CBS News: GM grass linked to Texas cattle deaths

[GliderGuider]

GM grass linked to Texas cattle deaths

(CBS News) ELGIN, Texas - A mysterious mass death of a herd of cattle has prompted a federal investigation in Central Texas. Preliminary test results are blaming the deaths on the grass the cows were eating when they got sick, reports CBS Station KEYE.

Preliminary tests revealed the Tifton 85 grass, which has been here for years, had suddenly started producing cyanide gas, poisoning the cattle.

What is more worrisome: Other farmers have tested their Tifton 85 grass, and several in Bastrop County have found their fields are also toxic with cyanide. However, no other cattle have died.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are dissecting the grass to determine if there might have been some strange, unexpected mutation.

[demosincebirth]

1. Excuse my ignorance, but what does GM have to do with this or what does "GM" refer to?

[Betsy Ross]

2. genetically modified. eom

[MidwestTransplant]

28. I blame Ford!

[limpyhobbler]

3. I find this upsetting. nt

[hollysmom]

4. And just yesterday the agriculture bill passed

but not with the amendment requiring GM ingredients identified on food. Nope - mystery food for us -

probably because "it's People!" (tm C. Heston)

[gregoire]

5. Is this another union bashing session by moron CONservatives?

.

[NickB79]

6. Tifton 85 isn't a GM grass; it's an F1 hybrid

19th-century technology, simply crossing two related species and growing out the resulting seedlings.

It's also quite common for many wild plants to produce cyanide when stressed. Chokecherries, for example, are notorious for killing livestock via cyanide poisoning during droughts.

[freshwest]

29. Yep. drought really destroys the value of fodder. Good point and good to know.

Although cattle survive forage that horses cannot. I'm amazed at some of the things ranchers fed in the past, cactus pads with the thorns scorched off.

Mine never got anything but field grass, bermuda with dry land farming, you can't be too picky with almost no rain at all, fields turning white with drought. Had to bale before that to keep thing going in the winter, as well. And the weight gain is much slower, but the investment much less.

It sounds as if these cattle were going for the gold. GMO produces insecticides within the plant itself. It's got a bad reputation for some. Your idea may have merit but I'm thinking this was cultivated pasture intended for weight gain, and not many wild volunteers.

CBS reporting it is interesting. Do you think they have an angle? They are not 'librul media' by any means.

[ag_dude]

32. Tifton 85 isn't grown in a 'cultivated pasture'

in the traditional sense of the word.

It's an infertile hybrid that is sprigged and spreads in a manner similar to St. Augustine.

[freshwest]

41. Yeah, but the way the story is written, this was GMO not wild.

I understand the difference, plowing versus spreading, but this grass was special, wasn't it?

I wish I could have grown St. Augustine at least for my yard, or alfalfa for the herd, but even my bermuda was highly stressed. My neighbors with dairy cows used walking sprinklers to keep their grass going and it was the good stuff.

If not the GMO the rancher claims, not weeds, what killed them?

From the story, it was the product of the grass itself. Which is some scary stuff. As if the price of beef, shots, killing off ticks and other horrible things wasn't enough trouble already. It's been years since I've been out there, but it is a hard way to make a liviing.

I saw big ranches go out of business in a drought in the nineties. Families that had been ranching for generations, who really knew about raising the best cattle.

And the drought last year? Like the end of the world it seemed. They had better rain this year. This may not be drought related, even. All I can from here is the CBS version, singling out the seed itself.

Most disease takes a few days. The story says they were all good until that day.

[ag_dude]

42. The story was blatantly incorrect regarding the GMO thing

...and CBS has since posted a retraction.

[freshwest]

44. No kidding? I'll look through the thread to find it. One less thing to worry about, huh?

[ag_dude]

45. From the story...

CORRECTION: As originally published, this story referred to Tifton 85 grass as a genetically-modified product, which is incorrect; it is actually a hybrid of Bermuda grass.

[freshwest]

46. I don't think we disagree at this point. I attended an A & M college, and did some ranching. EOM.

[TexasProgresive]

7. CBS has it wrong.

1) Tifton 85 is not genetically modified but an F-1 hybrid.

Tifton 85 is the best of many F1 hybrids between PI 290884 from South Africa and Tifton 68, a highly digestible but cold susceptible hybrid that was released in 1983. Tifton 85 is a sterile pentaploid. Except for Tifton 68, it is taller, has larger stems, broader leaves and a darker green color than other bermudagrass hybrids. Tifton 85 has large rhizomes (though many fewer than Coastal and Tifton 44), crowns, and very large, rapidly spreading stolons.
http://www.tifton.uga.edu/fat/tifton85.htm

2) The calves died from prussic acid poisoning which has not happened with Tifton 85 before but is common in some other grasses.

