| schema:text
| - Fact Check: NOT Covid vaccine, these cows died after consuming poisonous plants
Plants of the sorghum plant family when stressed by droughts or frost secrete a compound called dhurrin, which releases hydrogen cyanide, commonly known as prussic acid. Ingesting this can cause death.
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
The cattle in the photos died due to acute prussic acid poisoning on August 6, 2022. This acid comes from dhurrin, which is naturally present in young sorghum plants.
Covid-19 has ceased to be a global health emergency. Yet, anti-vaccine advocates are still dishing out conspiracy theories. A photo of dead cows has been widely shared and allegedly, the animals died after the Italian government vaccinated them against Covid-19.
One such tweet says, "Northern Italys Government came and vaccinated cattle against Covid-19. Look at the result all dead or dying the next day." Its archived version can be seen here.
India Today found that the death of cows on such a large scale has nothing to do with Covid-19 vaccines. The massive cattle death in Italy was a result of acute prussic acid poisoning from plants.
Our Probe
A reverse image of the viral pho led us to several news reports about cattle deaths in Italy. A report by Bangladesh's national news agency "Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha" that carried the viral photo attributed the cause of the cattle deaths to the drought in Italy. It was reported that around 50 cows died due to acute prussic acid poisoning on August 6, 2022.
This acid, per the report, comes from dhurrin, which is naturally present in young sorghum plants — though not in the same high concentrations as those found in samples taken at the site. "We suspect that the drought caused this very large quantity of dhurrin within the sorghum plants," Stefano Giantin, a vet at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale for northwest Italy, was quoted saying. The report said that because the drought stunted the growth of sorghum plants, dhurrin had concentrated inside them.
The website of Corriere della Sera, Italy's oldest and most read newspaper, also carried a video report on the incident that occurred in Sommariva del Bosco, near Turin in northwest Italy. The news outlet attributed the cause to the drought as well. According to it, plants of the sorghum family secrete a compound called dhurrin, which releases hydrogen cyanide, commonly known as prussic acid when plants of this family are stressed by drought or frost.
As per another report, upon ingestion of dhurrin, cattle can die in around 30–45 minutes. The chemical causes respiratory, nervous and muscular disorders. More than 900mg/kg of prussic acid was found in the blood samples of the dead cattle. A dose of 700mg/kg of prussic acid is considered fatal for the animals.
Death due to ingestion of sorghum plants containing higher concentrations of prussic acid, released under duress and stress is common. Such instances have been reported in many states in India as well.
Thus, it’s clear that this has nothing to do with Covid-19 vaccines.
Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000
You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)