Saturday, June 1, 2013

FDA finally admits chicken meat contains cancer-causing arsenic and it's intentionally added

After years of sweeping the issue under the rug and hoping no one would notice, the FDA has now finally admitted that chicken meat sold in the USA contains arsenic, a cancer-causing toxic chemical that's fatal in high doses. But the real story is where this arsenic comes from: It's added to the chicken feed on purpose!

Even worse, the FDA says its own research shows that the arsenic added to the chicken feed ends up in the chicken meat where it is consumed by humans. So for the last sixty years, American consumers who eat conventional chicken have been swallowing arsenic, a known cancer-causing chemical. (http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/burlington_county_times_news/fd...)

Until this new study, both the poultry industry and the FDA denied that arsenic fed to chickens ended up in their meat. The fairytale excuse story we've all been fed for sixty years is that "the arsenic is excreted in the chicken feces." There's no scientific basis for making such a claim... it's just what the poultry industry wanted everybody to believe.

But now the evidence is so undeniable that the manufacturer of the chicken feed product known as Roxarsone has decided to pull the product off the shelves (http://www.grist.org/food-safety/2011-06-08-fda-admits-supermarket-ch...). And what's the name of this manufacturer that has been putting arsenic in the chicken feed for all these years?Pfizer, of course -- the very same company that makes vaccines containing chemical adjuvants that are injected into children.

Technically, the company making the Roxarsone chicken feed is a subsidiary of Pfizer, called Alpharma LLC. Even though Alpharma now has agreed to pull this toxic feed chemical off the shelves in the United States, it says it won't necessarily remove it from feed products in other countries unless it is forced by regulators to do so. As reported by AP:

"Scott Brown of Pfizer Animal Health's Veterinary Medicine Research and Development division said the company also sells the ingredient in about a dozen other countries. He said Pfizer is reaching out to regulatory authorities in those countries and will decide whether to sell it on an individual basis." (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-06-08-fda-chicken-...)

Arsenic? Eat more!

But even as its arsenic-containing product is pulled off the shelves, the FDA continues its campaign of denial, claiming arsenic in chickens is at such a low level that it's still safe to eat. This is even as the FDA says arsenic is a carcinogen, meaning it increases the risk of cancer.

The National Chicken Council agrees with the FDA. In a statement issued in response to the news that Roxarsone would be pulled from feed store shelves, it stated, "Chicken is safe to eat" even while admitting arsenic was used in many flocks grown and sold as chicken meat in the United States.

What's astonishing about all this is that the FDA tells consumers it's safe to eat cancer-causing arsenic but it's dangerous to drink elderberry juice! The FDA recently conducted an armed raid in an elderberry juice manufacturer, accusing it of the "crime" of selling "unapproved drugs." (http://www.naturalnews.com/032631_elderberry_juice_FDA_raid.html) Which drugs would those be? The elderberry juice, explains the FDA. You see, the elderberry juice magically becomes a "drug" if you tell people how it can help support good health.


The FDA has also gone after dozens of other companies for selling natural herbal products or nutritional products that enhance and support health. Plus, it's waging a war on raw milk which it says is dangerous. So now in America, we have a food and drug regulatory agency that says it's okay to eat arsenic, but dangerous to drink elderberry juice or raw milk.

Eat more poison, in other words, but don't consume any healing foods. That's the FDA, killing off Americans one meal at a time while protecting the profits of the very companies that are poisoning us with their deadly ingredients.

Oh, by the way, here's another sweet little disturbing fact you probably didn't know about hamburgers and conventional beef: Chicken litter containing arsenic is fed to cows in factory beef operations. So the arsenic that's pooped out by the chickens gets consumed and concentrated in the tissues of cows, which is then ground into hamburger to be consumed by the clueless masses who don't even know they're eating second-hand chicken sh*t. (http://www.naturalnews.com/027414_chicken_disease_cows.html)

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/032659_arsenic_chicken.html#ixzz2UydmEEUZ

______________________________________________________________________

Follow up --


"Arsenic being intentionally added to conventional chicken"


The old saying, "You are what you eat," poses troubling implications for public health in light of a new study on chicken meat, which found that most of it contains dangerously high levels of toxic arsenic. And the worst part is that industrial chicken producers are directly responsible for causing this, as they intentionally add arsenic-based pharmaceutical drugs to chicken feed in order to bulk them up quickly and improve the color of their meat, which in turn poisons you and your family.

You can thank researchers from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future in Maryland for exposing this little-known fact in a recent paper published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. As it turns out, virtually all commercial chicken, including certified organic and "antibiotic-free" varieties, contain some level of inorganic arsenic. But it is the conventional chicken fed arsenic-based drugs that have the highest levels.

As reported by GRACE Communications Foundation Senior Policy Advisor Chris Hunt, writing for EcocentricJohns Hopkins researchers collected a variety of chicken samples from grocery stores in 10 cities across the U.S. Some of the meat samples came from conventional sources, while others were U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) certified organic or "antibiotic-free." All the samples were tested side-by-side with each other, including in both raw and cooked form.

Upon analysis, the team discovered that the conventional chicken meat samples had the highest levels of inorganic arsenic overall, containing up to four times as much arsenic as the organic chicken samples. These same conventional chicken meat samples contained up to three times more arsenic than the maximum levels proposed, but later retracted, as a safety standard by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in 2011.

"The levels of inorganic arsenic discovered in chicken are cause for concern, especially since many of us are already exposed to the carcinogen through additional dietary and environmental paths," writes Hunt. "But unlike these other sources of exposure, which typically result from natural arsenic deposits, industry or residual contaminationfrom the days of widespread arsenical pesticide use, as noted in the study, 'arsenical poultry drugs are deliberately administered to animals intended for human consumption.'"

