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Omaha Steve

(99,658 posts)
Sun Dec 14, 2014, 02:00 PM Dec 2014

How the FDA and Big Pharma Covered Up Arsenic Traces in Your Food




http://www.care2.com/causes/how-the-fda-and-big-pharma-covered-up-arsenic-traces-in-your-food.html

by Care2 Causes Editors December 9, 2014

Written by Wenonah Hauter

Until last year, small, yet significant levels of arsenic may have laced your chicken dinner, but Big Pharma really didn’t want you to know. And once again, industry influence over government prevailed over protecting public health.

In a classic case of the fox guarding the chicken coop, Alpharma, a former subsidiary of the major pharmaceutical company Pfizer, was recently found to be colluding with the FDA behind closed doors to delay and downplay public release of important information about risks of one of its livestock drugs. Those closed doors have now been thrown wide open.

After filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and having to sue the agency to get the documents, Food & Water Watch recently obtained internal documents ranging from formal letters to e-mails, between Pfizer and the FDA. The trail of breadcrumbs reveals just how far Big Pharma will go to protect its interests, and just how easily the FDA gave in—at the expense of public health and food safety.

Here’s the deal: Decades ago, FDA approved the use of drugs containing arsenic for use in chickens, turkeys and pigs. It says these drugs can be used for growth promotion and to treat and prevent disease. The catch is, the FDA recognizes the organic form of arsenic as safe, while inorganic arsenic is considered a carcinogen that may lead to health effects from lung, bladder or skin cancer, to heart disease, diabetes, neurological problems in children and more.

FULL story at link.

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How the FDA and Big Pharma Covered Up Arsenic Traces in Your Food (Original Post) Omaha Steve Dec 2014 OP
a carcinogen that may lead to health effects from lung, bladder or skin cancer, to heart disease, djean111 Dec 2014 #1
vvv this vvv malokvale77 Dec 2014 #2
I don't trust this article, it's from a vegan advocacy site. Archae Dec 2014 #3
Since you doubt the source you looked around for more info? Omaha Steve Dec 2014 #4
"from a vegan advocacy site" NOPE! Omaha Steve Dec 2014 #5
 

djean111

(14,255 posts)
1. a carcinogen that may lead to health effects from lung, bladder or skin cancer, to heart disease,
Sun Dec 14, 2014, 02:14 PM
Dec 2014
diabetes, neurological problems in children and more."
All money-makers for big Pharma. A win-win - bigger more profitable chickens, more sick people needing drugs.

I am thinking that a push to control the internet might have as much to do with we common people finding out things like this and immediately disseminating them, as it does for profits..

malokvale77

(4,879 posts)
2. vvv this vvv
Sun Dec 14, 2014, 03:02 PM
Dec 2014

"I am thinking that a push to control the internet might have as much to do with we common people finding out things like this and immediately disseminating them, as it does for profits.."

I mentioned this (net neutrality) the other day on here, and how losing it will shut down our voices.

I was called a CTer. Some people can't put 2 and 2 together.

Archae

(46,335 posts)
3. I don't trust this article, it's from a vegan advocacy site.
Sun Dec 14, 2014, 03:10 PM
Dec 2014

Also sounds like alarmist propaganda.

"There's arsenic in your chicken!"

At what levels?
Easy answer: extremely small amounts, like .000001 parts per million.

Omaha Steve

(99,658 posts)
4. Since you doubt the source you looked around for more info?
Sun Dec 14, 2014, 04:31 PM
Dec 2014

Last edited Sun Dec 14, 2014, 11:13 PM - Edit history (1)


Must be more to the story than your willing to admit.

FDA Bans Three Arsenic Drugs Used in Poultry and Pig Feeds: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/fda-bans-three-arsenic-drugs-used-in-poultry-and-pig-feeds.html

By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: October 1, 2013

In resolving a longstanding dispute, the Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will rescind approval for three of the four arsenic drugs that had been used in animal feeds at the request of the companies that market them.

The companies, Zoetis and Fleming Labs, already had largely withdrawn the three drugs from the market after recent studies showed levels of arsenic in chicken that exceeded amounts that occur naturally.

The compounds — roxarsone, carbarsone and arsanilic acid — have been used in 101 drugs added to feed for chickens, turkeys and pigs to prevent disease, increase feed efficiency and promote growth, according to the Center for Food Safety, which together with several other advocacy groups filed a petition almost four years ago seeking to ban the drugs in animal feeds.

