For Arsenic
By Tom Laskawy
Why is Big Ag playing chicken with our health? Back in March,
Tom Philpott wrote about the “insane” practice of
feeding factory-farmed chickens arsenic:
The idea is that it makes them grow
faster — fast growth being the supreme goal of factory animal farming — and
helps control a common intestinal disease called coccidiosis.
The
industry emphasizes that the arsenic is applied in organic form, which isn’t
immediately toxic. “Organic” in the chemistry sense, that is, not the
agricultural sense — i.e., molecules containing carbon atoms as well as
arsenic. Trouble is, arsenic shifts from organic to inorganic rather easily.
Indeed, “arsenic in poultry manure is rapidly converted into an inorganic form
that is highly water soluble and capable of moving into surface and ground
water,” write Keeve E. Nachman and Robert S.
Lawrence of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
Inorganic arsenic is the highly
poisonous stuff — see the absurd and wonderful Cary Grant classic Arsenic
and Old Lace, or the EPA’s less whimsical take here and here [PDF]. The fact that the organic
arsenic added to feed turns inorganic when it makes its way into manure is
chilling, given the mountains of concentrated waste generated by factory
poultry farms.
One way farmers add arsenic to
chicken feed is through drugs such as Pfizer’s Roxarsone. And the industry has
(as with most of its worst practices) strenuously defended the use of such
additives. While the USDA has by and large ignored the risks (mostly in the
form of an unwillingness to look for arsenic in chicken), finally —
astonishingly — the FDA has acted.
According to the Associated Press, the FDA has
confirmed that chickens given the drug (frequently those destined for the
low-cost supermarket shelf) do indeed test positive for inorganic arsenic —
just as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy found [PDF]
back in 2006. Despite this earlier evidence, the industry had continued to
steadfastly maintain that the arsenic could not and did not make it into the
meat.
As part of its announcement, the FDA
said the arsenic levels are low and represent no meaningful risk to those
eating Roxarsone-treated chicken — a point predictably emphasized by the
National Chicken Council.
Tellingly, Pfizer announced that it
would withdraw Roxarsone from the market starting next month. The FDA didn’t
order Pfizer to withdraw the drug — the company did so voluntarily.
Of course, this does not solve the
problem of arsenic in chicken. As Michael Hansen of Consumers Union observed in
a press release, “There are several other arsenic-containing drugs for animals
that are on the market, and those should also be withdrawn or banned, as they
have been in the European Union.”
As Food & Water Watch reported in March,
“between 2000 and 2008, the USDA tested only 1 out of every 12 million
domestically produced chickens.” So it’s not as if the government is tracking
this problem in any systematic way.
It boggles my mind that the industry
is so willing to risk consumer panic over this issue and wait for the media or
government officials to force its hand. Instead of making smart business
decisions and ending dangerous practices that might give consumers cause to
avoid their product, they instead try to hold back the tide. One drug gets
withdrawn while others remain. The FDA tests 100 chickens (as they did in this
latest test), while millions are produced and sold every year.
It’s
no wonder that the so-called “ag-gag” bills remain popular among industrial farmers and
their political lackeys. They can’t seem to let go of consumer ignorance as a
key business strategy. With arsenic in chicken, the FDA, the USDA, and the
chicken industry seem to care far more about the perception of having acted
rather than the reality of ensuring all chicken sold in the U.S. is free from
this toxic substance.
Tom Laskawy is a founder and
executive director of the Food & Environment Reporting Network and
a contributing writer at Grist covering food and agricultural policy. His
writing has also appeared in The American Prospect, Slate, The
New York Times, and The New Republic.
Folks, we have to read the labels and do the research if you want to remain or become healthy. The FDA is not protecting you and it does not seem to be their purpose if you pay attention to what they do and not what they say. Actions speak louder than words and if you follow their actions they seem to be advocates of Mosanto and Big Agriculture rather than monitoring their behavior and insuring our continued safety.
It is also clear that the industries that contribute mightily to our poor health are making money at both ends. Pfizer which makes the drug containing the arsenic is a pharmaceutical company making the drugs you are prescribed once you become ill. Now that is ballsy isn't it. Making money at both ends with little or no accountability.
Wake up, Educate yourself, Get Up Get Moving and keep in mind,
"CHIT CHAT WON'T BURN FAT"
No comments:
Post a Comment