Maryland Bill To Ban Arsenic In Chicken Feed

Online, March 28, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Tha Maryland attoney general and some state legislators are backing a ban on arsenic in chicken feed, a move they claim will help both poultry farmers and the environment.

Poultry industry officials are in disagreement, however. They say the bill would put Maryland farmers at a disadvantage and result in more sick chickens.

Maryland attorney general Douglas Gansler in June wrote an opinion column in the Washington Post arguing that the Food and Drug Administration should ban arsenic from chicken feed.

The bill centers on the use of Roxarsone, which is a widely used feed additive that contains arsenic. It is used to prevent an intestinal ailment that damages a chicken's gut and causes nutrients to pass through the bird without being absorbed.

Bill Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., says that banning the use of roxarsone would put Maryland chicken growers and feed producers at an economic disadvantage, and result in "a lot more sick birds, a lot more dead birds," he said.

Elizabeth Krushinskie, a veterinarian who is director of quality assurance and food safety at Mountaire Farms in Delaware, called roxarsone an "essential and critical tool."

Not all poultry producers use Roxarsone. Salisbury Md. based Perdue chooses not to use the additive because it has "worked hard to have an approach to bird health that works without the use of arsenic. ... That's good animal husbandry and best management practices that produced that result," said company spokesman Luis Luna.

Luna also said "The science doesn't support a ban right now. It isn't clear." If people believe it's a safety issue, then they can take it up with the FDA."