Posted on 05/08/2007 10:08:30 AM PDT by mom4kittys
SHANGHAI: A second industrial chemical that regulators have found in contaminated pet food in the United States may also have been intentionally added to animal feed by producers seeking larger profits, according to interviews with chemical industry officials here. Three Chinese chemical makers said that animal feed producers often purchase, or seek to purchase, the chemical, cyanuric acid, from their factories to blend into animal feed. The chemical producers said it was common knowledge that for years cyanuric acid had been used in animal and fish feed. In the United States, cyanuric acid is often used as a disinfectant for swimming pools. Two of the chemical makers said feed producers used it because it was high in nitrogen, enabling feed producers to lift the protein reading of the feed artificially. "Cyanuric acid scrap can be added to animal feed," says Yu Luwei, general manager of Juancheng Ouya Chemical Company in Shandong Province. "I sell it to fish meal manufacturers and fish farmers. It can also be added to feed for other animals." The disclosure is noteworthy not just because it is another indication that Chinese animal feed producers were intentionally doctoring the ingredients they sold, but because the practice of using cyanuric acid may provide clues as to why the pet food in the United States became so poisonous.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
No its not a binding agent. Cyanuric acid 'stabilizes' chlorine so that it doesn't burn off quickly in bright sunshine.
If you aren't set up to use gaseous chlorine then you must purchase your chlorine "bound" to some other substance. If you're using Trichlor or Dichlor then your chlorine is bound to cyanuric acid (in granules or pucks). When you add it to your pool you get chlorine and cyanuric acid (CYA). CYA is also called stabilizer/conditioner because it binds with chlorine in the pool, and while bound, the chlorine can't be degraded by ultraviolet light. On the down side, while bound, the chlorine can't kill germs either. Which is why SOME CYA is good and too much CYA is bad. When you continue to chlorinate with Trichlor/Dichlor, eventually you raise your CYA (stabilizer/conditioner) level too high and the chlorine in your pool becomes less effective at the same concentration because it spends more and more time bound to CYA molecules than it does free and available to oxidize germs or viruses. The higher you run your CYA, the higher you need to keep your free chlorine level to achieve the same effectiveness.
Calcium hypochlorite is chlorine bound to calcium (usually as a powder that the pool guys like to call "shock"), which eventually raises your calcium level to the point where problems arise. For instance, you can get a calcium ring around the edge of the water if you have tile. (High calcium doesn't impact a liner pool nearly as much as a concrete pool) The ring around the edge is really dependent upon the Saturation Index, which is ((PH) + (Alkalinity Factor) + (Temperature Factor) + (Calcium Factor) – (12.1)) A saturation Index of zero means that there’s no tendency of the water to deposit or dissolve calcium. As the PH goes up, or the Total Alkalinity goes up, or the temperature goes up, or the calcium level goes up, so goes the Saturation Index.
Sodium hypochlorite is chlorine bound to salt in a water solution (commonly called liquid chlorine), which increases the salt content of your pool. Salt is not particularly bad, even in very high concentrations. The main drawback of “liquid chlorine” is that it is extremely high in PH and will tend to drive your PH and total alkalinity higher. Combined with water high in calcium and a concrete pool, and you have a high potential to end up with a calcium ring around the tile. Keeping your PH low when your calcium level is high is critical.
Lithium hypochlorite is chlorine bound to lithium, which adds lithium to your pool. Not particularly bad, but it's quite a bit more expensive than the other chlorinators available.
The point of all of that is this... When you purchase chlorine, if it is not bound to something then it is in gaseous form, which is quite dangerous and is normally only used by large commercial pools. When the chlorine is in your pool it is continually bound/unbound to cyanuric acid. While it's bound it won't be destroyed by the Sun, and while its unbound it can kill germs and viruses.
It can be added alone (to use with non-stabilized chlorine) or it can be added into the granules/pucks by the manufacturer and sold as 'stablized chlorine.'
