Let’s talk about Arsenic
Hello! Please allow me to get preachy for a moment:
American drug company Pfizer was producing a product called roxarsone, used to speed growth when added to chicken feed which also contains small amounts of organic arsenic intended to kill internal parasites. Turns out though that organic arsenic turns into inorganic arsenic, which is a carcinogen, inside the chicken’s livers and then we eat those chickens and end up with higher risk of getting cancer. So, Pfizer opted to stop selling roxarsone in the U.S. in 2011 until they “have resolved F.D.A. concerns about it.” which you can read about here.
However, in 2012 a product called ‘Nitreco 1000 Feed Additive’ containing roxarsone was approved for use by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, as you can see here, so now I and my fellow countrypersons are at risk.
Pretty scary! So could you please take a moment to sign this cool petition to ban the use of arsenic in Australian food production? Some U.S. States have banned it already but its a pretty unknown problem still- gotta spread the word! Thank you for your time!
