From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2009-01-20 16:08:22 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] melatonin
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>, ferret-l@LISTSERV.FERRETMAILINGLIST.ORG
Well, as those who listened to Dr. Karen's talk at the 2008 IFC
Symposium know there is mink spongiform encephalopathy which is the
form of prion disease that has been seen in ferrets if fed those mink
neural tissues but I doubt anyone here is feeding minks to their
ferrets. There are a number of different prion diseases. Not all
cross specific species barriers, and some can cross barriers only if
there are certain specific intermediate hosts. None of the attending
vets challenged that the other prion diseases aren't really a
concern. I would not let the hype worry you, but instead learn more
on the topic first.
There is vegetable derived melatonin, but animal sources are not the
only other alternative. Much melatonin sold is created to simulate
natural mammalian melatonin rather than being from cattle. So, there
is artificial melatonin for many uses. Not being from vegetable
sources does not automatically mean melatonin is from animal sources
any longer.
Neither CDC nor the World Health Organization list any hazard that I
can find when I searched. All that I could find from anywhere that
could possibly be trustworthy were these (See the YEAR on each.)
http://www.vrp.com/deardoctorresults.aspx?ProdID=deard563&zTYPE=3
http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec22/ch331/ch331t.html
and no definite risk is mentioned anywhere reputable that I could find.
I DID also check PubMed and found no abstracts on my search that
mentioned melatonin supplements as a source of any prion disease.
There were some OLD "this should be looked into" things but notice
that nothing came from them and that any such hazards would have been
well announced if they had been. There were also a load of total hype
things out there on the internet, ones that basically have the
validity of the rumor mill.
Also, notice that although there is a dearth of regulation for some
aspects of "health food store" type products that the FDA DOES pull
and ban products which have proven to have hazards. If you go to
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html
and search or even just scroll you will find a number of such items.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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