This hasn’t been a great week for food safety, so I’m sadly not surprised to learn that Americans are routinely exposed to dangerous levels of arsenic through the chicken we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breath. I was vaguely aware that the scary stuff was looming about, but I didn’t know that the arsenic compound known as roxarsone is routinely added to chicken feed in many chicken growing operations, reportedly to fight parasites and increase growth of blood vessels to make them more attractive at the supermarket. Arsenic is a known carcinogen and has also been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and declines in brain function, and while the use of roxarsone has been banned in the European Union and even by chicken giants Tyson and Perdue, still around 70% of the 9 billion broiler chickens raised annually in the U.S.
The arsenic threat is another urgent reason why we need to better educate ourselves on where our food comes from and how that food is produced. Even if you don’t eat chicken or buy from smaller farms, there is still a risk that manure from farms that use roxarsone leaches into the groundwater, contaminated drinking water or water used for irrigation of crops. The arsenic used is also harmful for those working on or near farms as they can be infected by the dust. The bottom line is there are surely better ways to control parasites and improve the quality of chickens that farms raise than using roxarsone, and the solution likely lies in more sustainable farming practices, including pasture raised poultry.
Photo: roblisameehan’s flickr photostream (creative commons)
CATEGORIES: Environment, Global Health
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Yikes! Already not a huge fan of chicken, I am now convinced.
Having just seen Food, Inc. only clarifies what I’d suspected for so long. The food we’re eating is killilng us and its visible in our children, especially. I’m reeling from all of this info and want to help initiate change. It will have to start in our own lives first.
The question remains how does the public not feel overwhelmed by the evidence presented? I think that is the reason we dont see much change. I am studying the effects of Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids on adolescents. I am finding that the folks who are not scientists that I talk to about this issue are completey overwhelmed by the notion that maybe things are not as they appear. I have to wonder how to empower common folks in order to make the difference needed.
Im realy lucky because I own my own chickans and dont get that crap
Here’s a letter I wrote to Monsanto after seeing Food, Inc. and studying M’s website. Drop in the ocean? Yes! Added to the actions we can all take as consumers (asking stores we frequent to disclose food sources, asking for grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, organics, bio-degradable containers etc.), we really have been and can be a mighty flood.
TO: Monsanto Corp.
RE: Moe Parr and related topics
Your web statements about this farmer are not at all credible. As a native of a farm state, I can tell you that, unlike your corporate environment, Mr. Parr’s world of is one of real relationships, going back decades, and real communities struggling with very important ethical and environmental questions. His “customers” are life-long friends caught in a vice created by Monsanto and other Agribusiness corporations, and your interpretation of his actions doesn’t come close to an understanding of his behavior or motivations. But then, that is not your intent, which appears to be a shameful misleading of the public.
I’ve read your web pages representing your company as a squeaky clean farmer-friendly concerned corporate citizen just trying to do right by a “growing nation.” Do you really think the public is so gullible? Where did the idea of GMO’s come from? How about the fight against labeling? Where did the law forbidding seed saving come from? How much do you spend each year on lobbying efforts? On branding and p.r. specialists? How have the OTHER (besides Clarence Thomas) ex-Monsanto Federal and State officials operated to influence government policy and regulation? What are your ultimate business goals? As your web discourse on “sustainability” suggests, though of course this isn’t how you spin it, your primary goal is to control and profit from worldwide food production, through the forced use of genetically modified, patented seed. You say this yourself between the lines. These are the things you should disclose, so that we, the people, have a legitimate choice.
Since I’m sure all this is falling on hard ground, let me just say that as your customer, I want you to know that I will shun every Monsanto product - I’ve already cut soy and corn from my diet, and consistently buy organic, locally produced foods - and urge everyone I know to do the same. You’re doing great harm in the world.
Abigail Van Alyn
Lincoln, Nebraska
Why is our congress allowing the introduction of arsenic to our food system? Guess they really don’t care about the people they supposedly represent.
Americans should just boycott all chicken products until this situation is rectified. The allmightly dollar being withheld from the industry should speak for itself.
This is really scary stuff. I am not surprised though…we shouldn’t eat bird (bird flu), pork (swine flu), beef (mad cow)…and down here in Southeast Georiga, I don’t trust the seafood after EPA found mercury. Even after the cleanup, they did not recover all the mercury. Are vegetables safe? We are slowly being killed thru our current food source. Good artical.
This is really scary stuff. I am not surprised though…we shouldn’t eat bird (bird flu), pork (swine flu), beef (mad cow)…and down here in Southeast Georiga, I don’t trust the seafood after EPA found mercury. Even after the cleanup, they did not recover all the mercury. Are vegetables safe? We are slowly being killed thru our current food source. Good artical.
It is time for people to start paying more attention to what they put in their bodies than out. I have been eating organic and sustainable for about 9 years now so does my son and husband, we are viewed as ” bougie ” by some and have brought interest in others. Yes it is more expensive but the bottom line is, let one of your many cars go and by less video games, tv’s and all these less important things you don’t really need and you’ll be able to afford quality foods. Health care cost some people thousands of dollars because they are unconsciously, little by little poisoning themselves and therefor allowing big corporations and industrial farms to poison them to the point that cancers and other deseases become more and more common.