Who is ready for some good news? I thought so. Last week, Maryland became the first state in the nation to ban the use of arsenic in chicken feed. Wait, what? Chickens are fed arsenic, a known carcinogen? Yup and the feds say it’s kosher, despite admitting the dangerous chemical may wind up in your dinner. (The chicken industry uses it to kill bugs and promote growth, cancer risks be damned.) Many groups have tried to stop the practice for years but of course Big Chicken has fought back hard. Kudos to Food and Water Watch, which explains how the good guys won this time: “Given the enormous power of our opponents, like the big chicken industry and pharmaceutical companies who fought against us for three years, this victory is a real testament to the power of grassroots organizing.” We can beat back food industry lobbying one state (or city or county) at a time. It just take a lot of hard work.
Michelle,
I, too, applauded the Maryland ban on arsenic-containing chicken feed. (http://www.healthtwisty.blogspot.com/2012/06/arsenic-and-old-hens.html).
But I also wonder what it will be replaced with. From my understanding, the arsenic in the feed controls internal parasites both in the bird and in the tons of bird wastes that are used for fertilizer, and scraped up and dumped elsewhere. So, removing arsenic from the food does not address the real problem of parasites caused by crowded growing conditions. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue.
Amy Stone
Makes me very glad to be a vegetarian. When I do eat meat, very occasionally, I choose locally-raised, grass-fed bison. There is nothing–nothing, about the chicken for food industry that would make me want to eat them–to say nothing of trying to explain to my “girls” out in the back yard!