"Industry Response to Bovine Leukemia Virus in Breast Cancer"
What was the response to the revelation
that as many as 37% of breast cancer cases may
be attributable to exposure to bovine leukemia virus,
a cancer-causing cow virus found in the milk
of nearly every dairy herd in the United States?
The industry pointed out that some women
without breast cancer harbored the virus too.
Indeed, the virus was also found in the tissues
of 29% of women who did not have breast cancer,
to which the researchers replied: "YET".
It can take decades before a breast tumor
could be picked up by mammography,
so even though they’re harboring this virus
in their breast and feel perfectly fine,
the cancer may still be on its way.
That’s how other cancer-causing
delta retroviruses appear to work.
These viruses can make proteins
that interfere with our DNA repair mechanisms.
Infected cells are then more susceptible to carcinogens,
and slowly accumulate mutations over time.
Therefore, the evidence of BLV in normal breast tissues
prior to malignant and premalignant changes
would be expected.
Kind of like what you see with cervical cancer,
in which the causative virus is not just found
in the cancerous tissue,
but also the precancerous tissue and the normal tissue
surrounding the malignant tumor.
If BLV is really causing thousands of cases
of breast cancer every year,
then hey, since it’s a retrovirus,
maybe some of the anti- retroviral therapies
like some of the AIDS drugs may be able to counter the virus,
but best to not get infected in the first place
The cattle industry appeared more concerned
about consumer confidence than consumer cancer.
A public relations brouhaha,
concerned that they might actually be forced
to control these diseases in dairy cattle,
and how the public would perceive it.
What would "control" look like?
BLV is a blood-borne virus.
Wait a second, then how’s it spread?
Is Bessie sharing dirty needles?
Yes! Blood contaminated needles and saws and
gougers, pliers, taggers, knives, and tongs
that they don’t disinfect between animals
so if you’re gouging or sawing at their heads
instead of burning,
they’re likely to drive blood
into the next animal.
Or when you’re sticking your arm into her rectum
for artificial insemination,
it’s not uncommon for rectal bleeding
and then they just go from one cow to the next.
More than 20 countries have successfully eradicated
BLV from their herds by changing their practices,
whereas in the U.S. it remains an epidemic,
in part because we’re not cleaning and disinfecting
blood contaminated equipment
for things like supernumerary teat removal.
See, extra teats detracts from the beauty of the cow
so gently pull it from the udder and…
cut it off with a pair of scissors.
Just make sure you clean those scissors,
otherwise you could be spreading
bovine leukemia virus from calf to calf
and ultimately into someone’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Of course, you could just NOT slice off their teats at all,
but then how would you improve
the appearance of their udders?