05.04.2012

The Maryland state Senate voted to ban roxarsone, a chicken feed additive that contains arsenic, and any other additive that contains arsenic.
The legislation, SB207, bans the sale of any additive that contains arsenic, but names roxarsone specifically. Roxarsone is an organic arsenic-based drug, used in chicken and turkey feed as growth promoter and to treat coccidiosis. The drug's manufacturer, Alpharma (a Pfizer Inc. subsidiary) voluntarily pulled it from the market last year after a Food and Drug Administration study found that chickens fed roxarsone had small amounts of inorganic arsenic, which is a carcinogen, in their livers.