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Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/9/2012 5:40:29 AM

kalikshama

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Let’s hope you’re not reading this column while munching on a chicken sandwich.

That’s because my topic today is a pair of new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic.

“We were kind of floored,” said Keeve E. Nachman, a co-author of both studies and a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future. “It’s unbelievable what we found.”

He said that the researchers had intended to test only for antibiotics. But assays for other chemicals and pharmaceuticals didn’t cost extra, so researchers asked for those results as well.

“We haven’t found anything that is an immediate health concern,” Nachman added. “But it makes me question how comfortable we are feeding a number of these things to animals that we’re eating. It bewilders me.”

Likewise, I grew up on a farm, and thought I knew what to expect in my food. But Benadryl? Arsenic? These studies don’t mean that you should dump the contents of your refrigerator, but they do raise serious questions about the food we eat and how we should shop.

It turns out that arsenic has routinely been fed to poultry (and sometimes hogs) because it reduces infections and makes flesh an appetizing shade of pink. There’s no evidence that such low levels of arsenic harm either chickens or the people eating them, but still...

Big Ag doesn’t advertise the chemicals it stuffs into animals, so the scientists conducting these studies figured out a clever way to detect them. Bird feathers, like human fingernails, accumulate chemicals and drugs that an animal is exposed to. So scientists from Johns Hopkins University and Arizona State University examined feather meal — a poultry byproduct made of feathers.

One study, just published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, Environmental Science & Technology, found that feather meal routinely contained a banned class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. These antibiotics (such as Cipro), are illegal in poultry production because they can breed antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” that harm humans. Already, antibiotic-resistant infections kill more Americans annually than AIDS, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The same study also found that one-third of feather-meal samples contained an antihistamine that is the active ingredient of Benadryl. The great majority of feather meal contained acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. And feather-meal samples from China contained an antidepressant that is the active ingredient in Prozac.

Poultry-growing literature has recommended Benadryl to reduce anxiety among chickens, apparently because stressed chickens have tougher meat and grow more slowly. Tylenol and Prozac presumably serve the same purpose.

Researchers found that most feather-meal samples contained caffeine. It turns out that chickens are sometimes fed coffee pulp and green tea powder to keep them awake so that they can spend more time eating. (Is that why they need the Benadryl, to calm them down?)

The other peer-reviewed study, reported in a journal called Science of the Total Environment, found arsenic in every sample of feather meal tested. Almost 9 in 10 broiler chickens in the United States had been fed arsenic, according to a 2011 industry estimate.

These findings will surprise some poultry farmers because even they often don’t know what chemicals they feed their birds. Huge food companies require farmers to use a proprietary food mix, and the farmer typically doesn’t know exactly what is in it. I asked the United States Poultry and Egg Association for comment, but it said that it had not seen the studies and had nothing more to say.

What does all this mean for consumers?

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/opinion/kristof-arsenic-in-our-chicken.html?_r=1&src=rechp

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/9/2012 6:26:09 AM

Iamsemisweet

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And that is why I raise my own chickens. Although the main reason is that I can't stand the cruelty of factory farming.

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/9/2012 7:24:13 AM

erieangel

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I've gone organic in my meat and poultry purchases. Wagmen's has a great selection of organic, grass-fed, hormone-free meat and poultry. It costs a little more but you can tell the difference even in the taste--far better.

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/9/2012 7:37:52 AM

LaTigresse

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The sad part about even organic, is that even the water the animals get are laced with all sorts of contaminants. Water pollution is to me, one of the biggest unaddressed issues of our food contamination.

I can grow my own 'organic' everything, but if the ground itself is contaminated, if the water, even rain water, is contaminated......then we are still going to put those contaminants into our bodies.

I can buy organic, but if say, the lettuce was fertilized with manure from an animal that was not fed organically, or watered with water that had contaminants, then it's not that much better than non organically raised. The farmer/gardener can control what they do or don't feed or spray, but cannot control every aspect of the water they ultimately get.

To a degree, it makes our organic, a false platitude. That is the frustrating part.

Consider if you will, a fact I discovered not that long ago......most people believe that flushing old or unwanted meds is acceptable disposal. Or, tossing them in the garbage, which goes to a landfill, which leaches into the soil, which gets rained on, which means it ends up in our waterways and wells. Which means an organically fed beef, chicken, hog, can be fed well, not medicated purposely, but drinks that contaminated water. So regardless of vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore........regardless of organic or even home grown, we are going to get the contaminants to some degree.

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/9/2012 7:46:08 AM

kalikshama

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I'm not strictly organic but do always buy the brands that have more humane practices such as low stress, natural environments and use vegetarian feed but not antibiotics or growth hormones.

(Some of this is specific to the type of animal - for example, growth hormones are not used in any chickens in the US so marketing claims of "no growth hormones" on chicken is disingenuous.)

I look for sales and stock up.

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/9/2012 2:44:11 PM

Soyokaze

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Arsenic is natural; surely it couldn't be bad for you (I hate people who think naturally occurring things must be better for you).

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/9/2012 3:45:02 PM

ShaharThorne

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I was on a jury on a civil case against Pilgrims Pride where there was cross contamination of chicken feed (which did contain arsenic) to cow feed, causing abortions of the calves and flounders on the dairy cows. We ruled in favor of the farmer because it did affect his business.

I live in the center of Pilgrims Pride land. Since the case, I asked Mom not to buy their products and this was over 20 years ago.

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/9/2012 5:59:13 PM

erieangel

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I see your point, but I do what I can as do you, I would assume.

The saddest part is that it is just going to get worst. I shudder to think of the environment my granddaughter is growing up in.

I used to say if I knew then what I know now (in regards to my mental illness) I never would have had kids. If I knew then what I know now about the direction the plutocrats are taking our planet, I never would have had kids.

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/10/2012 6:08:33 AM

ShaharThorne

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I know what you mean, eire. My daughter is showing signs of bipolar herself and her father wants her to see a therapist, not a p-doc. She wants a p-doc so her disorder can be treated. But what can you do when he is the person with the insurance and say-so on how she gets treatment.

At least she can go to the regular doctors herself without us hovering around her. I think she should go to the ER and talk to social services when she turns 18 and can admit herself into a hospital.

Sorry for the hijack...

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RE: Arsenic in Our Chicken? - 4/10/2012 7:23:39 AM

erieangel

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ShaharThorne

I know what you mean, eire. My daughter is showing signs of bipolar herself and her father wants her to see a therapist, not a p-doc. She wants a p-doc so her disorder can be treated. But what can you do when he is the person with the insurance and say-so on how she gets treatment.

At least she can go to the regular doctors herself without us hovering around her. I think she should go to the ER and talk to social services when she turns 18 and can admit herself into a hospital.

Sorry for the hijack...

She may not have to wait until she's 18. Depending on the state you in, the age of consent for psychiatric care is often younger. In PA, it is 14. Meaning anybody over the age of 14 can refuse psychiatric care or obtain it without parental consent. Call your state legislator, county health department, local mental health service provider to find out the age of consent and find out if her father's insurance can be billed without his knowledge/approval.

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