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We normally like to avoid eating anything that has the word “arsenic” in it .

So we were alarmed to learn a bill banning the sale and use of roxarsone, an arsenic-based drug, in chicken feed passed the Maryland Senate and House last week.

If the above statement contained an “element” of surprise for you (pardon the pun), then you may be wondering if the chicken you have been eating all this time has had arsenic in it. And as a follow-up question, you may also be wondering why arsenic would even be in chicken feed.

To answer your first question, an FDA study completed last year found that  the risk of arsenic poisoning from eating roxarsone-treated chickens is very low.

As for your second concern, roxarsone is used to make the birds larger and to help them fight the many many parasites that infect them in the overcrowded, unsanitary conditions of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

But some people, such as Senator Richard Colburn (R-Dorchester), aren’t concerned with the arsenic itself so much as they are upset about the ban of it.

As Colburn points out, Pfizer Inc., the producer of the drug, pulled roxarsone from the market last year in response to the aforementioned FDA study. Senate Minority Leader E.J Pipkin (R-Cecil) did not see the point in banning something that has not even been for sale for the past year. He argued that bills such as this:

“build the backlash within the rural communities that the general assembly in its current form is biased against them.”

Proponents of the legislation, however, are viewing it as more of a “better safe than sorry” precaution.

Del. Tom Hucker (D-Montgomery), who sponsored the bill in the House, argued that the arsenic ban addresses not only concerns about human health but also those regarding environmental issues. According to Hucker, unknown levels of arsenic have been sweeping into the Bay and seeping into the soil since the element was first approved by the FDA in the 1940s.

Governor Martin O’Malley seems to like the bill and is expected to sign it soon, putting Maryland on track to become the first state to ban arsenic in chicken feed.

But for those of you who miss that oh-so-subtle hint of arsenic in your poultry, fret not: the Maryland Senate has exempted another arsenic-containing drug used in turkey feed from the ban.

What a pleasant surprise!