US bill to ban arsenic use in poultry and poultry feed

US Rep. Steve Israel has recently announced new legislation that would keep arsenic out of poultry and poultry feed.

The Poison Free Poultry Act will ban the use of an arsenic antimicrobial drug called roxarsone, which is commonly added to chicken and poultry feed to make them grow faster, improve pigmentation and to combat intestinal parasites.

Israel said roxarsone is an unnecessary and dangerous arsenical and its use should be stopped so as to protect public health.

Dr. Keeve Nachman, Science Director at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and a leading researcher on arsenic in the food supply, said studies have showed that some of the arsenic fed to chickens remains in the edible portions of the birds.

Arsenic has also been found in poultry waste, which could pose environmental and health risks when the waste is applied onto farmlands as fertiliser for crops, she said.