Prussic acid, also called hydrocyanic (HCN), normally is not present in plants. However, several common plants can accumulate large quantities of cyanogenetic glycoside. When plant cells are damaged by wilting, frosting or stunting, the glycoside degrades to form free HCN. Conditions in the rumen also favor degradation of the glycoside to free HCN. Thus plants that contain the glycoside have the potential to cause HCN toxicity when consumed by ruminants.

In Colorado, plants most likely to cause HCN poisoning are sorghums. The potential is greatest for johnsongrass and least for true sudans. Other materials with HCN potential include white clover, vetch seed and chokecherry.
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/livestk/01612.html

"Thursday, June 21, 2012
Potential Toxicity Issues with Tifton 85 Bermudagrass
From Dr. Larry Redmon, Extension Forage Specialist:

Recently, 15 head of Corriente roping calves died as a result of prussic acid poisoning in Bastrop cattle in a clean field of Tifton 85 bermudagrass. While this has never been reported before, results of analyses of rumen contents and the fresh forage confirmed death was due to prussic acid poisoning. Forage specialists and researchers here and the vet diagnostic lab at first denied the possibility of this. Even the researchers and breeders at USDA-ARS – Tifton, GA, doubted the findings, but after multiple site visits, multiple forage analyses, and DNA analysis of plants from several fields from several environments across Texas, we can come to only one conclusion – the death of the cattle was indeed due to prussic acid poisoning.

A little background is in order. Tifton 85 bermudagrass was released from the USDA-ARS station at Tifton, GA in 1992 by Dr. Glenn Burton, the same gentleman who gave us Coastal bermudagrass in 1943. One of the parents of Tifton 85, Tifton 68, is a stargrass. Stargrass is in the same genus as bermudagrass (Cynodon) but is a different species (nlemfuensis versus dactylon) than bermudagrass. Stargrass has a pretty high potential for prussic acid formation, depending on variety, but even with that being said, University of Florida researchers at the Ona, FL station have grazed stargrass since 1972 without a prussic acid incident.
http://haysagriculture.blogspot.com/2012/06/potential-toxicity-issues-with-tifton.html



Typical media ignorance of what they are reporting. But Hey! you gotta hype.

[GliderGuider]

8. Thanks NickB79 and TexasProgressive for updating the facts. nt

[eppur_se_muova]

9. +1 nt

[ag_dude]

10. Who was the idiot that thought Tifton 85 was GM?

The fear mongering over GMO is jaw dropping.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. Well, the "life sciences" industry likes to imply that…

…“genetic engineering” is really no different from hybridization.

So, by extension, a hybrid grass is a genetically engineered grass. (Right?)

[ag_dude]

12. Ummmm, I assume you're kidding but no, not at all.

This was knee-jerk fear mongering. he ignorance of this nation regarding agriculture is astounding.

There are numerous naturally occurring grasses that will produce cyanide under stress.

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. I’m mostly joking, however…

I do get annoyed when I hear the pro-GM propaganda about humans having engineered other life forms (plants and animals) for millennia (by cross-breeding for desired traits) and that “genetic engineering” is really no different.

Grandfather was a farmer, and grew various experimental hybrids.


For me, Against the Grain was a real eye-opener.

I would have never read the book, had I not heard an interview with the authors, and about the tactics Monstanto used to try to stop its publication. http://www.greens.org/s-r/17/17-19.html At that point, I had to know what was so dangerous about this book…

[ag_dude]

14. There are three things that are set in stone laws regarding food discussions

A vegan is going to make sure you know they're vegan.

People who don't eat glucose will make sure you know it.

Somebody who is anti-GMO, for whatever reason, will find a way to bring up Monsanto regardless of what the conversation is about.





Just kidding, kind of. I did think it was hilarious that the Monsanto boogeyman came up so heavily in the discussion on this on the original CBS News article page when Monsanto has absolutely nothing at all to do with either Tifton 85 or the type of cattle (corriente roping steers) that died.

[OKIsItJustMe]

15. Let’s see, Monsanto, Halliburton, Exxon-Mobil, General Motors, Microsoft, US Steel, DOW Chemical

Are there any others I should mention? Each tends to be a catchall for concerns about their industry.

On the other hand, perhaps their reputations are not completely undeserved.

Seriously, I was fairly unconcerned about “Genetic Engineering” before reading Against The Grain. However, after reading it, I grew more concerned. In essence, we are running an experiment, with no control groups. (Is there any harm in eating genetically engineered soy products? Tough to say, because natural soy varieties are virtually becoming extinct!)