Yes, cyanuric acid can be added alone. It is a stable solid at atmospheric pressure and temperature. But chlorine cannot be added "alone" by a home pool owner under normal circumstances. It must be purchased "bound" to some other "goo." And in the case of cyanuric acid (Trichlor or Dichlor), or calcium (Calcium Hypochlorite), eventually you get too much "goo" in your pool. Keep in mind also that "stabilized" chlorine (Trichlor/Dichlor) and "un-stabilized" chlorine (CalHypo/SodiumHypo/LithiumHypo/GasousChlor) are all the same thing once they're in your pool. Your pool already has stablilzer (presumably) and so the non-stabilized chlorine will be stabilized once it's in the pool, because the pool already contains plenty of cyanuric acid. The "source" of the chlorine is meaningless at that point, other than the fact that if you added the chlorine as Trichlor or Dichlor, then you added a small amount of stabilizer to the pool at the same time. But once in the pool it's all the same. Chlorine is chlorine.
Personally, I chlorinate with 10% sodium hypochlorite (liquid chlorine) and use 1" Trichlor pucks in a floating feeder when the water is particularly warm and needs an extra kick. I try not to let my cyanuric acid level get above 60-70 ppm though, so I use Trichlor sparingly.
My pool as of yesterday...
PH = 7.2
Free Chlorine = 2ppm
Combine Chlorine = 0ppm
Calcium Hardness = 450ppm (yuck)
Cyanuric Acid = 40ppm
Total Alkalinity = 100
Temperature - 75deg/f
That works out to a saturation index of about zero.
BTW, I never understood why people would actually purchase cyanuric acid separately since you can just chlorinate with Trichlor or Dichlor and you'll soon have more cyanuric acid than you want in your pool.
Regarding pool stores and all of the goo they'll sell you, I have been doing this long enough to have seen many gullible people walk into a pool store and get taken for a ride. For instance, their cyanuric acid level is already at 200ppm and what do they get sold? Trichlor! At 200ppm CYA they'd have to run their chlorine at 8-10ppm to kill harmful bacteria and viruses, and yet they get sold the exact thing that is causing their problems in the first place. Or how about people who go in and their calcuim level is already at 600 ppm in a concrete pool, and what do they get sold? CalHypo! With no thought of what their saturation index has risen to they get sold more calcium.
OK, I have to stop. I've eaten up much of my morning already. :) Gotta go for a swim!
Thanks for the info and enjoy your swim...PaMom
I have actully been looking for dog food recipes for my old girl, Goldie. She is quite set in her ways...and we fear (though we have never seen it on the list) that her Pedigree canned food gave her some trouble (she went thru a spitting up phase a couple of months ago, and had a few urine accidents—she was going thru her water bowl constantly for a couple of weeks). She seems ok now (just her usual lethargic 14 year old self) but we still wonder. I know this is bad, but she loves peanut butter on white bread. Since she avoids the stuff we are feeding her (my kids call it playdoh dog food—Purina Moist and Meaty) we are giving her more table food (with no spit ups, and regular water intake). But I really have been looking for ‘healthy’ geriatric dog food recipes.
Thanks for the info and enjoy your swim...PaMom
Brrr! Had to jump in the hot tub after the pool. :) Then once quickly back in the pool to get "just right."
Our weather has been glorious the last couple of weeks. It's God's way of rewarding us for putting up with 104 degree summers here in the San Joaquin Valley. I used to complain about how hot it gets here but now I understand that 104 degree summers is what keeps the kooks in Los Angeles and San Francisco from coming here. :) Burn baby burn!
It's been so nice that some of my tomatoes are up to my waist already (the Early Girls) with dozens of baby tomatoes growing fast, and my onions are as big as baseballs. It's going to be a home-made salsa summer!
BTW, I grew up in Pittsburgh and my grandma always told me never to plant my tomatoes outside until May 15th. My mom, who is in Ohio now, has been greasing me up to get me to send her a couple quarts of salsa when the time comes. :)
FRegards, PaMom
I spent my childhood in Brookline. Were you anywhere near there?
Happy (soon to be) Mother’s Day!!!
Most of the recipes I've seen have tended to be some arrangement of chicken and rice. Our German Shorthair loves raw tomatos, carrots and even oranges. She used to go "shopping" in our garden and orchard to the point that we had to fence them off to keep her from eating so many oranges and tangerines. Our lab is nowhere near as experimental with her food. She won't eat oranges or tomatoes, but I think she still likes carrots.
