Click here to read the entire article from the Salt Lake Tribune.
If you have backyard chickens, you may want to check the ingredients on the bag of feed you are giving them!
A Utah mother of 2 found that her children's arsenic levels were double the levels said to be toxic. High arsenic levels can cause skin, bladder, kidney, liver, and lung cancer as well as immune problems. She had their water and soil tested, both came back normal. They then decided to check the level of arsenic in their backyard chickens' eggs. When tested, the level in the eggs was high, but still deemed acceptable by the government. The levels acceptable by the government, were toxic to the children. Makes you think, huh?
So what is the culprit? An arsenic based feed additive called roxarsone. Roxarsone is combined with antibiotics to help with disease and to get bigger and better tasting chicken. The family changed to a feed that did not contain Roxarsone and the arsenic levels in the children dropped.
I know from now on I will be asking some questions about the feed I'm giving my girls.....Well, when I get my girls back.
8 comments:
Why do I continue to be so surprised? Man is always trying to build a better "mouse trap"; always thinking we have to do things bigger and better - like add something else to chicken feed.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll be checking my feed, too!
And this is why I only feed my girls organic feed and no non-therapeutic antibiotics.
That is so scary! I don't know why I am surprised, either. Good to know!
Thank you for posting this! We all try and do the best we can, and a little more info is always helpful.
Gonna be looking at the bag contents from now on... posting my own blip linking to yours ... tomorrow. Thanks for the warning.
Vikki at http://vikkisverandah.blogspot.com
Wow didnt know that, so shocking, i have never heard of any kind of warning regarding this issue either.
Thanks, great post.
Organic feed all the way :)
Hi! I have been reading for a while but never commented before - this is probably a dumb question (I'm new to raising backyard chickens) but do you know if scratch contains the additive? Our feed doesn't - we use organic - but the scratch doesn't have much information on the bag.
Love your blog by the way!
Jen,
It isn't a stupid question. I'm not sure if scratch has it or not. Maybe you could talk to the person who purchases for the store you are buying the scratch from. You could google the feed company and see if there is a contact number and call them directly. That would be the best way to know if it has it or not.
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