Arsenic and Chicken Meat

[Mike]

Arsenic-Based Compounds Used in Chicken Production
Tuesday , April 10, 2007



Arsenic, long known as cancer-causing agent, is showing up in America's chicken meat – and it is not by accident.

According to an article in the April 9 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society, the arsenic-based compound roxarsone is routinely added to the feed of 70 percent of the broiler chickens produced every year in the U.S.

While this additive to chicken feed is non-toxic in its natural form, it converts into inorganic arsenic within the bird.

The Environmental Protection Agency notes that chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic can cause cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate, as well as skin damage and circulatory problems.

The article notes the products from the breakdown of roxarsone end up in chicken meat. It is also excreted in chicken litter, contaminating land and groundwater.

And while the EPA has recently strengthened the standards for arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion (ppb), the standards for arsenic residues in poultry have remained unchanged for decades.

One study found that 55 percent of chicken sampled had arsenic levels ranging from 1.6 to 21.2 ppb.

Arsenic additives are already banned in the European Union, and Tyson Foods, the U.S.'s largest poultry producer stopped using arsenic additives in 2004.

McDonald's has also jumped on the bandwagon, asking its suppliers not to use the additives.

In the case of roxarsone, the industry is moving ahead of regulators. According to Chemical & Engineering News, neither the Department of Agriculture nor the FDA has actually measured the level of arsenic in the poultry meat that people consume.

 

[PORKER]

They need proof of ingredients not USED!

 

[Econ101]

Tyson might say they don't use roxarsone but they still might be using it or another similar ingredient. They do keep those chicks medicated as I have seen some feed tickets.

 

[PORKER]

Local feed truck driver said, DON"T breath the Feed dust

 

[Jason]

And while the EPA has recently strengthened the standards for arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion (ppb), the standards for arsenic residues in poultry have remained unchanged for decades.

One study found that 55 percent of chicken sampled had arsenic levels ranging from 1.6 to 21.2 ppb.

Do people eat more chicken or drink more water?

50ppb in water is safe but 1.6-21.2 ppb in half the chicken is more dangerous?

 

[Sandhusker]

And while the EPA has recently strengthened the standards for arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion (ppb), the standards for arsenic residues in poultry have remained unchanged for decades.

One study found that 55 percent of chicken sampled had arsenic levels ranging from 1.6 to 21.2 ppb.

Do people eat more chicken or drink more water?

50ppb in water is safe but 1.6-21.2 ppb in half the chicken is more dangerous?

"And while the EPA has recently strengthened the standards for arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion"

The NEW standard is 10 ppb.

 

[Econ101]

And while the EPA has recently strengthened the standards for arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion (ppb), the standards for arsenic residues in poultry have remained unchanged for decades.

One study found that 55 percent of chicken sampled had arsenic levels ranging from 1.6 to 21.2 ppb.

Do people eat more chicken or drink more water?

50ppb in water is safe but 1.6-21.2 ppb in half the chicken is more dangerous?

Jason, the level of arsenic in water was lowered to 10 ppb but the EPA originally asked for 3 ppb and the NAS asked for none.

A deal was struck with the politicians because much of the municipal water sources have higher ppbs of arsenic due to coal fired plants and the fact that they use surface water.

You are welcome to all the arsenic you want.

These numbers don't even take into consideration the amount of arsenic taken in by farmers who tend chickens for integrators who use it.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/arsenic.cfm

 

[Jason]

Thanks for the clarification...10 ppb in water...drink 8 8oz glasses per day. Eat what 1 meal of chicken per week?

I agree that in an ideal world no arsnic would be found in any food, but some poisons are actually introduced as theraputic.

Isn't layatril a cancer fighting drug actually strichnyne?

Arsnic occurs naturally in apple seeds. Maybe an apple a day isn't good?

To think Tyson wants to poison its consumers just to make chickens gain faster is rediculous. Chickens are notoriously hard to keep alive. They won't survive in any kind of economically viable situation without medications. I don't like it, but consumers have been told about and seem to care less. Salmonella is rife in chickens, yet people keep eating it.

Funny thing about humans, they all eat. They eat what they like. Tell them it'll kill them, they keep eating. Go figure.

 

[Econ101]

Thanks for the clarification...10 ppb in water...drink 8 8oz glasses per day. Eat what 1 meal of chicken per week?

I agree that in an ideal world no arsnic would be found in any food, but some poisons are actually introduced as theraputic.

Isn't layatril a cancer fighting drug actually strichnyne?

Arsnic occurs naturally in apple seeds. Maybe an apple a day isn't good?

To think Tyson wants to poison its consumers just to make chickens gain faster is rediculous. Chickens are notoriously hard to keep alive. They won't survive in any kind of economically viable situation without medications. I don't like it, but consumers have been told about and seem to care less. Salmonella is rife in chickens, yet people keep eating it.

Funny thing about humans, they all eat. They eat what they like. Tell them it'll kill them, they keep eating. Go figure.

Wants to poison us? Where do you come up with the stuff you do, Jason?

The Tysons of the world wants to win the competition game whatever the cost. A little arsenic in the chicken is one of those costs. It is only fair that consumers be told the costs they are paying to get a cheap food policy.

 

[Econ101]

Jason, with a little footwork, you are proven WRONG AGAIN.

Here are two articles on arsenic in apples:

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/apples.asp

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bot00/bot00208.htm

It seems you know about as much about arsenic as you do chicken production and corn production.

GO TO THE UNIVERSITY---and get good grades!

 

[civey3]

Tyson's say they don't use roxarsone but they still might be using something similar? How much do the chicks get from their water in the area? Tyson's still hasn't come clean, with this, by any means! They only lied to the American Public for more than forty years and we the people are supposed to believe they cleaned up their act over nite? Are they now using Strychnine or Cyanide to accomplish the same thing? Please remember they have only been lying to American consumers, for over forty years now, about the Arsenic! There still may be Americans that have no idea of what is in their food? Two-Thirds of America is overweight, so does this still mean that this same two-thirds is ingesting Arsenic with each and every meal? Remember it is added to Chicken Feed as a "Growth Promoter". This would tend to make me believe that Two-Thirds of America doesn't even know or even care!

 

[civey3]

Somebody, on here, seems to think the EPA stood up to G.W. Bush Jr. and lowered the amount of allowable Arsenic in drinking water to 10 ppb?
50 ppb. as in Fifty Parts Per Billion would be closer to the truth since Bush
dismissed the Clinton's progress on this issue as too costly! Here's the site!-

http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/arsenic.cfm

Here's an excerpt- Bush Mandates Arsenic in Your Tap Water!

President Bush has canceled a health regulation that would have
reduced allowable levels of arsenic in U.S. drinking water from
50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb. According to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), arsenic in drinking water
causes cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder and prostate in
humans. Arsenic in drinking water is also linked to
diabetes, cardiovascular disease, anemia, and disorders of the
immune, nervous and reproductive systems, EPA says.
Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that arsenic even at very
low levels equivalent to 10 ppb in water interferes with
hormones, making it a potent endocrine disrupter. Hormones are
chemical messengers that the body produces to regulate critical
life processes.

The current U.S. arsenic standard of 50 ppb was adopted in 1942.
After a decade of study and public review of scientific
evidence, EPA proposed the stricter standard while Bill Clinton
was president. Mr. Bush reversed EPA's decision shortly after
taking office.

So now, When does America start drinking Distilled Water only?