High Levels of Arsenic Discovered in Chicken Meat

A recent study conducted by Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health discovered a correlation between chickens administered the drug roxarsone and high levels of inorganic arsenic in meat. During the research, experts tested conventional, antibiotic-free, and USDA certified organic chicken samples that were purchased between December 2010 and June 2011. The results, which were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, revealed that the chicken samples that contained residual levels of roxarsone had arsenic levels four times greater than the organic chicken, which were not administered drugs. Pfizer, the company that manufactures the drug, has currently suspended roxarsone sales in the US, but there is no law prohibiting the company from putting the drug back on the market.