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Pass the Arsenic

If your kids eat a steady diet of chicken nuggets, chances are they’re also getting a steady dose of arsenic.

That’s right, arsenic. Farmers mix the poison into chicken feed because it helps to control intestinal parasites. Currently, the practice is legal.

But research by scientists at the National Institute of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture finds the levels of arsenic present in the chicken we eat constitutes a major avenue of exposure for humans, who may also be exposed through dust, fumes and water. While the amount of arsenic in chicken alone probably isn’t enough to cause health problems, when combined with other exposures it could be.

Arsenic is known to cause cancer, and the practice of mixing it into chicken feed is outlawed in Europe because of this. Researchers here are concerned not just about the levels of arsenic being found in the chicken we eat, but also about arsenic getting into soil and ground water through chicken waste.

Until arsenic is completely removed from chicken feed supplements in the United States, the only way to avoid it is to buy organic chicken or chicken labeled “antibiotic free.”

To see a copy of this study, click here.

For more information, click here.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org