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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFDA Admits Chicken Meat Contains Arsenic
ReaderSupportedNews
By Center for Food Safety
10 May 13
[font color=darkgray]To fatten up chickens, arsenic is routinely added to
chicken feed.[/font]
Attorneys at Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a lawsuit on behalf of CFS, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and seven other U.S. food safety, agriculture, public health and environmental groups to compel the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to respond to the groups' three year-old petition which calls for immediate withdrawal of FDA's approval of arsenic-containing compounds as feed additives for food animals. Filed the same day Consumer Reports released an alarming study on antibiotic resistance in turkey, the lawsuit highlights yet another gaping hole in FDA oversight of animal feed additives.
Arsenic is commonly added to poultry feed for the FDA-approved purposes of inducing faster weight gain on less feed, and creating the perceived appearance of a healthy color in meat from chickens, turkeys and hogs. Yet new studies increasingly link these practices to serious human health problems. The lawsuit filed last week seeks to force the FDA to fulfill its mandate to better protect the public from arsenic. The 2009 petition presented abundant science to FDA that organic arsenic compoundslike those added to animal feedare directly toxic to animals and humans, but also that they convert to cancer-causing, inorganic arsenic inside of chickens, in manure-treated soil and in humans. Additional testing since submission of the 2009 petition demonstrates even greater cause for public concern and therefore greater urgency meriting FDA's prompt attention.
"FDA could easily and immediately fix the problem," said Paige Tomaselli, senior staff attorney with CFS, "but instead puts its head in the sand. We can only conclude the FDA is catering to the companies that continue to sell products containing arsenic that ends up in our food supply."
"FDA leadership is asleep at the switch, if not turning a blind eye to public health," said David Wallinga, MD, a physician with the IATP. "Seven years ago, IATP blew the whistle on FDA's indifference to arsenic being needlessly fed to chickens and turkeys. More than a decade ago, we sounded the alarm on how FDA let the routine feeding of drugs to chickens and turkeys help ensure that Americans would eat meat often contaminated with bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. We are filing suit because nothing much has changed."
MORE
By Center for Food Safety
10 May 13
[font color=darkgray]To fatten up chickens, arsenic is routinely added to
chicken feed.[/font]
Attorneys at Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a lawsuit on behalf of CFS, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and seven other U.S. food safety, agriculture, public health and environmental groups to compel the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to respond to the groups' three year-old petition which calls for immediate withdrawal of FDA's approval of arsenic-containing compounds as feed additives for food animals. Filed the same day Consumer Reports released an alarming study on antibiotic resistance in turkey, the lawsuit highlights yet another gaping hole in FDA oversight of animal feed additives.
Arsenic is commonly added to poultry feed for the FDA-approved purposes of inducing faster weight gain on less feed, and creating the perceived appearance of a healthy color in meat from chickens, turkeys and hogs. Yet new studies increasingly link these practices to serious human health problems. The lawsuit filed last week seeks to force the FDA to fulfill its mandate to better protect the public from arsenic. The 2009 petition presented abundant science to FDA that organic arsenic compoundslike those added to animal feedare directly toxic to animals and humans, but also that they convert to cancer-causing, inorganic arsenic inside of chickens, in manure-treated soil and in humans. Additional testing since submission of the 2009 petition demonstrates even greater cause for public concern and therefore greater urgency meriting FDA's prompt attention.
"FDA could easily and immediately fix the problem," said Paige Tomaselli, senior staff attorney with CFS, "but instead puts its head in the sand. We can only conclude the FDA is catering to the companies that continue to sell products containing arsenic that ends up in our food supply."
"FDA leadership is asleep at the switch, if not turning a blind eye to public health," said David Wallinga, MD, a physician with the IATP. "Seven years ago, IATP blew the whistle on FDA's indifference to arsenic being needlessly fed to chickens and turkeys. More than a decade ago, we sounded the alarm on how FDA let the routine feeding of drugs to chickens and turkeys help ensure that Americans would eat meat often contaminated with bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. We are filing suit because nothing much has changed."
MORE
The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental , nor do they result from from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink. ~George Orwell, 1984
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FDA Admits Chicken Meat Contains Arsenic (Original Post)
DeSwiss
May 2013
OP
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)1. It's okay as long as you get enough mercury to counteract it
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)5. More proof that the 1% think there are too damn many of us.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)2. That's an interesting graph.
You can actually use it to see which outlet has the most actual chicken meat in their chicken.
KFC chicken is basically chicken-flavored bread, deep-fried.
MADem
(135,425 posts)3. Good grief, when will they test for "Old Lace?"
It's kind of odd when KFC is "the fairest one of all" in a list of fast food offerings.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)4. Feeding the birds less and killing them sooner to maximize profits,...
....so what if it gives your cutomers low doses of a poison that accumulates in their bodies. Nobody is going to eat your product night and day for years.
Besides, your own kids aren't going to eat that crap,...they're eating Pheasant Under Glass.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)7. "How perfectly revolting." - The Pheasants
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)6. Wikipedia on arsenic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_poisoning
Usually, arsenic poisoning comes from the water the victim drinks. That's what I have heard, anyway.
Usually, arsenic poisoning comes from the water the victim drinks. That's what I have heard, anyway.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)8. Perfect,...fracking increases arsenic levels.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)9. Another reason I am glad to be a vegetarian. n/t