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Carcinogenic arsenic found in chickens

06/12/2011 15:13:00 admin

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By David Liu, Ph.D. and editing by Elizabeth Hutchinson

Sunday June 12, 2011 (foodconsumer.org) -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on June 8, 2011 that Alpharma, a subsidiary of Pfizer, will voluntarily stop selling the animal drug 3-Nitro or roxarsone (4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonic acid), which is widely used by the poultry industry.

The decision came soon after a study found risky levels of inorganic arsenic in the livers of 100 study broiler chickens that had been fed a roxarsone-treated chicken feed.

The study was conducted by the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.

Arsenic in roxarsone, an organic form of arsenic, is considered less toxic than the inorganic form of arsenic, which is a known carcinogen. Inorganic arsenic in chicken livers is not expected.

Roxarsone, approved by the FDA in 1944 for treatment of mostly broiler chickens, can prohibit growth of parasites in the animals, promoting weight gain and improving the animal's skin pigment.

Previous studies have suggested that exposure to arsenic may increase the risk of bladder cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, colon cancer, and diabetes, among other health problems. Cancer death rates remain high even decades after exposure to arsenic.

Arsenic is also found in drinking water, the material used for fluoridation of drinking water, and rice produced in the U.S.

In 2007, Bette Hileman published an article titled “Arsenic in Chicken Production” in Chemical & Engineering News, a journal of the American Chemical Society, that states that 3-Nitro "adds arsenic to human food and endangers water supplies."

Donald L. Sparks at the University of Delaware was cited as estimating that each year 20 to 50 metric tons of roxarsone were released through chicken litter to "fields on the Delmarva Peninsula, a region that includes parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia."

Studies have showed that the less toxic organic arsenic found in the chicken litter in the fields can be quickly transformed into inorganic arsenic, a cancer-causing agent.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets the maximum tolerance for arsenic in drinking water at 0.010 parts per million (ppm), and it estimates that the cancer risk from 0.010 ppm in drinking water is one in 2,000, which Hileman states is 50 times higher than the risk allowed for most other cancer causing agents.

The arsenic levels in chickens can be much higher. Hileman states that arsenic is allowed to be present in chicken livers at 2 ppm and in chicken meats at 0.5 ppm. However, the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have never tested the actual concentration of arsenic in chicken meats.

The recent discovery of inorganic arsenic in chicken livers concerned the FDA, prompting the agency to work with the drug manufacturer to stop selling roxarsone.

The drug will not immediately disappear from the market. Alpharma said chicken producers need time to make an adjustment.

In the meantime, the FDA stressed that "the levels of inorganic arsenic detected were very low and that continuing to eat chicken as 3-Nitro is suspended from the market does not pose a health risk."

"If 3-Nitro-treated chickens are safe to eat, why did the 3-Nitro manufacturer want to stop selling this drug?" a health observer asked.

However, the health observer suggested that continuing consumption of roxarsone-treated chicken for a short term should not increase any significant risk of cancer, considering that most food consumers have eaten chickens for years or decades already.

The good news is that the majority of chickens that reach the U.S. market may not have been treated with roxarsone. Tyson Foods, which produces about 70 percent of chickens in the U.S., reportedly stopped using the drug years ago.

One thing food consumers may do to minimize their exposure to arsenic, is to use a tap water filter that is able to filter out heavy metals like arsenic.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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