If I were going to design the perfect dog food for our girls it would probably be cooked chicken, rice & vegetables.
I’ll post a link to a good website that has all natural (not from China, they say!) animal supplements and recipes. Gotta run now but I’ll be back later. Freepmail me if you don’t hear from me!
Unfortunately, like the former FR illegal alien defenders and enablers, they cannot resist trying. With any luck, the FR "free traitors" will, sooner or later, meet the same fate as has recently befallen the FR illegal alien sympathizers.
I hadn’t thought of that :-(
LSA (posting on hubby’s account)
I hadn’t thought of that :-(
LSA (posting on hubby’s account)
The free traitors are mostly illegal alien sympathizers. $$$$$$, sovereignty is not a concern of theirs. Silly notions like that are left to us malcontents.
Thanks for the Mom's Day sentiment (and right back at ya if applicable).
PaMom
PaMom
“If I were Purina, I’d stop all importing of Chinese pet food products/ingredietns and start an ad campaign touting that.Their profits would soar.”
You got that. Made In America For Your Family Pet.
Not only chicken and hogs, but fish too. Yes fish.
Threads on Diethylene glycol have been posted recently including my paraphrased one from the NYT:
“Being brought into the country from China through the Chinese operated Panama Canal, drugs, including cough syrups, foods, fever meds, injectable drugs, toothpaste, etc. all mad with the poison, diethylene glycol (used Anti-freeze) and used as a sweetener.
The symptoms for ingesting this poison are: Kidney failure, central nervous system shut down, then paralysis spreads, affecting breathing, which eventually fails without assistance, then death.”
After the pet food poisoning, and now chickens imported from China fed with the same poison as the pet food, also from China, and now this!”
Also, an substitute sweetener from china called Glycerin is reputed to have poisonous qualities.
EAT NO FOOD OR TAKE NO MEDICINCE IMPORTED FROM CHINA!!!!
Sorry it took me so long - internet not working right for a couple of days. Here’s a link to an outfit (I’ve ordered from them) that sells NOT from China supplements for dogs and cats (and maybe other animals, I only looked at the cat part) and has recipes for home made food. It is vegetarian, and it is actually quite easy for dogs to be vegetarian since they’re really omnivores, like coyotes. Coyotes (and foxes) will eat anything. Anyway, since I’ve been feeding our cats using a couple of their supplements (Vegecat and Cat Nutritional yeast) the cats have improved in appearance and are super energetic and healthy looking
http://www.vegancats.com/ (has a message that they don’t sell any thing from China)
http://www.vegepet.com/fordogs.html
From the web page above:
Feed your dog freshly prepared food, as family members!
Although members of the order Carnivora, dogs are nutritionally omnivorous without the metabolic limitations of cats and other “true” carnivores. However, achieving the proper nutrient balance isn’t easy, since their dietary requirements are quite different from people, as a result of their role in nature as scavengers, primarily eating flesh.
Vegedog™ supplement eliminates the guesswork. Used with its accompanying recipes, you meet the latest dietary recommendations by AAFCO (the same requirements all reputable pet food manufacturers meet) without the use of animal products.
Vegedog™ is like magic. Just add it to ordinary people food, using our recipes as your guide, and suddenly the vitamin and mineral content of the food is adjusted for dogs. It’s just that easy. Adjust the recipes if your dog needs to gain or lose weight. You have complete control.
Taurine is not considered a dietary requirement for dogs, but research indicates that some dogs may benefit by dietary taurine, so Vegedog™ includes taurine.
All Vegedog™ recipes contain yeast. Be sure to check out VegeYeast on the ACCESSORIES page.
By changing the amount of Vegedog™ in the recipes according to the instructions, all stages of a dog’s life are supported (growth, lactation and maintenance).
Recipes meet nutrient levels established by the Association of American Feed Control Official’s (AAFCO) Dog Food Nutrient Profile for all stages of a dog’s life, without using any animal products. For detailed feeding information, download the Vegedog™ instructions in PDF format on the LITERATURE page.
I just heard a recall on beef tonight saying something about ecoli it makes you wonder if there is not a cover up it is not the first time the PC government has not told the whole truth?
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