Aminopterin
Risk Factor: X
Class: Antineoplastics
Contents of this page:
Fetal Risk Summary
Aminopterin is an antimetabolite antineoplastic agent. It is structurally similar to and has been replaced by methotrexate (amethopterin). Several reports have described fetal anomalies when the drug was used as an unsuccessful abortifacient (1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8). The malformations included: Meningoencephalocele Cranial anomalies Abnormal positioning of extremities Short forearms Hydrocephaly Talipes Incomplete skull ossification Cleft lip/palate Low-set ears Hypoplasia of thumb and fibula Brachycephaly Anencephaly Mental retardation Syndactyly Micrognathia or retrognathia Use of aminopterin in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters has not been associated with congenital defects (8). Long-term studies of growth and mental development in offspring exposed to aminopterin during the 2nd trimester, the period of neuroblast multiplication, have not been conducted (9).
Breast Feeding Summary
No data are available.
References
- Meltzer HJ. Congenital anomalies due to attempted abortion with 4-aminopteroglutamic acid. JAMA 1956;161:1253.
- Warkany J, Beaudry PH, Hornstein S. Attempted abortion with aminopterin (4-amino-pteroylglutamic acid). Am J Dis Child 1959;97:27481.
- Shaw EB, Steinbach HL. Aminopterin-induced fetal malformation. Am J Dis Child 1968;115:477 82.
- Brandner M, Nussle D. Foetopathic due l'aminoptrine avec stnose congnitale de l'escpace mdullaire des os tubulaires longs. Ann Radiol 1969;12:70510.
- Shaw EB. Fetal damage due to maternal aminopterin ingestion: follow-up at age 9 years. Am J Dis Child 1972;124:934.
- Reich EW, Cox RP, Becker MH, Genieser NB, McCarthy JG, Converse JM. Recognition in adult patients of malformations induced by folic acid antagonists. Birth Defects 1978;14:13960.
- Shaw EB, Rees EL. Fetal damage due to aminopterin ingestion: follow-up at 17 1/2 years of age. Am J Dis Child 1980;134:11723.
- Nicholson HO. Cytotoxic drugs in pregnancy; review of reported cases. J Obstet Gynaecol Br Commonw 1968;75:30712.
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Dobbing J. Pregnancy and leukemia. Lancet 1977;1:1155.
Questions and Answers
How did the rate poison, Aminopterin get into the Menu Foods recalled products?, Two weeks ago, March 23, two New York State Labs announced and confirmed that Aminopterin had caused pets' death. Now no one is talking about it. No expert is coming out to relate to it and get to the bottom of this. Instead, everyone is jumping onto the China-bashing wagon. Is anyone out there really caring about the pets died of kidney failure?
Melamine? No proof and never had any scientific tests shown it can cause kidney failure. Are we creating a China-hating culture?
I don't think this is about China-bashing at this point. Officials in both USA and China are investigating to try and find out what happened.
All they have told everyone so far is that the only link between two separate companies (Menu Foods and Hills Pet Nutrition) that had been contaminated is that they both got their wheat gluten from a supplier in China.
The melamine is actually used as fertilizer in Asian countries, so I am not surprised that some was evident in the food. And it was reported by CNN that the melamine dosage in the pet food is unlikely to cause animals to get sick.
On the other hand, the rat poison would definitely have made the animals sick or killed them. Rat poison is often used around mills and wheat storage areas to keep mice and rats from eating the grain, so it makes sense to suspect that the rat poison may be related to the wheat gluten. As far as I can tell, they are still trying to confirm that.
I can see it possible (in China or in USA) that a farmer or factory somehow mixed up a bag of fertilizer or other bags and plopped a whole load of Aminopterin into some batch of wheat gluten, especially if it was mislabelled.
In cooking for example, I know people who have mixed up their salt and their sugar and ended up with a really poor tasting cake!
The problem here is that it is an emotional issue. With beloved pets dying you focus your anger on who you think is to blame. In this case, because the companies were buying from overseas and people in North America know that the standards may be different there, they get upset and feel it may somehow have been intentional.
I think we need to wait and see what the investigation turns up, and make sure to put policies in place so that it does not happen again.
Is aminopterin contaminated Chinese wheat being eaten by Americans?, I hate the recent dog/cat food contamination reports, but this brings up a bigger question, are we humans eating this stuff too? Is this a case of canaries in the coal mine?
Indirectly, yes. China imports wheat from the US, Canada, Australia, etc. and processes it into a variety of secondary products. The aminopterin is alleged to be added to control rodents at Chinese grain storage facilities. There is a possibility that secondary products such as noodles, bread, and of course animal feeds from China will contain traces of aminopterin. In addition, aminopterin contaminated feed may be fed to livestock and thus enter the human food chain. I don't know whether herbivores metabolize (no risk to humans) or accumulate (amplify risk to humans) aminopterin because that is not my field of research. The risk is certainly much higher for people in China than for people in the US because food imports from China comprise a tiny fraction of the US diet.
Exactly how does aminopterin, a rat-poison derivitive end up in pet food?, This toxin they call Aminopterin that's killing our pets across the country doesn't just magically appear. It's "put there" by someone or some company. All the news can decipher is that "wheat-gluten," upon becoming contaminated somehow derives "rat-poison" as part of its chemical makeup. This stuff comes from China! Are we supposed to sue China ? How is it possible that this company is allowed to continue making pet food? Seems kind of odd. If someone kills a domestic animal in the USA, that someone usually pays for it. Touche'?
