Emma Thackery wrote:
>
> In article >,
> Mark Thorson > wrote:
>
> > Emma Thackery wrote:
>
> > > Roxarsone, the most common arsenic-based additive used in chicken
> > > feed, is used to promote growth, kill parasites and improve
> > > pigmentation of chicken meat. In its original form, roxarsone is
> > > relatively benign. But under certain anaerobic conditions, within
> > > live chickens and on farm land, the compound is converted into more
> > > toxic forms of inorganic arsenic. Arsenic has been linked to
> > > bladder, lung, skin, kidney and colon cancer, while low-level
> > > exposures can lead to partial paralysis and diabetes, the article
> > > notes......
> >
> > That last sentence would be true as a stand-alone
> > sentence, but in context it implies something which
> > is not even remotely true -- that arsenic from
> > chicken feed additives has actually caused any
> > of the listed dread diseases in people.
>
> That's a stretch. I don't think it implies that.

Baloney! It's a sentence in the same paragraph,
immediately following other sentences on arsenic
-based additives in chicken feed. It most certainly
does imply that, despite your lame attempt to spin
it otherwise.

> I guess you didn't read the rest of the Chemical
> and Engineering News article (which was based on
> a news release from the American Chemical Society:
>
> "Complicating the issue is the fact that no one knows the exact
> amount of arsenic found in chicken meat or ingested by consumers who
> frequently eat chicken. "Neither the Food and Drug Administration
> nor the Department of Agriculture has actually measured the
> level of arsenic in the poultry meat that most people consume,"...."

More baloney! Precisely this question has been
studied by the USDA. But you choose to pretend
it doesn't exist.

Environ Health Perspect. 2004 Jan;112(1):18-21.
Mean total arsenic concentrations in chicken 1989-2000
and estimated exposures for consumers of chicken.
Lasky T, Sun W, Kadry A, Hoffman MK.
Office of Public Health and Science, Food Safety and
Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Washington, DC, USA.

The purpose of this study was to estimate mean
concentrations of total arsenic in chicken liver
tissue and then estimate total and inorganic
arsenic ingested by humans through chicken
consumption. We used national monitoring data
from the Food Safety and Inspection Service
National Residue Program to estimate mean
arsenic concentrations for 1994-2000.
Incorporating assumptions about the
concentrations of arsenic in liver and muscle
tissues as well as the proportions of
inorganic and organic arsenic, we then
applied the estimates to national chicken
consumption data to calculate inorganic,
organic, and total arsenic ingested by eating
chicken. The mean concentration of total
arsenic in young chickens was 0.39 ppm,
3- to 4-fold higher than in other poultry
and meat. At mean levels of chicken
consumption (60 g/person/day), people may
ingest 1.38-5.24 microg/day of inorganic
arsenic from chicken alone. At the 99th
percentile of chicken consumption (350 g
chicken/day), people may ingest 21.13-30.59
microg inorganic arsenic/day and 32.50-47.07
microg total arsenic/day from chicken. These
concentrations are higher than previously
recognized in chicken, which may necessitate
adjustments to estimates of arsenic ingested
through diet and may need to be considered
when estimating overall exposure to arsenic.