Then, there’s the matter that as genetically engineered varieties dominate the market, the market comes closer and closer to a monoculture. I mentioned that my grandfather grew multiple experimental hybrids. He also understood that different varieties grew well in different fields, based upon their microclimates. (He understood that bottomland is not the same as hillside.)

[ag_dude]

16. Sorry, just not really up for a holistic GMO discussion today.

What was was harping on was the general ignorance regarding agriculture in our nation that manifested itself in the CBS News story.

[Bill USA]

22. this is why we hear of cow deaths due to cyanide emitting grass so often...(?)

[ag_dude]

25. You've never heard of cattle dying from Johnson grass toxicity?

Really? And you are think you have an opinion based on enough facts to discuss this subject publicly?

The story here, at least amongst those that are interested in the facts and not trying to use it as propaganda, is that it happened with Tifton 85 because that's never happened before.

One of the original grasses used to develop the Tifton 85 hybrid, yes, that grass is well known for prusic acid toxicity in highly stressed situations. Tifton 85? No.

The current speculation is that the severe drought and then large rains were a contributing factor but nobody knows for sure. Tifton 85 is so widespread that if it were as toxic as the uninformed make it out to be, it would have been eradicated (as people have tried to do with Johnson grass) long ago.

[Bill USA]

27. since you indicate some knowledge in these matters don't be coy, how often have cattle died from

Cyanide emitting grass? Here's your chance to provide us with some of those pertinent facts.

[ag_dude]

30. Death from Johnson grass toxicity is common when...

Last edited Thu Jun 28, 2012, 06:22 PM - Edit history (1)

...it has not been grazed down and a sudden freeze comes in.

BTW, it’s typically referred to as prussic acid in agricultural circles. Calling it cyanide gas is a media thing rooted purely in a lack of knowledge of the condition and the fact that it makes for a more shocking headline.

If you are looking for specific stats, you aren’t going to find them. Cattle are not people and there is no CDC keeping track of those sorts of deaths in high detail. We lost several cows to burr clover bloat this spring (the fields were exceptionally bare from the drought and the rains came at the perfect time for clover), none of which will show up in any statistical databases.

However, if you are actually interested in the subject, a simple Google search will pull up tons of information on prussic acid…

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/livestoc/v1150w.htm

http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/publications/ay196.htm

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/livestk/01612.html

The type of ‘cyanide gas’ poisoning (again, called prussic acid poisoning by most ag scientists) that happened here is alarming in the agricultural community because Tifton 85 is not known to suffer from it. One of the source grasses from Africa is known to do it but actual Tifton 85 had not been until this very specific situation and Tifton 85 is about two decades old now.

[Bill USA]

35. yeah, Tifton 85 is not sorghum.

http://grist.org/news/no-genetically-modified-grass-isnt-killing-cows-with-cyanide/

Prussic acid or hydrogen cyanide poisoning arises from the release of emulsin, which is found primarily in plant tissue of the sorghum family, and interaction with dhurrin, also found in these same crops. Damage to plants, such as freezing, trampling, chewing results in the interaction of these two plant compounds and the creation of hydrogen cyanide (HCN).

[ag_dude]

37. What's your point?

Prussic acid poisoning doesn't happen only in sorghum. It can occur in fruits such as apples and cherries. I occurs in Johnson grass. It can also happen in hydrangeas and some types of clover.

One of the grasses used to create the Tifton 85 hybrid, "PI 290884", does suffer from the condition.

[Bill USA]

39. my point is that the prussic acid problem is more prevalent in sorghum grass than with Tipton 85.

In other words I'm recognizing your point that T-85 is not particularly prone to this prussic acid problem. And that the prussic acid problem is not something particularly bizarre or unknown.

[ag_dude]

40. Sorry, thought you were still arguing.

Probably just projecting another conversation onto you, I apologize.

The shocker in all of this amongst cattle raisers is Tifton 85 has never been known to do this and it's nowhere near a new type of grass.

[GliderGuider]

17. People are really freaked over the potential for unintended consequences from GMO

When your cattle turn out to be grazing on a cyanide "grass chamber", the concern with being punctilious about fact-checking takes back seat to the fear. IMO the fear is justified, though - too little is known about the long term effects of GMO on human and environmental health, and corporations (and their regulatory catamites) appear to let profit motives override safety concerns. For example, an engineered version of klebsiella planticola could have been released for use in 1992, with potentially catastrophic results:

http://www.thismagazine.ca/issues/2008/03/outbreak2.php

Ingham, a soil microbiologist, had gotten an Environmental Protection Agency grant to test a genetically engineered strain of Klebsiella planticola, a common soil bacterium. A European company was planning to commercially market the modified K. planticola as a miracle product for farmers. It had been engineered to decompose plant stubble and debris left over on fields after harvest time. The process would also create valuable by-products: fertilizer sludge and alcohol. It was another of those wondrous applications of biotechnology you hear about all the time in the news.

