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Video Library
(CBS) BROOKLYN The 4-month-old calf that made a break for it three days ago, dashing out of a truck taking it to the slaughterhouse and setting off a wild chase by police through the streets of Bay Ridge, has escaped certain death. See the video
by Virgil Butler, ex-Tyson slaughterhouse worker
An issue not even thought about by most people, even many of those in the fight for animal rights, is the effects on the minds of those people who do the actual slaughter of the chickens.by Environmental Health Perspectives
High Levels Of Arsenic In Chicken May Require Adjustment in Consumption. Study in Environmental Health Perspectives Reveals Chickens Have Highest Level of Arsenic. Chicken consumption may contribute significant amounts of arsenic to total arsenic exposure of the U.S. population, according to a study published today in the January issue of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).by Jeremy Rifkin, The Guardian, UK
Hundreds of millions of people are going hungry all over the world because much of the arable land is being used to grow feed grain for animals rather than for people. Cattle are among the most inefficient converters of feed.by ScienceCentral.com
Mad cow disease has some consumers worried about what might be in their beef—but what about a harmful substance we already know is inside chicken? As this ScienCentral news video reports, there's new information out on the amount of arsenic in chicken.By George Monbiot, The Guardian UK
The Christians stole the winter solstice from the pagans, and capitalism stole it from the Christians. But one feature of the celebrations has remained unchanged: the consumption of vast quantities of meat.Arsenic Chicken Poison Poultry
by ScienceCentral.com
Mad cow disease has some consumers worried about what might be in their beef — but what about a harmful substance we already know is inside chicken? As this ScienCentral news video reports, there's new information out on the amount of arsenic in chicken.
Poison in Your Poultry
Chicken is a big part of the American diet, and consumption is increasing. So it's important to know what's in this popular poultry.
Small amounts of the poison arsenic are commonly added to chicken feed as an approved supplement that controls intestinal parasites. While the amount passed on to the majority of people who eat chicken is not high enough to be harmful, a report in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives shows that arsenic exposure from chicken is much higher than previously thought.
"When we looked at the arsenic levels, we noticed that the levels were three or four times higher in chickens than in other poultry and meats," says Tamar Lasky, an epidemiologist who completed the study while working for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). (Lasky now works for the National Institutes of Health.)
Lasky's data came from 5,000 chicken samples collected over seven years by the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service. Based on the amount of arsenic found in the chicken tissue, the data shows that the average person ingests 3.6 to 5.2 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per day from chicken alone. Inorganic arsenic is classified as a carcinogen, and some cancers—such as skin, respiratory, and bladder cancer—have been seen at exposures of ten to forty micrograms per day. But Lasky says that even someone who eats at the very high end of the scale (about a pound a day, she says) is "still within the tolerable limits" for arsenic exposure set by the World Health Organization.
"I don't think anyone needs to be frightened or worried about themselves in any particular kind of danger," says Lasky. "But I think it warrants some kind of scientific or public health discussion."
For example, officials might consider rethinking the allowable levels of arsenic from other sources. "If we're taking in more from one source or another than we previously thought, that really leaves us…fewer options in terms of the other sources of arsenic exposure," says Lasky. "Knowing that people are taking in more arsenic through food may mean that there's a need to lower the amounts taken in through water."
Lasky doesn't think her study should cause anyone to change their eating habits, but those who are concerned can switch to organic chicken, which is not fed arsenic. She also pointed out that her study is a starting point and that further studies are needed: "From what I gather, there's very little known about the effects of cooking, digestion and metabolism on the arsenic that is in chicken. And that…could lead to a variety of studies. This is a new issue. We weren't aware of it before. And any time a report comes out with new information… our stock answer in science—but it's a very justified answer—is that it needs further exploration."
This research was published in the January, 2004 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, and was funded by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service.
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?article_id=218392183&cat=1_6