Feeding cows hemp makes them ‘high’ and their milk could be unsafe

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

By Alex Wilkins

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

More hemp is grown yearly to supply plant materials wealthy in cannabidiol (CBD) for well being merchandise. Much of the plant is thrown away, so folks have advised utilizing it in animal feed to keep away from waste. But nobody knew what impact this may need if the degrees of psychoactive compounds within the hemp have been nonetheless comparatively excessive.

“There is this lack of information about the health effects of cannabinoids and the putative transfer into food of animal origin,” says Robert Pieper on the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment.

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.

When 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, one of the vital ample 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 could possibly be “appreciable health risks” in keeping with guidelines from the European Food Safety Authority, says Pieper.

“This is important, as we had no data to know to what extent cannabinoids entered the milk of dairy cows,” says Michael Kleinhenz at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine. While conclusions can’t be drawn from the information itself, it will likely be helpful for presidency businesses seeking to see whether or not hemp can be utilized as animal feed, he says.

Pieper and his workforce additionally discovered that the cows acted markedly completely 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 can be usually solely seen in the middle of severe diseases.

It is unclear which components of the commercial hemp have been inflicting these behavioural modifications, says Pieper, as a result of the hemp contained many various cannabinoids.

He doesn’t assume the time period “high” 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, corresponding to sleepiness, is also attributed to the impact of CBD, he says.

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