Researchers find elevated levels of arsenic in US chicken meat

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have identified that chicken meat tested in the US contained higher than normal levels of arsenic – a chemical which is known to increase the risk of cancer.

The increased levels of arsenic can be attributed to the use of arsenic-based drugs in chicken populations.

Over the past several years, arsenic-based drugs have been used to accelerate poultry growth and improve the pigmentation of the meat.

In addition, these drugs are approved to treat and prevent parasites in poultry.

In 2010, industry representatives estimated that 88% of the approximately nine billion chickens raised for human consumption in the US were treated with an arsenic-based drug known as roxarsone.

In July 2011, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer voluntarily withdrew roxarsone from the US market; however, the company can sell the drug internationally and could resume marketing it in the US at any time.

For the study conventional, antibiotic-free, and USDA Organic chicken samples were obtained from ten US metropolitan areas between December 2010 and June 2011.

During this period, roxarsone was easily available to poultry companies that sought to add it to chicken feed.

In the meat samples that were evaluated, the researchers identified inorganic arsenic and residual roxarsone.

In the meat that contained roxarsone, levels of inorganic arsenic were four times higher compared with the levels in USDA Organic chicken, in which roxarsone and other arsenic drugs are banned from use.

In the US, currently there is no federal law prohibiting the sale or use of arsenic-based drugs in poultry feed.

In January this year, Maryland became the first US state to ban the use of most arsenic drugs in chicken feed.

Lead study author Keeve Nachman said that suspension of roxarsone sales is good in the short term, but it isn’t a real solution.

"Hopefully this study will persuade FDA to ban the drug and permanently keep it off the market," Nachman added.

The study was led by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and was published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

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Image: The researchers at Johns Hopkins University stated that the increased levels of arsenic can be attributed to the use of arsenic-based drugs in chicken populations. Photo courtesy of patrizio martorana.