Cocaine Laced With Cow-Worming Drug Sickens Americans...
Rated • 1 review • medical science • bloomberg.com
From the page: "Two-thirds of cocaine smuggled into the U.S. is laced with a cattle-worming drug linked to a rare immune disorder in a rash of cases, a report says.
The veterinary drug, levamisole, was connected to new cases of the immune disorder agranulocytosis in Canada a year ago. Public health officials in New Mexico and Washington now blame tainted cocaine for a cluster of 21 cases of the illness, including one death, according to the weekly morbidity and mortality report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta.
Sixty-nine percent of cocaine seized at U.S. borders as of July 2009 contained levamisole, the agency said, citing figures from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington. This is more than double the occurrence in September 2008. Levamisole, an antibiotic, is used to wipe out parasitic worms in livestock, including pigs as well as cattle."
The veterinary drug, levamisole, was connected to new cases of the immune disorder agranulocytosis in Canada a year ago. Public health officials in New Mexico and Washington now blame tainted cocaine for a cluster of 21 cases of the illness, including one death, according to the weekly morbidity and mortality report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta.
Sixty-nine percent of cocaine seized at U.S. borders as of July 2009 contained levamisole, the agency said, citing figures from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington. This is more than double the occurrence in September 2008. Levamisole, an antibiotic, is used to wipe out parasitic worms in livestock, including pigs as well as cattle."
