Some years ago Professor Keith Woodford did allow cautiously...

Some years ago Professor Keith Woodford did allow cautiously that "The possibility of a very small release of BCM7 from A2 cows cannot be totally excluded".

In theory this is extremely improbable if not impossible, and I’m not aware of it ever having been found in practice.

By definition an A2 cow is one whose milk protein DNA does not contain the particular amino-acid at position 67 that would make it an A1 cow.

It is undisputed that BCM7 can only be derived from the A1 milk protein, and not from A2 protein. So we are presumably talking about the remote possibility that a cow identified as A2 was somehow producing a very small amount of A1 milk.

Even in the unlikely event of this occurring, it would be quickly picked up before such milk entered the consumer chain. Every delivery of A2 from supplying farmers is tested before being accepted for processing to ensure it contains no A1. So to answer your question, no, there would be no BCM7 hazard from milk carrying the a2 label.

As to your question whether anyone has died from A1, I guess the answer is we don’t know for sure, but almost certainly yes – A1 has doubtless been a contributing factor in many deaths over the years.

No one is suggesting that A1 milk causes a quick and easily attributable death. If a post-mortem were conducted on every dead A1 drinker, we wouldn’t necessarily expect to find BCM7 still present in their system. The thing about BCM7 is that it can cause inflammation, a causal factor in numerous diseases and conditions, but death may not eventuate until many years later, and anyway there would still be uncertainty whether BCM7 was the only causal factor.

What is emerging from the science is that A1/BCM7 is a risk factor that may contribute to a disease or condition that causes death many years after A1 milk has been consumed. And by no means all consumers suffer from the gut conditions that would make them susceptible to the “hazards” of A1/BCM7.