Feeding cows hemp makes them ‘excessive’ and their milk might be unsafe

Cows fed waste hemp from the hashish business produce the psychoactive compound THC of their milk and have altered respiratory and coronary heart fee and stand nonetheless for ages yawning

By Alex Wilkins

Dairy cows that eat leftover hemp from the hashish business appear excessive to the purpose of sickness and have probably unsafe ranges of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) of their milk.

Extra hemp is grown yearly to provide flowers wealthy in THC and cannabidiol (CBD) for locations the place promoting or consuming hashish is authorized. A lot of the plant is thrown away, so individuals have instructed utilizing it in animal feed to keep away from waste. However nobody knew what impact this might need if the degrees of psychoactive compounds within the hemp have been nonetheless comparatively excessive.

“There may be this lack of knowledge in regards to the well being results of cannabinoids and the putative switch into meals of animal origin,” says Robert Pieper on the German Federal Institute for Threat Evaluation.

Pieper and his colleagues measured this switch by feeding 5 cows a hemp combination naturally low in cannabinoids for six days and one other 5 a combination that had excessive ranges.

After they measured the milk from the high-concentration group utilizing mass spectroscopy, they discovered excessive ranges of a number of cannabinoids, together with delta-9-THC, some of the plentiful psychoactive compounds in hashish. If a standard quantity of this milk was drunk by somebody, they’d obtain a dose of THC the place there might be “considerable well being dangers” in response to pointers from the European Meals Security Authority, says Pieper.

“That is essential, as we had no knowledge to know to what extent cannabinoids entered the milk of dairy cows,” says Michael Kleinhenz at Kansas State College School of Veterinary Medication. Whereas conclusions can’t be drawn from the information itself, will probably be helpful for presidency companies seeking to see whether or not hemp can be utilized as animal feed, he says.

Pieper and his group additionally discovered that the cows acted markedly totally different when fed with the high-concentration feed, yawning, showing sleepy and standing for unusually lengthy intervals in the identical posture, in addition to having abnormally gradual respiratory and coronary heart charges – results which might be usually solely seen in the midst of critical diseases.

It’s unclear which components of the economic hemp have been inflicting these behavioural modifications, says Pieper, as a result of the hemp contained many alternative cannabinoids.

He doesn’t assume the time period “excessive” must be used for the cows, although, as a result of it describes an entire sequence of physiological and psychological modifications in people and we don’t know what the cows are feeling. Some observations, resembling sleepiness, may be attributed to the impact of CBD, he says.

Journal reference: Nature Meals, DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00623-7