The state attorney general and some legislators in both houses in Maryland are backing a ban on arsenic in chicken feed, a move they say will help poultry farmers and the environment. Industry representatives said the measure would disadvantage Maryland farmers and result in more sick chickens.

Bills filed in the House and Senate would ban the use, sale and distribution of any commercial poultry feed with additives that contain arsenic. The Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee heard testimony on its version of the bill on March 16. 

Attorney general Douglas Gansler told the committee, "Most people are unaware that arsenic is in their chicken and in their chicken feed."

"Nobody wants arsenic on their farms,"he said. However, numerous poultry industry representatives disagreed.

Bill Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., a trade organisation for the poultry industry on the Delmarva Peninsula explained that roxarsone is a widely used feed additive that contains arsenic, a tool to improve bird health and welfare.

The additive is used to prevent an intestinal ailment that weakens a chicken's gut and causes nutrients to pass through the bird without being absorbed. Coccidiosis is probably the most costly chicken disease in the US, Satterfield said.

Banning the use of roxarsone would put Maryland chicken growers and feed producers at an economic disadvantage, and result in more sick and dead birds, he added.