Re: Arsenic and cattle

On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 20:57:02 -0700, "N:dlzc D:aol T:com \(dlzc\)" <N:
dlzc1 D:cox T:net@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I had made an unsupported statement about a year and a half ago
that cattle required a small amount of arsenic in their diets to
survive. I was asked for any sort of literature support and
found very little at the time.

http://www.ead.anl.gov/pub/doc/arsenic.pdf
"Depending on the amount ingested, arsenic can be beneficial
(animal studies suggest that low levels of arsenic in the diet
are essential) or adverse (high levels can be toxic)."

http://horse.purinamills.com/bulletins/poison/lamenessinducing.html

"The toxic effects of selenium in ruminants varies, depending on
the amount and rate of its absorption, the individual animal's
susceptibility, the type of selenium present in the plant, and
the interaction of selenium with other elements, such as sulfur,
arsenic, or copper, in the diet. These minerals, and possibly
others, competitively interfere with selenium absorption by
ruminants. If this also occurs in horses, adequate amounts of
these minerals in their diet may help reduce selenium poisoning
for them, although currently this hasn't been demonstrated."

Still no real pointers to peer reviewed literature... but, if you
have healthy cattle, you have some arsenic. This is beef, milk,
and ground or surface water near where they "eliminate". And
arsenic is not limited to cattle...

David A. Smith



I am commenting on this based almost entirely on what you posted
above. I have no specific knowledge about arsenic requirements.

There is nothing wrong with the possibility that something normally
considered toxic is also required at low levels. This per se is common
enough.

However, the case stated above is very weak.

First, saying that low levels may be "beneficial" does not mean it is
"required".

Second, if the (only) reason it is beneficial is due to competing with
Se, then it would not be required if the Se level were adequate (or
low). (And you may know that Se is a good example of an element that
is beneficial at low levels, and toxic at higher levels, with a rather
low margin of safety between the good and bad levels.) That is, it
does not imply a requirement for As per se.

Interesting question. I'd be delighted to see some hard data. But of
course, it is very difficult to get hard data on trace nutrients in
the real world. Lab work, with rodents eating chemically defined
diets, is hard enough!

bob
.

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