Why it’s maybe not a great idea to feed arsenic to chickens
Recently, I was on the way home when I heard something on NPR that made me want to shake a farmer. But not just any farmer…
In a brief news item, a reporter explained that traces of arsenic were found in livers of chickens that were given feed containing arsenic.
Now, this is pretty disturbing, but it’s no surprise.
Last year I told you about the arsenic-laced feed that’s been given to chickens for DECADES (it helps control disease, plumps up the chicken and makes the meat pink).
The arsenic in chickenfeed is organic, which isn’t harmful to humans. But when the FDA did some investigating, they found that traces of inorganic arsenic were showing up in the livers of chickens fed with the organic arsenic feed.
Without the benefit of carefully designed studies I’m going to jump to this conclusion: Not good!
Has our chicken-consuming society been getting traces of inorganic arsenic for all these years? And if so, what is that poison doing to us?
Good questions. And no one knows the answers. Not yet, anyway.
Meanwhile, this is a topic of hot debate here in Maryland where a number of large chicken producers have farms.
So…back to NPR…
The reporter pointed out that Maryland lawmakers (or some of them anyway) don’t want to regulate arsenic-laced chicken feed in the state because it will put the state’s chicken industry at a disadvantage compared to neighboring states.
And these lawmakers have a plan: Wait for federal regulations.
Okay. That’s one way to go. Here’s another…
First we gather together U.S. chicken farmers. And by “chicken farmers” I’m referring to the executives who oversee vast factory flocks and never lift a hand to do actual farm work.
So we get all these “farmers” together and offer them a delicious plate of arsenic-laced chicken livers. If they eat it, they’re not guilty.
Something tells me we will have a lot of leftover chicken livers.
I can’t promise this plan will work, but it’s got to be better than what’s NOT being done right now.
