Having an important impact on animal production and food safety, several plant toxins and/or their products of biotransformation are known to be transferred through milk. Examples include the indolizidine (James et al., 1990), piperidine (Lopez et al., 1999), pyrrolizidine (Eastman et al., 1982) and quinolizidine alkaloids (Ortega and Lazerson, 1987), the glucosinolates (White and Cheeke, 1983; Garg and Gupta, 1987; Subuh et al., 1995), the sesquiterpene lactones (Ivie et al., 1975) and ptaquiloside(Evans et al., 1972). Although excretion of plant toxins through mammary glands reduces the toxicity to lactating animals, it is an important source of such toxins to the consumers. Moreover, neonates are usually more sensitive to the toxins than adults(Panter and James, 1990). The toxicological hazard of this route of elimination is most significant in the cases of repetitive exposures rather than single.
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