CHICKENS ARE FULL OF ARSENIC
Yesterday, the FDA released a position paper to newspapers across the globe, indicating that tests on the livers of 100 chickens indicated that they found inorganic arsenic in those livers.
Inorganic arsenic causes cancers.
This product called “3-Nitro” has been in use by the poultry industry in the U.S. and many other countries for over a half century. Another trade name for this drug is Roxarsone. It is used to combat a parasitic disease of chickens which is called coccidiosis. It also makes the chicken fatter and the meat more red.
The product is fed as “organic arsenic” but during metabolism it is changed to inorganic arsenic which is cancer causing. Apart from using the drug on chickens, farmers use it on pigs and other animals.
The reason that it is found in the liver is because the liver is the cleansing organ of the body. All blood flows through the liver and any toxins are removed by special cells in the liver called “Kupffer Cells.”
Thus, people who ate chicken livers were at greatest risk for cancer.
However, the arsenic was in all the tissues of the chicken or other animals. Eating any part of a chicken is potentially carcinogenic (cancer causing.)
HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?
Pfizer is an enormous world wide producer of pharmaceuticals and other bio-chemical products. They have thousands of scientists who investigate every detail of their products.
They were completely aware that feeding animals organic arsenic would, through the metabolism of those animals produce inorganic arsenic, which is carcinogenic. They knew, as I know, that the liver concentrates all toxins.
The FDA is an organization employing thousands of scientists. They knew as well as the scientists at Pfizer that 3-Nitro was a source of a carcinogen.
Yet, nothing is said to the public for over half a century! The answer: Money!
In all the reports given by the FDA, are statements about “the low levels” of arsenic. Yet, one molecule is enough to kill you. Here again we see that the governments of the world and their agencies are slaves to the large rich corporations.
I haven’t eaten chicken for over ten years. I know that a “real chicken” is much smaller and less “plump” than the birds I see in the super markets. I thought that the cause was hormones. Now, I know that it is arsenic.
MY ADVICE
Wherever you live, find out where your food comes from. Try to locate a local farmer who raises veggies and animals the old fashioned way. Otherwise, avoid chicken and pigs that are raised in factories in those countries that cater to the big corporations.
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and other small countries still have standards that protect the consumer.
Here are two of the news stories:
Arsenic in US chicken halts sale of Pfizer poultry-pumper
By Kerry Sheridan, from AFP
WASHINGTON – “The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer will voluntarily suspend US sales of a poultry-pumping additive after studies showed it can leave traces of arsenic in chicken livers, the US government said on Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration said the move followed a study of 100 broiler chickens which found that those treated with the animal drug 3-Nitro, or Roxarsone, had higher levels of inorganic arsenic in their livers than untreated chickens.
The levels detected were “very low” and do not pose a health risk, the FDA said.
The drug is marketed by Alpharma, a subsidiary of Pfizer, and has been used since the 1940s to ward off infection, make chicken skins more yellow and boost the birds’ growth.
“FDA detected increased levels of inorganic arsenic in the livers of chickens treated with 3-Nitro, raising concerns of a very low but completely avoidable exposure to a carcinogen,” said Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods.”
From the LA TIMES:
“Arsenic, chicken feed and the FDA are three terms not normally seen together in health articles. Here’s how such an alignment can happen… An arsenic-containing drug used in chicken feed will no longer be sold in the U.S. after FDA researchers detected a more dangerous form of arsenic in chickens fed the chemical.
The agency announced Wednesday that Pfizer subsidiary Alpharma will discontinue U.S. sales of 3-Nitro, a drug fed to chickens to help them gain weight and to prevent an intestinal disease called coccidiosis. Chickens that had been given the drug, which contains organic arsenic, had higher levels of what’s known as inorganic arsenic in their livers, compared with chickens not given the drug.
First, the key point of the announcement: “FDA officials stress 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.”
Second, the Associated Press article on the matter points out that many poultry producers no longer give their birds the drug.
In a Q&A on the drug, the agency says this about the difference between inorganic arsenic and organic arsenic:
“The inorganic form is more harmful than the organic form, and has been found to be a human carcinogen. Organic arsenic is not known to be carcinogenic. Organic arsenic is the form of arsenic that is the active ingredient in approved arsenic-based animal drugs, including 3-Nitro.”
The fact sheet then goes on to say that, at the time of the drug’s approval, researchers thought the organic arsenic in the drug was eliminated from birds’ body in the same form, as organic arsenic.
Researchers’ ability to detect inorganic arsenic in edible tissue — and thus their understanding of the matter — has since changed.
Pfizer will stop selling the drug after 30 days to allow time for animal producers to find new medications. 3-Nitro, a.k.a. roxarsone, is the most common arsenic-based animal drug, but similar drugs have been approved for poultry and pig feed. Of those, only nitarsone is marketed.”
