The use of arsenic in "poultry industry"

Whether these findings are a real threat to human health very much depends on the arsenic species present in the meat [2]. The US poultry industry [3] and the pharma industry [4] argues that the organic form of arsenic given to chickens isn't toxic. Indeed, phenylarsonic organic arsenicals are less toxic than inorganic compounds or aliphatic and other aromatic organic compounds [5].  "This study appears to be much ado about nothing," says Richard Lobb, the public relations Director of the National Chicken Council. He says the less toxic form of arsenic is "used responsibly and safely by poultry producers" [6].

 

However, based on the somewhat outdated and at that time preliminary results obtained by Levine [7] and Weiler [8], stating that about 65% of arsenic in poultry meat is inorganic, the researchers found that consumption of chicken meat could alone be responsible for 25% of the tolerable daily intake of 2 µg/kg/day of inorganic arsenic (WHO 1983) [1]. In contrast, using a modern hyphenated technique (IC-ICP-MS), Zbinden et al. reported in a publication from 2000 [9], that about 68% of the arsenic found in chicken was arsenobetaine. To make the picture a bit more complicated, there is some indication that cooking the meat may create additional toxic arsenic by-products [10].

 

It seems, that such contrasting results call for further investigation of arsenic speciation in chicken tissues, both in fresh and cooked meat.

 

Anyhow, how did the arsenic get into the chickens? According to the US Food and Drug Administration, arsenic compounds are extensively added to the feed of animals--particularly chickens and pigs--to make them grow faster [11,12]. Most broiler chickens (which constitute 99% of the chicken meat that people eat) are fed arsenic in the United States [11,13]. Most of the animals are so heavily infested with internal parasites that adding arsenic to the feed can result in a "stunning" increase in growth rates [14].

 

Since the 1970s, the American poultry industry has used certain arsenic-based ingredients as chicken feed additives.  The three major compounds in this class are arsinilic acid, roxarsone (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylarsonic acid), and nitarsone (4-nitro-phenylarsonic acid) [5]. Roxarsone is currently the most commonly used arsenical compound in poultry feed in the United States, with a usage of 23 to 45 grams of chemical per ton of feed for broiler chickens for increased weight gain, feed efficiency, improved pigmentation, and prevention of parasites [12,16].  Roxarsone is used in turkeys as well as chickens [17].  By design, most of the chemical is excreted virtually unchanged in the manure [11,16,18].

 

Some researchers have started to scrutinize the long-standing practice because of possible health and environmental risks. Questions about potential risks associated with the use of roxarsone center on the practice of spreading manure. Each broiler excretes about 150 milligrams (mg) of roxarsone in the 42-day growth period for administering roxarsone. Litter collected following this period contains from 15 to 50 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of total arsenic. In poultry houses where more than 200 million broilers per year are raised, a volume not uncommon for major poultry-producing areas, litter that contains more than 8 x 10³ kg of arsenic would be produced. Generally, the litter is used as nitrogen-containing fertilizer in nearby fields. Litter is routinely tilled into cornfields or applied to pastureland at a rate of between 1 and 2 metric tons per hectare. If a 100-hectare field was fertilized at 2 metric tons per hectare, about 10 kg of arsenic would be introduced to the environment [19].

 

Even if the relative amount of arsenic being added to soil by chicken manure might be a small percentage of the total arsenic in the soil, it has a higher mobility in water due to the sorption characteristic of arsenic in organic matter compared to arsenic sequestered by metal oxides. The high extractability of roxarsone from poultry litter suggests that roxarsone can easily be mobilized to the environment by either agricultural field irrigation or rainfall on uncovered windrows. Degradation could be possible through biotic and abiotic processes after roxarsone is mobilized [20]. Inevitably, arsenic finds its way into the rivers, stream and even the crops that are later consumed by humans. Via the way of waste incinerators, it also may find its way to the atmosphere [21].

 

There are also some rumours, that poultry industry, like the beef industry, is steeped in evil practices. By feeding chicken litter to cattle, cows are ingesting highly toxic arsenic that's contained in the chicken litter [22].

 

Inorganic arsenic is considered one of the prominent environmental causes of cancer mortality in the world [23]. Arsenic is a human carcinogen linked to liver, lung, skin, kidney, bladder and prostate cancers. It can also cause neurological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and immune system abnormalities. Diabetes has also been linked to arsenic exposure [11].

 

In view of this toxicity and the fact that organic arsenic can be transformed to more toxic species, the practice of feeding chickens even trace amounts of arsenic seems bizarre.

