Some Maryland Lawmakers Say, "Let Them Eat Arsenic"

As a few Maryland legislatures and the state's Attorney General push for a bill to ban arsenic in chickens, other lawmakers are taking a different stance. "Keep on pumping that poultry full of poison" are the sentiments of some state senators.

Maryland's Attorney General, Douglas F. Gansler, and Sen. Paul Pinsky are leading the charge for Senate Bill 417, a bill that would ban poultry producers from giving their birds roxarsone, an arsenic-based feed additive that's suspected to harm human health and pollute the environment. But while the support for SB 417 builds, other lawmakers are siding with roxarsone-lovin' Big Ag.

Maryland's Sen. E. J. Pipkin (R) is one of those lawmakers. Pipkin publicly criticized SB 417, saying that, "We seem to be in a mode where the state policy is to drive these guys [poultry producers] out of Maryland," reports the Baltimore Sun. Or maybe lawmakers are just doing their jobs and putting consumer health before Big Ag's bottom line? Ever think of that, Pipkin?

Despite Pipkin's poo-poo'ing of SB 417, the health of consumers and the local environment really hangs on this bill passing. As Change.org previously reported, poultry producers regularly feed their birds roxarsone to prevent intestinal diseases and spur growth. While roxarsone may make birds healthier (which is actually debatable), it poses huge health risks for humans. Some of roxarsone's arsenic lingers in chickens' meat, which we then consume. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), for example, found traces of arsenic (pdf) in 100 percent of fast food chicken and 55 percent of uncooked supermarket chicken. Health experts agree that even small amounts of arsenic over a long period of time can lead to cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other illnesses in people. KFC may taste "finger-lickin' good," but it could also be "finger-lickin' fatal."

The human health risks should be incentive enough to ban poultry producers from using roxarsone, but the stuff also poses big problems for the environment. As anyone who has been around a live bird for more than 10 minutes knows, chickens crap — a lot. When these birds are fed roxarsone, a lot of arsenic gets excreted through waste. Most farmers use this waste as fertilizer, spreading it throughout their crop fields. The arsenic then leaches out, potentially poisoning groundwater, soil, crops, and local waterways.

Just to put things into perspective, let's look at the Chesapeake Bay. More than 1,700 chicken operations are located near this body of water. As Grist's Tom Philpott recently reported, Food & Water Watch says that tests revealed that some household wells on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay's Coastal Plains showed levels of arsenic 13 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) allowable limit. Still think roxarsone is a safe substance, Sen. Pipkin?

While roxarsone is certainly dangerous for both human health and the environment, what's worse is that this additive is just completely unnecessary. Some poultry producers — including Perdue — have already voluntarily ditched roxarsone from their chicken feed. Their birds are doing just dandy even without a steady dose of arsenic (imagine that!).

Despite arsenic's deadly reputation, Maryland is the first U.S. state to introduce a ban on roxarsone. It's important that SB 417 passes not only to protect consumers and Maryland's environment, but to set an example that other states — and the nation — can follow. If you support poison-free poultry, sign our petition asking Maryland lawmakers to vote in favor of SB 417.

Photo credit: zimpenfish via Flickr