“Zoetis withdrew roxarsone from the market voluntarily two years ago, and the companies have moved to withdraw the other two,” said Richard Sellers, vice president for feed regulation and nutrition at the American Feed Industry Association. “Now the F.D.A. is legally withdrawing their ability to market those drugs.”

FULL story at link.

Omaha Steve

(99,658 posts)
5. "from a vegan advocacy site" NOPE!
Sun Dec 14, 2014, 11:24 PM
Dec 2014

At the end of the OP linked article: This post originally appeared on Food & Water Watch.

Not a single mention of vegan here: http://foodandwaterwatch.org/about/

About Food & Water Watch

Our Mission
Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping the global commons — our shared resources — under public control.

Our Vision
We envision a world where all people have access to enough affordable, healthy, and wholesome food and clean water to meet their basic needs — a world in which governments are accountable to their citizens and manage essential resources sustainably.

Our Values
Independence. We are a public interest organization that remains independent of corporate and government influence. We are funded fully through our members, individual donors, and foundation grants. Democracy. We engage and mobilize citizens politically through on-the-ground organizing, educational campaigns and new media technologies. We believe political involvement is critical for holding governments accountable to their constituents and for creating policies that ensure safe food and clean water. Human Rights. There is enough food and water to meet everyone’s basic needs. Creating the political will to address access to affordable food and water is an important component of our work, particularly in our international program. We believe that water is a human right, not a commodity. Sustainability. We believe in a sustainable future — one that ensures access to essential resources for future generations while protecting the quality of our environment.

Our Work
Food & Water Watch is a non-profit organization that advocates for common sense policies that will result in healthy, safe food and access to safe and affordable drinking water. Everyone is dependent on shared resources like clean water, safe food and healthy oceans. It’s essential that these shared resources be regulated in the public interest rather than for private gain. Our staff, located in 15 offices in the United States, works with a range of constituencies to inform and hold policymakers accountable. Our international staff in Latin America and the European Union (where we are known as Food & Water Europe) work with coalition partners to track the global impact of U.S. corporations on public policy.

Our History
In Fall 2005, 12 members of the Energy and Environment Program at the non-profit organization Public Citizen left to create Food & Water Watch. Since then, with the support of our membership, individual donors and foundations, we have grown to more than 60 staff members. In the last five years, with the help of our generous supporters and committed activists, we have:

Influenced Starbucks to discontinue using milk from cows treated with artificial growth hormones

Helped dozens of communities organize across the country stop the corporate takeover of their publicly owned water systems

Defended consumers’ right to know what they’re eating by fighting for mandatory country-of-origin labeling and ensured that technologies like food irradiation continue to be labeled

Raised awareness nationwide about the environmental, health and equity problems with the bottled water industry. More than 10,000 people have taken our pledge to Take Back the Tap.

Learn more about our victories.

Our Staff
Our staff is comprised of dedicated organizers, policy researchers, communications experts and administrative staff with education in the liberal arts and sciences. We have experience developing political strategies, running on-the-ground campaigns, and speaking as experts to decision-makers and the media to meet our goals to protect consumers and people around the world from threats to our food and water. Read our staff bios.

Our Supporters
Food & Water Watch is supported by its membership, individual donors and foundations interested in carrying out a progressive agenda for food and water in the United States and abroad. We promote wholesome, safe food; clean, publicly controlled water; and abundant, fairly managed ocean resources for the benefit of all. We take no money from corporations or governments. Learn how you can become a supporter.

Our Issues
Food: We work to promote the practices and policies that will result in sustainable and secure food systems that provide healthy food for consumers and an economically viable living for family farmers and rural communities. Water: We advocate for public control of water resources and services, strong conservation measures and tough regulation of toxic emissions. The policies we promote will result in safe and affordable drinking water for everyone, rather than reliance on bottled water. Common Resources: We work to stop the financialization of nature and the privatization of our common resources, and fight to maintain the environmental quality of the ocean and its resources. Learn more about our issues.

Contact Us at Our Washington Office

1616 P Street, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 P 202.683.2500 F 202.683.2501 Email: info@fwwatch.org

Contact Us at Our Regional Offices

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