Groups incorporate new study into lawsuit against FDA over arsenic use in animal feed

In light of new findings just published by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Center for Food Safety (CFS) has amended its complaint filed May 1st, 2013 regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) inadequate oversight of arsenic use in animal feed.  The new study provides “strong evidence” that arsenic use in poultry production results in increased inorganic arsenic concentrations in chicken meat, a factor that experts warn could cause an increase in cancer rates.  Such findings make CFS’s call for FDA to immediately withdraw its approvals of arsenic uses in animal feed all the more imperative.

The new study, published on May 11, 2013, found that arsenic-containing compounds and inorganic arsenic (a known carcinogen) are present in both raw and cooked chicken breast.  Over the course of two years, researchers analyzed retail chicken breast samples for arsenic concentrations.  Their findings showed that inorganic arsenic concentrations were higher in conventional samples than other samples, and were significantly higher in cooked versus raw samples. 

In retail packages of raw chicken, the study tested chicken breasts sold under conventional, organic, and conventional “antibiotic-free” labels.  The arsenical Roxarsone, the most widely used arsenical in animal feed, was detected in half of the conventional chicken samples.  In conventional “antibiotic-free” samples, only in 1 of 13 samples contained arsenicals, and in certified organic samples, none were found. 

When applied to the United States population, the study suggests that industry-wide use of arsenical drugs will result in 8,661 additional cases of cancer over 70 years, or an average of 124 additional cancers per year.  This does not account for consumers with higher than average rates of chicken consumption. 

“Sacrificing human life for the meat industry’s bottom line is not acceptable,” said Paige Tomaselli, senior staff attorney with the Center for Food Safety.  “FDA has a statutory duty to act, and the new study further confirms the risks of arsenic use.”

Arsenic is commonly added to poultry feed for the FDA-approved purposes of inducing faster weight gain on less feed, and creating the perceived appearance of a healthy color in meat from chickens, turkeys, and hogs.  Yet studies increasingly link these practices to serious human health problems.  CFS’s lawsuit seeks to force FDA to fulfill its mandate to better protect the public from arsenic.

Press release for original filing found here.

Amended complaint found here.

CFS’s factsheet on arsenic use in animal feed.