There is specualtion that:
(i) the wheat from China was originally grown and stored for seeds. In this case, as it was not intended for human consumption, having rodenticide in its vicinity was not a cause for concern. Obviously, there was mix-up. (Although, I'd prefer if grain seeds weren't kept around rodenticide regardless)
(ii) I can't imagine anyone suing the country China. Maybe the Chinese company that sold the wheat.
(iii) Regulation for pet food manufacfturing seems to be quite lacking and I imagine the only way this company will be forced out of business will be loss of confidence by its purchasers. The fact that Menu Foods just fill cans for dozens of companies makes me kind of laugh at the people who pay $20 for Iam's "science diet" when it's made in the same trough as "Billy Bob's 99 cent no-frill dog chow".
(iii) I hope that pet owners can successfully sue. While it's true that with large corporations it's nearly impossible to put a finger on who exactly threw the wrong grain on the truck, I don't give a cat's meow. Pets are like family members to some, so if a company's going to sell cat food, they should uphold a duty of care.
Can Aminopterin kill a human being?, It can obviously kill animals, but is it harmful to humans? If so about how much would you have to consume for it to end you?
Have you used google before? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aminopterin
I don't know generally I just search this kind of stuff.
Was any aminopterin contaminated Chinese wheat eaten by humans?, I am deeply concerned abou the recent reports that dog/cat food contaminated with Chinese wheat containing aminopterin is suspected as the cause for the recent pet food deaths. I love pets, but I am more concerned that American humans have eaten the contaminated wheat.
That is a good question.
The chemical acts like methotrexate, which has an antidote of leukovorin, I don't know if vets are using leukovorin as an antidote.
A few days ago Yahoo news reported that Greenpeace had found that a genetically engineered corn fed to lab animals caused renal failure, I do not know if that was confirmed by anyone else, but thought it was to blame instead.
We should have grad students in chemistry at university labs checking on our wheat flour from the supermarket, rather than wait for our Katria efficient government to find the answer.
What about the rat poison (Aminopterin) that had been confirmed by two New York State Labs on March 23 ?, These two labs are New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Connell, and the New York State Food Laboratory. They are not ordinary labs, but “part of a network created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to keep the nation's animals and food supply safe.” (Bucks County Courier Times, Levittown, PA, March 24, 2007).
After an extensive research, I found out that FDA and its officials have never repudiated the New York State Labs’ findings. There are NO statements, and NO reports on FDA site to that effect. Nor can anyone find them on any publications.
Is it not the next logic step to further investigate how and why as the rat poison, Aminopterin, got into the pet foods?
They were unable to reproduce the findings is what I read. It's possible that these could have been false positives or samples contaminated in other circumstances, but further testing of other food samples didn't find the rat poison, but they did find an odd chemical aside from the rat poison.
They couldn't repudiate the findings from the original samples because they likely did contain the rat poison. Hard to say for sure sitting here, though... it's just what I read last week.
Does anybody buy Menu foods explanation for the pet food contamination being caused by aminopterin?, Check out this latest posting on the AVMA web site.
http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/a...
To paraphrase, the ASPCA doesn’t buy menu foods explanation for the pet food contamination being caused by aminopterin. The symptoms are not consistent with aminopterin and the finding has not been corroborated by the FDA (or even a second lab)…
AVMA.org
I heard on the news last night it may be worse then what they said it was. The news I saw was at 11.00pm and they said that vets are not reporting all their findings and that they need to do that. they are not telling how many cats are dogs that are sick or that are dead. They are not doing what they have been told to do. The vets are hiding what they know. It was on the news last night. Even the count was off. Even menufoods is not reporting the right count. They are also not telling what they are finding on why the animals are sick. Not all the vets are doing that. The vets have been told to report ALL their. findings and not just the kidney problem. The news was last night.
Aminopterin, a form of rat poison and abortifacient in the 1950's was found in the pet food recall....?, how did this rat poison get in there? was it those crazy animal rights activists? whats going on here
It was probably poor quality control, and maintenance in the main processing factory. I can't say for sure so consider that answer made up. It hasn't been announced as to the "how" of the tragedy.
However. The foods that were affected were only the wet foods. The dry foods are free of poisons.
I hope this hasn't affected any of your furry loved ones Tattooar... losing loved pets is a hard hurt.
Does anybody buy Menu foods explanation for the pet food contamination being caused by aminopterin, a poison n, Check you this latest posting on the AVMA web site.
http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/a...
To paraphrase, the ASPCA doesn’t buy menu foods explanation for the pet food contamination being caused by aminopterin. The symptoms are not consistent with aminopterin and the finding has not been corroborated by the FDA (or even a second lab)…
www.avma.org
Last I heard, they were still investigating. Nobody knows yet.
melamine and aminopterin?, Has anyone read the article that they may have found melamine in the urine in the dead cats that ate the bad food and they also have found aminoptermin which is the rat poison that was found in the food also.I read it in topix.net.
Thanks for the Heads up. Yes, I read the articles. Am so glad that I bought cat food (wet and dry) that did NOT have wheat gluten listed in the ingredients.
But I dare say this pet food contamination nightmare is NOT over yet... we'll be hearing more.
