Chicken feed may present arsenic danger

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07067/767756-34.stm

New environmental and health concerns have hatched about an arsenic compound that's been added to chicken feed since the 1960s to produce healthier, happier, bigger-breasted birds.

A study by Duquesne University researchers has found that the organic arsenic added to chicken feed is chemically transformed into inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen, much more quickly than previously thought.

Organic arsenic is added to the feed of some 70 percent of the 7 billion roasters grown annually in the United States. The inorganic arsenic is found in poultry waste, which is used as fertilizer.

That increases the risk that the inorganic arsenic will contaminate surface water and groundwater drinking supplies in farming areas where the chicken litter fertilizer is spread repeatedly, said John Stolz, professor of biology at Duquesne and co-author of the study reported in January in the peer-reviewed Environmental Science & Technology Online News.

"What goes into the ground is very different from the compound in the chicken feed," Mr. Stolz said. "That the organic arsenic transforms much faster means we could get a bolus of the stuff going through the groundwater aquifer."

[pinniped]

1. Popeye's chicken has high levels of arsenic present. I was reading about this....

arsenic = chicken connection a couple of months ago.

[fed-up]

2. I've gotten horrendous stomach cramps from chicken since I was a kid, I didn't

figure out that chicken was the cause until I had issues with food intolerances at the beginning of this century.

I remember having horrible cramps sometimes. I did have my appendix removed in the early 1970's, but the cramps would continue intermittently. Not until I started tracking what I ate did I realize that chicken (conventionally raised) was a trigger. I have no problem with organic chicken.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_poisoning
Symptoms include violent stomach pains in the region of the bowels; tenderness on pressure; retching; vomiting; sense of dryness and tightness in the throat; thirst; hoarseness and difficulty of speech; the matter vomited, greenish or yellowish, sometimes streaked with blood; diarrhea; tenesmus; sometimes excoriation of the anus; urinary organs occasionally affected with violent burning pains and suppression; convulsions and cramps; clammy sweats; lividity of the extremities; countenance collapsed; eyes red and sparkling; delirium; death. Some of these symptoms may be absent where the poisoning results from inhalation, as of arseniuretted hydrogen.
Symptoms of arsenic poisoning start with mild headaches and can progress to lightheadedness and usually, if untreated, will result in death.
Arsenic poisoning can lead to a variety of problems, from skin cancer to keratoses of the feet.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HEC/CSEM/arsenic/clinical_evaluation.html
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Department of Health and Human Services
Case Studies in Environmental Medicine
Arsenic Toxicity
Clinical Evaluation


http://www.chelationtherapyonline.com/articles/p110.htm
Arsenic Poisoning Symptoms And Treatments

Arsenic is a very toxic substance that is found in food, water and household items. Tobacco smoke, laundry detergent, bone meal, sea food, beer and even drinking water are a few of the items arsenic can be consumed from. Headaches, confusion, sleepiness, and even convulsions can be the effects of arsenic poisoning. Vomiting, diarrhea, kidney, liver and lung problems can occur, including death in extreme cases. Here is how to avoid and cure arsenic poisoning.

Arsenic is found in many different places. Arsenic is used to poison pests such as rats and mice, and can be used to kill any living thing. Arsenic is found in tiny amounts in many things that we consume. Apples, for example, have a minute amount of arsenic in their seeds. If you eat apples daily and eat the seeds you are depositing arsenic into your system. Other food items that may contain arsenic are seafood, water, bone meal, dolomite, kelp, table salt, and beer.

If you work in a job that produces any kind of pesticide, agricultural insecticide or spraying of any of these, you are at risk of arsenic poisoning. Other jobs that are at risk are copper smelting, mining, sheep dipping and metallurgical industries. Continued exposure to arsenic builds up in the system and there is an accumulated effect. The more you are exposed the more serious are the consequences.



Arsenic poisoning is usually determined by a hair analysis. If arsenic is found in the hair follicles it will stay there for years. If it is in your hair follicles it is usually in your body as well. Arsenic is also deposited in the fingernails and skin.

[auburngrad82]

3. I talked to a chicken farmer about this several years ago

He had been raising chickens for probably 50 years. He said that when a chicken would die, he would throw it out behind the chicken house and within an hour or two a wild animal would carry the carcass away. Since he started using the feed with the arsenic in it, no wild animal would touch the carcasses. He had to bury them or burn them. Makes you wonder. If a wild animal won't touch it then how can it be good for us?

[The2ndWheel]

4. "happier"

Odd word. They don't even have the opportunity to fight back before they become dinner. I'm sure they're thrilled.

I was watching "How It's Made" on the Science Channel one day. They were showing how baby chicks are hatched, categorized, thrown around in and on large metal conveyor belts after people determine what sex they are and whether or not they'll be food or get to make the next generation of chickens, sprayed with all types of chemicals, and shipped off to wherever they end up to "live".

We really are a frightening species. I have no problem with people eating meat(I do). I have no problem with people hunting(I never had to), as long as it isn't simply a hobby on the weekend(although I've never stopped anyone from doing it). It's just the way that we go about doing things these days, like I said, it's frightening. The control of life that our species desires to have is nothing short of sick.