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Your Turkey May Have Feasted on ... Arsenic

It's a common ingredient in turkey feed

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 25, 2010 11:19 AM CST

(Newser) – Here's a fun fact to throw around the Thanksgiving table: Lots of turkey farms use arsenic in their feed. Yes, that arsenic, the deadly poison, which can control stomach bugs in turkeys and fatten them up, explains NPR's Shots health blog. It can also show up in the turkey meat on the table in trace amounts. Reason for worry? The FDA says no—based on standards developed in the 1950s.

"But since then, there's been an enormous amount of research on the human health effects from arsenic exposure," says a Johns Hopkins expert on the subject. That includes an EPA discovery that arsenic's cancer-causing potential is 17 times more potent than previously believed. Therefore, "it seems irresponsible to rely on FDA's tolerances to protect public health," he says. Bon appetit.

Turk, a Heritage Turkey, roams the Louden Farm near Princeton, Kan., Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010. Turk and two hens survived the Thanksgiving holidays and will be used as breeders for next year.
Turk, a Heritage Turkey, roams the Louden Farm near Princeton, Kan., Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010. Turk and two hens survived the Thanksgiving holidays and will be used as breeders for next year.   (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 4 comments
sailor86
Nov 26, 2010 4:43 PM CST
I guess if the dosage wasn't big enough to kill the turkey, we have nothing to worry about.
Disillusioned
Nov 25, 2010 2:27 PM CST
""it seems irresponsible to rely on FDA's tolerances to protect public health," he says. Bon appetit." Oh we know full well that the FDA does all it can to protect (companies and big business) and would never allow Americans to ingest anything harmful (unless they thought they could continue to get away with it as they have for decades) The FDA send out daily lies to placate the masses into submission They do not keep us safe, they only are here to keep us pacified
finkster
Nov 25, 2010 2:19 PM CST
I've stated this many times before the FDA isn't there to protect the people but the big food companies. Eat Organic as much as you can.

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