Veterinary Oxytocin and Human Health

Intoduction:

Oxytocin is a hormone secreted and stored by the posterior pituitary gland, it has uterine-contracting and milk-ejecting actions. It contributes to the second stage of labour. Natural oxytocin causes milk to be ejected from the breasts during lactation.

In order to duplicate the hormone and create an artificial drug Oxytocin (Syntocinon) was developed by Vincent du Vigneaud. It was first synthesised in 1953.

It is administered intramuscularly or by intravenous infusion to induce active labour, increase the force of contractions in labour, contract uterine muscles after delivery of the placenta, control postpartum haemorrhage and stimulate milk ejection.

Harmful Effects:

It is very harmful for humans who unwittingly are made to consume an artificially created hormone. Humans face all the harmful effects of this drug. Children are most susceptible to its effects and it is known to have caused imbalanced hearing and weak eyesight. Common symptoms are exhaustion and loss of energy. Expecting mothers should avoid milk that may has been adulterated with oxytocin because:

• Their children are born with deformities and low resistance levels; a mother's resistance levels are bound to have an adverse affect on the child.
• Oxytocin increases the risk of post-partum haemorrhage
• Individual women may be hypersensitive to oxytocin and it can inhibit breastfeeding.
• Oxytocin seriously affects the growth of hormones especially in females because of which minor girls attain early puberty.

Legal Prospective:

The Government of India has acknowledged the negative effects of oxytocin and has declared it as a scheduled substance. Oxytocin is a schedule H-drug that means that it cannot be bought or sold without a prescription. This makes its use by dairies illegal. It is specifically banned under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 section 12 of and the Food and Drug Adulteration Prevention Act, 1960. Therefore, the laws already exist. What is required now is effective local enforcement.

But it is the lack of enforcement which is responsible for its widespread use. Most reports have shown the absolute failure of enforcement authorities to prevent the drug from being freely available and used.

Malpractics:

It is a fact that almost every dairy and milkman in India uses the oxytocin injection on his cow. Oxytocin can be procured for as little as 25 paise from local shops and chemists. Some states that have a significant role in its illegal production and distribution are Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Veterinary oxytocin is available in a small red ampule barely an inch long. Dairymen cannot use the normal oxytocin, as it is far too expensive.

It is an established fact that no cow gets pregnant after giving birth to three calves in a row if she is being given oxytocin all the time. Once it cannot conceive she is no longer of any use to the dairymen.

Now the recent malpractice came into existence that farmers are using it for enlarging the size of vegetable especially the cucurbits, brinjal etc.

Health ministry of India warned that oxytocin contains in vegetables and fruits may cause long term health hazards though it does not seem to cause any immediate adverse effects. The medical experts told that the most difficult part is identifying the vegetables and fruits that have been grown with oxytocin.