Urine farming

A New Zealand goat, one of the animals used for urine farming... 

Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland, have developed transgenic mice that produce human growth hormone in the walls of their bladders. For obvious reasons, mice are not ideal for large-scale production of chemicals, but Wall s experiments nevertheless show that the concept works. At present, it is too early to know whether urine farming will prove feasible. Yields from the bladder are about 10,000 times lower than those from the mammary glands. In addition, collecting urine from farm animals could prove to be a very tricky business. 

Methyl parathion can enter your body if you eat food or drink water containing it if you swim, bathe, or shower in contaminated water if you touch recently sprayed plants or soil if you touch contaminated soil near hazardous waste sites or if you breathe air that contains methyl parathion, such as near factories or recently sprayed farm fields (or in recent accounts of the illegal use of methyl parathion, if you breathe air or touch contaminated surfaces inside homes where methyl parathion has been used to kill insects). By any means of exposure, methyl parathion goes into your body quickly and gets into your blood. From your bloodstream, methyl parathion goes to your liver, brain, and other organs. Your liver changes some of methyl parathion to a more harmful chemical called methyl paraoxon. Both methyl parathion and methyl paraoxon can bind to enzymes of your nerves within minutes or hours. Your liver breaks down methyl parathion and methyl paraoxon into less harmful substances. These less harmful substances leave your body in urine within hours or days. For more information, see Chapter 3. 

The duration of collection of biological samples from farm workers is determined by the excretion pattern of the active ingredient or its metabolites. Generally, collection will encompass a period of time prior to exposure to about 1-3 days beyond exposure. Background samples should be taken from workers for the 24 h prior to the first application of the test product. This will allow an up-to-date examination of the background levels of the parent or metabolites in the worker s urine. 

As occurred with the other antibiotics, commercial immunoassay formats, also available as kits for tetracyclines and penicillins such as the Parallux, the LacTek, or the Charm II, have also been placed on the market for the analysis of sulfonamides (see Table 4). Thus, the Parallux detects sulfamethazine and sulfadimethoxine in raw milk with a LOD of 10 pg L1. The Charm II detects almost all sulfonamides in honey and milk with a LOD in the range from 1 to 10 pg L, whereas LacTek is able to detect sulfamethazine. Moreover, the 5101SULlp and 5101SUDAlp tests reach LOD values for sulfamethazine and sulfadiazine of around 0.2 pg L 1 and they have been applied to the analysis of urine, milk, and plasma. These tests have proved to be efficient as a point of care for on-site applications on farms. Moreover, commercially available antibodies can be found from several sources such as Silver Lake Research, US Biological, Cortex Biochem. Inc., Accurate Chemical Scientific, Fitzgerald Industries International Inc., and Biotrend Chemikalien GmbH. 

Tominaga MY, Midio AF. 1991. Modified method forthe determination of thiocyanate in urine by ion-exchange chromatography and spectrophotometry. Rev Farm Bioquim Univ Sao Paulo 27(1) ... 

The results indicate that special attention should be given to the efficiency of urine separation on farms using peat. Manure presses should be fitted with same means of urine separation so that urine pressed from the litter can be led out of the press chute. This is essential for the smooth operation of the manure press. The urine separation system in the troughs, perforated plates or scale plates may become blocked when peat is used. Provision should be made for flushing out the urine separation pipes in the case of a blockage. Various types of perforated plate are currently being studied with respect to their susceptibility to blocking. 

The separation of faeces and urine beneath slatted floors in pig buildings by mechanically operated mesh belts has been shown to reduce odour emissions in the building and from the ventilation outlets. The system has other advantages in that the collection channels are much shallower than conventional channels and that welfare straw can be given to the pigs without blocking the slurry system. The system is now in use on farms. 

This antibiotic is used as an economical oral treatment for gram-positive infections in farm animals at a dosage of 8 mg/kg bw because it has the property of being stable in the gastric acid, allowing it to be bioavailable by the oral route. It is well absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and metabolized in the liver. Unchanged compound and metabolites are excreted in urine. Small amounts are also found in bile. 

The distribution of residues of anabolic hormonal-type growth promoters in animal tissues depends on their mode of metabolism and excretion. Residues are commonly found in muscle, fat, liver, kidney, and milk, as well as in urine, bile, and feces. In general, residue concentrations tend to be higher in the excreta than in tissues. Control of the abuse of these compounds is usually carried out through the analysis of edible tissues, injection sites, kidney, fat, urine, or even feces. In recent years, use of fecal samples has become of increasing importance because of their ease of collection in intensive livestock farming. 

The number of samples positive to clenbuterol from veal calves at farms and slaughterhouses during the period 1994-1995 is presented in Table 13.17. A decrease in the percentage of positive samples of urine and blood taken at both farms and slaughterhouses from 1994 through 1995 was observed. 

Between 1993 and 1995, more than 250 farms were also inspected, and more than 4000 urine samples and 400 feeds were also examined for potential presence of -agonists (24). During that period, the percentage of positive urine samples from suspected animals decreased from 30% to less than 5%, and the percentage of positive feed samples was in the range 11-15%. Most positive samples contained clenbuterol and some mabuterol, bromobuterol, and salbutamol in addition to clenbuterol. In a few cases, more than one -agonist was detected in urine whereas various synthetic anabolic hormones were also found in feeds. 

Illegal use of clenbuterol in bovine animals has been detected in other regions of Spain as well (11). In 1992 and 1993, a total of 5294 and 3988 samples, respectively, of urine, liver, and feeds collected at the farm level were analyzed. Analysis results showed 59 positive samples (1.1%) in 1992 and 36 positive samples (0.9%) in 1993. In the same period, a total of 6515 and 7040 samples collected at the slaughter level in 1992 and 1993, respectively, were also tested. Analysis results revealed 268 positive samples (4.4%) in 1992 and 343 positive samples (3.4%) in 1993. Analysis results from veal liver samples collected from a slaughterhouse in Catalonia, Spain, showed that in 9 of 16 samples of contaminated veal liver the concentrations of clenbuterol were in the range 19-5395 ppb. 

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