Only, when Ingham saw her jars, the flaw in the heroic plan became clear. All 14 wheat plants growing in soil with the engineered K. planticola were dead, while the plants growing with natural K. planticola were doing just fine. Ingham repeated the experiment with the same results: the GM Klebsiella killed plants.

Freaked out, she contacted the EPA. The agency had already determined the product was safe and was close to approving it for experimental field trials in the open air. “You’ve got to stop that,” she insisted.

The EPA finally agreed to shelve the monster germ. If the episode wasn’t odd enough on its own, its aftermath was especially bizarre. Did it heighten awareness of the risks of biotechnology? Did it change practices at the EPA? Uh, no. In fact, the episode was promptly forgotten. Scientific journals refused to publish the results; it took five years to find one that would. In the meantime, Ingham and her grad student came under attack from biotech supporters, and both ended up quitting the university. Today, you’d be hardpressed to find anyone in the scientific community who’s even heard of the nearmiss, much less taken it to heart.

We don't trust corporations to have the best interests of humanity at heart. If that makes us a little twitchy and inclined to believe the worst about unexpected occurrences, I'd say we have ample reason.

[OKIsItJustMe]

18. “We don't trust corporations to have the best interests of humanity at heart.”

Large corporations get large for a reason.

Frequently, it seems, the reason is that they are rapacious.

They consume vast amounts of resources, destroy (or buy out) their competition. When a single corporation comes to dominate a market, I think it’s reasonable to assume that they did so by being the biggest “shark” in the water.

[ag_dude]

20. Don't let me get in the way of the rhetoric

but Tifton 85 was developed by a university.

You guys need to cut back on the knee-jerk cliched talking points a bit.

[OKIsItJustMe]

21. Sorry, I wasn’t really talking about Tifton 85

I was talking about people’s antipathy toward large corporations in general.

[ag_dude]

19. When you call a naturally occurring phenomenon a "cyanide gas chamber"

You are only feeding that fear by piling more ignorance on the flames and that's what fear feeds on.

Numerous natural grasses, including one of the grasses that was mated 30 years ago in the production of Tifton 85, produce cyanide under stressed conditions. Johnson grass, a natural grass grown all over the world, will develop cyanide levels enough to kill cattle if it goes through a hard freeze.

It's not a danger unless you put cattle on the grass while it's stressed.

People such as yourself, who while seemingly having good intentions only confuse the matter worse and spreads more fear, are doing nobody any good.

[GliderGuider]

23. You have to ask yourself

how little I care what you think of my opinions. They're mine, you have yours, let others form their own. There are 7 billion out there to choose from on any given topic.

And I didn't say "gas chamber". You must have read something else into my words...

[ag_dude]

24. I agree, you are stating opinions and staying far away from facts.

You know exactly what you were doing with this garbage...

When your cattle turn out to be grazing on a cyanide "grass chamber",

You are the problem with the food debate in this nation. You can't discuss things rationally, instead choosing hyperbole and blatantly misleading people.

[GliderGuider]

26. Of course I knew what I was doing.

I reserve the right to discuss things as I see fit, and I think hyperbole is a perfectly legitimate rhetorical device. I have fairly extreme points of view on a lot of things, and sometimes hyperbole is the only mechanism that fits.

[ag_dude]

31. So be it.

Though I 'm not sure why you don't think you are capable of forming a coherent argument without hyperbole.

You only mislead the ignorant and tarnish the chances of a rational discussion when you do that.

Nobody said you don't have the right do it, just like I have the right to call it immature.

[GliderGuider]

33. I'm perfectly capable of forming arguments without hyperbole. But,

a) sometimes the situation screams out for it;
b) where's the fun in being serious?
c) this is the internet;
d) worse than that, it's DU!
e) my opinions don't matter to anyone but me;
f) if they matter to you, you need to get out more;
g) all of the above.

Hyperbole? You ain't seen nothing yet. Feel free to check out my web site for dozens of family-friendly articles about the impending collapse of modern industrial civilization: http://www.paulchefurka.ca/

[ag_dude]

34. It's called trolling.

Good day sir.

[GliderGuider]

36. You get what you give.

If you give attitude, sometimes you get attitude in return. Try being pleasant to me, you'll find I'm a whole different person.

[ag_dude]

38. I called you sir.

[GliderGuider]

43. That you did...

No harm, no foul. Sorry, I've been in a really pissy mood since the failure of Rio+20.