FDA currently allows Big Pharma to lace chicken feed with arsenic to boost profits

What the study is referring to, of course, is the common practice, at least up until 2011, of industrial chicken producers adding a pharmaceutical drug known as roxarsone to chicken feed. The Pfizer, Inc.-manufactured drug was in heavy use between 2010 and 2011 when the Johns Hopkins study was conducted, and researchers found traces of this chemical in a significant percentage of the conventional chicken meat tested.

According to Hunt's analysis, arsenical chemicals like roxarsone have been in use since the 1940s, when chicken producers began adding it to chicken feed to speed up growth, prevent disease, and improve meat pigmentation. But as we now know, these chemicals are pervasive, and are known to cause cancer, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, mental impairment, miscarriage, and other serious human health issues.

"[T]his study provides further evidence that continued use of arsenicals in food animal production poses an entirely unnecessary threat to public health," adds Hunt. "While the practice might boost the profits earned by poultry giants and the manufacturers who supply them with arsenical drugs, it's imprudent and irresponsible. As such, the FDA has no legitimate justification for its ongoing failure to prohibit arsenicals from food animal production."

You can read Hunt's full report here:
http://www.gracelinks.org/blog/2561/the-arsenic-in-your-chicken

You can also read the original study in both abstract and complete form here:
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1206245/

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/040556_arsenic_chicken_feed_contamination.html#ixzz2UyeJI6Ny

12 comments:

  1. So what are we supposed to do??? starve to death or eat chicken and die?? Doesn't ANYONE get the real purpose yet??? Do you think that maybe they're trying to thin out the herd??? Why isn't anyone just running these people over and eliminating this threat to our health??

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  2. The more sick people there are the more pills they sell. Money on top of money.

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  3. What I want to know is: Why in the hell is the arsenic added to the chicken feed in the first place??? The addition of arsenic serves what purpose???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah: Read.the.article.
      "...to speed up growth, prevent disease, and improve meat pigmentation"

      Delete
    2. Read the name of the person if you want to ask them to read something completely. Her name is Sandra, not Sarah. It tends to make your point mute if you cannot do the very thing you are requesting of the other person.

      Delete
    3. And you should know it's "moot" not "mute". You probably double-checked to make sure you didn't make a mistake too.

      Delete
  4. So what is the company's rational for putting arsenic in the chicken feed in the first place? The best diet is the one in the first part of Genesis. Grow a garden and an orchard!

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  5. Hey, I’m a vegetarian for a reason. Well, many reasons, actually. But certainly one reason relates to the additives, hormones and pesticides used in modern factory farms. However, this article wanders dangerously into the realm of junk-science.

    Although I agree with the serious concerns related to factory-farming dangers, if we are advocates of truth and science we must be prepared to call ‘bullshit’ on statements even when we agree with the overall message.

    Saying that the FDA “…finally admits…” that arsenic is found in chicken is inaccurate. Previous studies by the FDA failed to find notable levels of arsenic (this is important because arsenic is naturally occurring as well). In fact, all previous studies indicated that the arsenic was eliminated with chicken waste. However, this was a new study, with a different scope and parameters. And this time the FDA did discover troubling evidence, and they published their findings without delay.

    The drug in question is Roxarsone, an organoarsenic compound that was widely used in poultry production as a feed additive to increase weight gain and improve feed efficiency.
    This story, posted on June 1st 2013, makes this matter seem like a recent issue. However, the FDA report was published over two years ago, and in July 2011, Pfizer voluntarily suspended the sale of Roxarsone in the USA.

    And the reference to Pfizer as the very same company that “… makes vaccines containing chemical adjuvants that are injected into children” is so disparate and scientifically insulting it makes my head hurt.

    Natural News (and its various re-posters and re-bloggers) is a very questionable source for news or science. And I’m NOT a right-wing nut trying to defend the Big Pharma or factory farms. I’m a vegetarian. I eat locally, and organically. And there is real, credible science to support these choices and demonstrate the truth on these matters. But by indulging in quack science, erroneous statements and self-righteous platitudes we weaken our position, not strengthen it. It makes us look easily discreditable.

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  6. @Desmond Rodenbour
    My assessment of your statement leaves me believing you condone the usage of a known toxic substance. You're actually defending the practice. Now to directly cite the official FDA Announcement: "These drugs all have forms of organic arsenic--the form of arsenic that is LESS TOXIC and not carcinogenic--as their active ingredient." The purpose of Roxasone, the drug containing a LESS TOXIC form of arsenic, is strictly for monetary gain. The very people I now perceive you to be defending have no ethical obligation to the consumers and it's evinced through all this.
    See "less toxic". These people don't have the populaces best interests in mind, they're (The FDA, Pfizer, etcetra)
    Their unwavering ethos: Profits over people

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've either got a reading comprehension problem, or you're just looking to attack anyone who doesn't have blind faith in the above article. NOTHING Desmond said could be construed as "condoning the usage of a known toxic substance" and he certainly doesn't appear to be defending anything. He's asking for honesty and integrity when it comes to reporting these things, otherwise we end up looking just like the people we are condemning, not to mention hypocrites.

      Delete
  7. @Anonymous - Read the entire comment " July 2011, Pfizer voluntarily suspended the sale of Roxarsone in the USA. " No longer in chicken.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You need a strong consumer's organization. I live in Norway, and these organizations have a lot of power and is always listened to. They have lawyers who will help you with different problems. Don't let these firms ruin your health !

    ReplyDelete

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