Monday, March 26, 2007

Its antifolate activity was first used by Sidney Farber in 1947 to induce remissions among children with leukemia.[1][2] Although more potent than the closely related compound methotrexate, it was replaced by methotrexate in the 1950s, due to unpredictable toxicity. Now in a more pure preparation, aminopterin is back in clinical trials for patients with leukemia.[3]

The compound was used as an abortifacient in the 1960s and earlier, but was associated with congenital malformations.[4] The name for its teratogenic effects is fetal aminopterin syndrome. When a similar cluster of abnormalies appears in the absence of exposure to antifolates it is referred to as aminopterin-like syndrome without aminopterin.[5]

Aminopterin can be used as a rodenticide, although it is not approved for that use in Canada or the United States.[6] It has an LDLo of 2.5mg/kg when orally administered to rats.[7]


So, it suppresses immunity, can cause chemical abortions, can cause birth defects, and is used as a rat poison. Great. Imagine all the pets that didn't die. Will this cause a host of birth defects in our pure bred dogs over the next few years? This is more than just a poison.

Further, I am seriously wondering if this might have been a "test run" by a terror organization to see how vulnerable our food delivery system is in the US, and how we would respond to an emergency. I could be paranoid about this, but how does such a chemical get near, or, worse yet, mixed in, a batch of FOOD?! Seems mighty weird to me.

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