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QUESTIONNAIRE TO DIRECTORS OF VETERINARY SCHOOLS
The Select Committee on Aging asked several directors of veterinary schools for
their experience with DMSO. All six of the directors who responded had experience
with the drug. Three felt it was effective, one felt it was effective sometimes,
another said not at all. One of the directors had used the drug only to carry other
drugs into the bloodstream.
Two of the directors believed the drug would be safe for use in humans. Three
either felt there was not enough data to warrant its approval for human use or felt
their experience was too limited to answer the question.
Following are comments from the directors:
Dr. William R. Romane, Professor of Large Animal Medicine at Texas A. & M.
University reported that he had experience with DMSO and had used it for inflam-
matory conditions of joints and muscles. He found the drug effective in reducing
inflammation and felt on the basis of his experience with DMSO in animals, the
drug would be safe and effective in humans. He added: "I think it is safe to use in
animals and have had no bad reactions from its use."
Dr. K. D. Weide, Director of the Veterinary Medicine Research Farm, University
of Missouri at Columbia said he has used DMSO for arthritis in small animals,
tentonitis in horses and tissue swelling in dogs. He also found it effective for these
conditions and felt the drug would be safe and effective in humans. He said: "This is
a good product for reduction of localized tissue swelling.'
Dr. D. M. Young, Head of the Veterinary Research Laboratory at Montana State
University has used DMSO in tissue (cell) preparation, used occasionally for acute,
traumatic arthritis in horses and found that "sometimes" DMSO was effective,
especially in acute cases. He felt his experience was too limited to judge whether
DMSO would be safe in humans.
Dr. K. R. Van Kampen, Head of the Veterinary Science Center at Utah State
University has also used the drug, particularly for laminitis (acute) and hemato-
mata in horses. He added: "(I) have only used the drug on a handful of cases-
results have always been equivocal as to whether condition resolved on own or was
aided by DMSO administration."
Dr. E. Wynn Jones, Vice Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi
State University, has also had experience with DMSO in induced focal granulating,
wounds (controlled-double blind study) in equine and felt the drug was effective in
reducing inflammation. He reported that his experience was based only on studies
in horses and observed no adverse effect but administration was topical only. He
added: "I should, however, elaborate that our observatons concerned only efficacy
studies in induced equine model. Since no safety and toxicity studies were conducted
and since we are unaware of relevance of equine studies to human safety, I am
unable to respond to your question concerning potential human hazards."
Dr. Mahlon W. Vorhies, Head of the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic
Laboratory, South Dakota University reported using DMSO in equine lameness,
mastitis and respiratory disease but added, "In my experience, DMSO has always
been used to carry another drug or medication. I couldn't make a statement about
its use alone. . . . My experiences are clinical in nature and would provide no
scientific evaluation."
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