 

 

                    Michael Sperling

 

 

[1] Tamar Lasky, Wenyu Sun, Abdel Kadry, Michael K. Hoffman, "Mean Total Arsenic Concentrations in Chicken, 1989-2000, and Estimated Exposures for Consumers of Chicken", Environ. Health Perspect., 112/1 (2004) 18-21. PMC1241791

 

[2] RAIS, "Toxic Summary for Arsenic"; available at: https://cms.speciation.net/Public/Links/DB/Links/detail.html?id=514

 

[3] Daily Times (Maryland) 11 January 2004.

 

[4] see for example: "Roxarsone is safe for the consumer" at http://www.alpharma.com/ahd/pdf/Techbullpdf/techb1.pdf

 

[5] Merck, Veterinary Manual, available at: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/210303.htm

 

[6] Health Day News 19 January 2004.

 

[7] see references in [1]

 

[8] see references in [1]

 

[9] P. Zbinden, D. Andrey, C. Blake, "A Routine Ion Chromatography ICP-MS Method for the Analysis of Arsenic Species Applicable in the Food Industry", At. Spectrosc., 21/6 (2000) 205-215. DOI: 10.46770/AS.2000.06.002

 

[10] K. Hanaoka, W. Goessler, H. Ohno, K.J. Irgolic, T. Kaise, "Formation of toxic arsenical in roasted muscles of marine animals", Appl. Organometal. Chem., 15 (2001) 61- 66. 

[11] G.M. Momplaisir, C.G. Rosal, E.M. Heithmar "Arsenic Speciation Methods for Studying the Environmental Fate of Organoarsenic Animal-Feed Additives," U.S. EPA, NERL- Las Vegas, 2001; (TIM No. 01- 11). Available at: http://www.epa.gov/nerlesd1/chemistry/labmonitor/labresearch.htm

 

[12] FREEDOM OF INFORMATION SUMMARY, "SUPPLEMENTAL NEW ANIMAL DRUG APPLICATION", NADA 116-088
available at: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/98fr/116088Fi.pdf

 

[13] Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA February 1, 2004

 

[14] Texas Lawyer, January 23, 1995

 

[15] Merck, Veterinary Manual, available at: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/210303.htm

 

[16] C.V. Miller, T.C., Hancock, and J.M. Denver, "Environmental Fate and Transport of Arsenical Feed Amendments for Animal Agriculture," American Geophysical Union, 2000 Spring Meeting: Integrative Geoscience Solutions -- A Start for the New Millennium, May 30 - June 3, 2000, Washington, DC. Abstract available at:
http://va.water.usgs.gov/GLOBAL/Abst/hancock_agu_2000.htm
 

[17] A simple search for the words turkey and Roxarsone in Google will show plenty of evidence that this organic form of arsenic is used in the turkey industry as a growth promoter and as an anticoccidial. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=turkey roxarsone

 

[18] Kris Christen, "Chickens, manure, and arsenic", Policy News - March 22, 2001, Environmental Science and Technology, available at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es012337m

 

[19] J.R. Garbarino, D.W. Rutherford, and R.L. Wershaw, "DEGRADATION OF ROXARSONE IN POULTRY LITTER". http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/Arsenic/FinalAbsPDF/garbarino.pdf

 

[20] Rutherford, D.W1., Garbarino, J.R2., Kennedy, K.1, Wershaw, "THE SORPTION AND EXTRACTION OF ARSENIC IN SOILS THAT HAVE BEEN AMMENDED WITH CHICKEN MANURE",  http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/Arsenic/FinalAbsPDF/rutherford.pdf

 

[21] Mike Ewall, "Toxic Hazards Associated with Poultry Litter Incineration", http://www.energyjustice.net/fibrowatch/toxics.html

 

[22] Mike Adams, "Poultry industry, like the beef industry, is steeped in evil practices", http://www.newstarget.com/000681.html

 

[23] A.H. Smith, C. Hopenhayn-Rich, M.L. Bates, H.M. Goeden, I. Hertz Picciotto, H.M. Duggan, R. Wood, M.J. Kosnett, and M.T. Smith, "Cancer risks from arsenic in drinking water", Environmental Health Perspectives 97 (1992) 259-267. PMC1519547

 

 

 

 
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Brian P. Jackson, Paul M. Bertsch, Determination of Arsenic Speciation in Poultry Wastes by IC-ICP-MS, Environ. Sci. Technol., 35/24 (2001) 4868-4873. DOI: 10.1021/es0107172

