False posts about 'dangerous mRNA jabs for Australia livestock' spread online

"Researchers have begun inoculating Australian cattle with dangerous mRNA toxins rendering beef as no longer safe to consume," says a post shared on October 13 on X.

It features a screenshot of an article from an Australian website called Cairns News making a similar claim and saying vaccinated cattle from trials would likely "end up in a butcher shop".

Similar posts have also been shared elsewhere on X here, here and here.

Image

Screenshot of the false post, taken December 15, 2023

Australia's livestock industry makes a significant contribution to the country's economy, with total beef and veal exports valued at 10.4 billion Australian dollars in 2022, according to a report by industry group Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).

In May, MLA announced it was funding the development of mRNA vaccines that it hopes can be "rapidly mass produced in Australia" in the event of an outbreak of emergency diseases in cattle (archived link).

It said mRNA jabs for lumpy skin disease -- a viral disease in cattle that causes nodules on the skin and can lead to death -- was already being tested for efficacy.

But spokesman for MLA told AFP on November 9 testing on animals for the project was being carried out overseas and "no ruminant in Australia has been injected with an mRNA vaccine, experimental or otherwise".

No mRNA vaccine has yet been approved for livestock in Australia, a spokesperson for the regulator Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) told AFP on December 18.

Stringent vaccine trials

Multiple experts told AFP an mRNA vaccine for livestock would need to undergo strict safety and efficacy trials before it is approved for use.

In Australia, this process is regulated by the APVMA, Timothy Mahony, a professorial research fellow at the Centre for Animal Science in Queensland state, told AFP on December 8 (archived link).

"The APVMA have a series of prescribed experiments that must be completed to assess safety and efficacy," he said.

"The APVMA will assess all of the data from these experiments and decided if the vaccine should be registered. The vaccine must be both safe and efficacious to be registered."

Because mRNA is new technology, he added there might be additional regulatory steps.

"I think it will need to be approved (or at least considered) by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ). FSANZ would review and consider any potential risks to consuming products derived from animals vaccinated with mRNA."

Andrew Barnes, a professor of microbiology at the University of Queensland with expertise in veterinary vaccine technology, separately told AFP on December 8 livestock vaccines "undergo the same sort of rigorous safety and efficacy testing as human vaccines" (archived link).

This process starts with laboratory trials in cell lines to check for toxicity, then testing in animal models such as mice, and field trials if everything goes well, he said.

"Field trials must be done under permit from APVMA, registered to show that they are designed properly, and permission will be dependent on already having safety data."

Food safety

Moreover, there is no evidence suggesting vaccinated animals are dangerous to eat, Barnes and Mahony said.

"Most vaccines are taken apart and processed by the animal's immune system," Barnes said.

"For most vaccines, if you skip the animal and just eat the vaccine at the dose given to the animal it would be still safe -- you just digest it."

Mahony separately said that current evidence suggests mRNA vaccines "do not persist in the bodies of vaccinated laboratory animals".

He added: "Even if this were not the case, when we consume complex foods, such as meat, it moves progressively through our digestive system."

Pall Thordarson, director of the RNA Institute at the University of New South Wales, said food that people regularly consume -- vegetables, fruit and meat -- are "loaded with mRNA, RNA and DNA" (archived link).

"They're not lethal to us," he said. "A naked mRNA molecule cannot pass out to the stomach into the bloodstream."

Regarding animal testing, he said it is "standard practice" that products from the animal do not go on to the market.

"In most cases, the animal is incinerated and buried. Especially if it involves infectious diseases," he said.

AFP has previously debunked misinformation around mRNA vaccines and farm animals here and here.