Hexane into the environment and water supply?
But what should the level of Hexane be in my food? Is 50ppm Hexane ok to eat occasionally? What about 500ppm Hexane regularly? The EPA has measured Hexane content in the meals, the Hexane concentration can be measured and publicized by those people who know how to find Hexane. Can a valid measurement and levels be found for Hexane in meats and in cheese and in milk and in eggs that we eat? What amount of Hexane is in my food?
To anyone who wishes to do so, I grant permission to publish this letter or any part of it, without any restrictions, This is a free letter, I encourage the forwarding of this letter.
Earnestly yours,
Dale Baney
p.s. In reading the MSDS for Hexane, there is a discrepancy in the speech used there, when naming the effects of various methods of exposure to Hexane.
The material safety data sheet for Hexane says that there are certain adverse effects for inhalation in the short-term, and also for the long term. The long-term effects of Hexane inhalation are noted as: "the same as for short-term exposure", plus more adverse effects, including impotence. The sheet says that for skin-contact, the effects of Hexane exposure in the short-term are certain adverse effects, and the long-term exposure effects of Hexane by skin-contact are: "the same as for short-term exposure". The MSDS sheet then lists the adverse effects that come from ingestion exposure to Hexane over the short-term, and for long-term ingestion exposure to Hexane the MSDS sheet oddly does not keep to form and say that the long term effects of Hexane exposure through ingestion are the same as for short-term exposure, but the MSDS sheet boldly says that "no information on adverse effects", for long-term ingestion exposure to Hexane.(Though the short-term effects were noted)
If a person drinks Hexane for lunch on Monday, and suffers those short term adverse effect( nausea, vomiting, headache, symptoms of drunkenness, brain damage) ,that the MSDS notes for exposure by ingestion, and drinks that Hexane lunch every Monday for the rest of his life, should the MSDS sheet not say that the long term effects for Hexane exposure by ingestion are the same as noted for the short term effects for Hexane ingestion exposure?
Why not just say that the effects for hexane ingestion over the long term are the same as for short term exposure? Is something keeping the OSHA from putting it in writing? Might it be that Hexane indeed is a regular food ingredient and actually is present in sufficient adversely affecting amounts in the foods that I eat, that OSHA encounters resistance to stating the obvious- "same as short-term"- when naming the long-term effects for Hexane ingestion?
Everyone tells the truth of who they are when they speak. Who does OSHA reveal that they are in changing their manner away from saying that the effects for long-term are the same as for short term, as opposed to what they have said for Hexane: "we are not noting in this blank any adverse effects"?
A cursory reading of the MSDS for Hexane can leave a person believing that the Toxin is harmless, because they have read only the one line that might affect them, because Hexane is in food. I am going to ask my senator why the clearly deceptive MSDS is endorsed by a government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Why is cancer of all kinds so prevalent in the United States ? Can the long term ingestion of immune system depressing petroleum distillates used in the manufacture of high protein, high fiber meals and 'healthy' vegetable oils that we eat be validly associated with the many and varied cancers today?
Cancer is but the symptom of an overworked and overburdened immune system, unburden and strengthen the immune system, and the body will heal itself of cancer.
p.p.s. : This letter and an MSDS link have been posted to the website address:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Hexane/
and the web address www.datacruz.com/~baneyred/index
is under construction now.
Both may be referenced freely.
Will you research these questions for me for your own peace of mind and come to your own conclusions? If you agree that these questions are legitimate and deserve consideration, will you forward this questioning letter to deserving people who you know?