A.J. Bednar, J.R. Garbarino, I. Ferrer, D.W. Rutherford, R.L. Wershaw, Photodegradation of roxarsone in poultry litter leachates, Sci. Total Environ., 302/1-3 (2003) 237-245. DOI:10.1016/S0048-9697(02)00322-4

J.R. Garbarino, A.J. Bednar, D.W. Rutherford, R.S. Beyer, R.L. Wershaw, Environmental Fate of Roxarsone in Poultry Litter. I. Degradation of Roxarsone during Composting, Environ. Sci. Technol., 37/8 (2003) 1509-1514. DOI: 10.1021/es026219q

B. P. Jackson, P. M. Bertsch, M. L. Cabrera, J. J. Camberato, J. C. Seaman,
and C. W. Wood, Trace Element Speciation in Poultry Litter, J. Environ. Qual., 32/2 (2003) 535-540. DOI: 10.2134/jeq2003.0535

A.R. Roerdink, J.H. Aldstadt, Sensitive method for the determination of roxarsone using solid-phase microextraction with multi-detector gas chromatography, J. Chromatogr. A, 1057 (2004) 177-183. DOI:10.1016/j.chroma.2004.09.071

Rod O'Connor, Mark O'Connor, Kurt Irgolic, Justin Sabrsula, Hakan Gürleyük, R. Brunette, C. Howard, J. Garcia, J. Brien, J. Brien, J. Brien, Transformations, Air Transport, and Human Impact of Arsenic from Poultry Litter, Environ. Forensics, 6 (2005) 83-89. DOI: 10.1080/15275920590913967

C.G. Rosal, G.-M. Momplaisir, E.M. Heithmar, Roxarsone and transformation products in chicken manure: Determination by capillary electrophoresis-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, Electrophoresis, 26/7-8 (2005) 1606-1614. DOI: 10.1002/elps.200406198

Irail Cortinas, Jim A. Field, Mike Kopplin, John R. Garbarino, A. Jay Gandolfi, Reyes Sierra-Alvarez, Anaerobic Biotransformation of Roxarsone and Related N-Substituted Phenylarsonuc Acids, Environ. Sci. Technol., 40/9 (2006) 2951-2957. DOI: 10.1021/es051981o

B.P. Jackson, J.C. Seaman, P.M. Bertsch, Fate of arsenic compounds in poultry litter upon land application, Chemosphere, 65/11 (2006) 2028-2034. DOI:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.06.065

John F. Stolz, Eranda Perera, Brian Kilonzo, Brian Kail, Bryan Crable, Edward Fisher, Mrunalini Ranganathan, Lars Wormer, Partha Basu, Biotransformation of 3-Nitro-4-hydroxybenzene Arsonic Acid (Roxarsone) and Release of Inorganic Arsenic by Clostridium Species, Environ. Sci. Technol., 41/3 (2007) 818-823. DOI: 10.1021/es061802i

Kristin Kutschera, Anne-Christine Schmidt, Stefan Koehler, Matthias Otto, CZE for the speciation of arsenic in aqueous soil extracts, Electrophoresis, 28/19 (2007) 3466-3476. DOI: 10.1002/elps.200700107

Jianjing Liu, Hongxia Yu, Haibin Song, Jing Qiu, Fengmei Sun, Ping Li, Shuming Yang, Simultaneous determination of p-arsanilic acid and roxarsone in feed by liquid chromatography-hydride generation online coupled with atomic fluorescence spectrometry,
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Ellen K. Silbergeld, Keeve Nachman, The Environmental and Public Health Risks Associated with Arsenical Use in Animal Feeds, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1140 (2008) 346-357. DOI: 10.1196/annals.1454.049

Related EVISA Resources

Link Database: Use of Arsenic
Link Database: Toxicity of Roxarsone
Link Database: Environmental fate of Roxarsone

 

 Related EVISA News (newest first)

 

November 13, 2016: Arsenic exposure from Poultry Meat produced in the US before 2015
February 9, 2014: Roxarsone and it metabolites in organic fertilizer lead to human exposure to arsenic 
June 10, 2011: U.S. sales of widely used drug "Roxarsone" for chickens to be suspended

January 11, 2007: More evidence linking chicken litter an toxic arsenic

April 6, 2006, Testing finds: Arsenic added to feedstuff finds its way into chicken meat

April 27, 2005: Conflict raised in chicken arsenic debate

last time modified: October 12, 2024