Discussion 71 



Hartwig: The great difficulty is that if these animals are not kept 

 for breeding purposes they are mostly sold and records are very 

 difficult to obtain. 



MiXhlhock: Cancer research workers are very interested in keeping 

 cattle to the end of their lives, because no one has ever seen a mam- 

 mary tumour in cattle. The question is are they naturally resistant, 

 or are they slaughtered before they reach the age at which tumours 

 would develop ? A considerable amount of money is now being 

 collected just to keep cattle to the end of their natural lives to see 

 what happens. 



There is another cancer in cattle which is very peculiar, and that 

 is the so-called "cancer eye", or cancer of the conjunctiva. It is a 

 very interesting condition, hardly ever seen in Europe, but more 

 often found in countries with plenty of sunshine. It is thought to be 

 a virus infection, and studies are being carried out in Texas where a 

 great number of cattle are kept just for this purpose. Gerontologists 

 could therefore find out from this material what the normal lifespan 

 is. 



Wolstenholme : Could one obtain any figures from the cattle in 

 India, which are allowed to live their normal lives to the full ? 



ComfoH: There is an institute in India which studies these cattle, 

 but their ages are not known, and unless one has reliable stud-book 

 records and the actual date of the calving it is no good. If I was un- 

 justifiably sceptical about centenarians who have birth certificates, 

 I would be ten times more sceptical about a sacred cow which has 

 not. 



Wolstenholme: Have any sacred cows been seen to have mammary 

 tumours ? 



MiXhlhock : They are in such a poor condition that it is no wonder 

 that they do not get any. 



