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Background: Use of nitarsone, an arsenic-based poultry drug, may result in dietary exposures to inorganic arsenic (iAs) and other arsenic species. Nitarsone was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 2015, but its use in other countries may continue. OBJECTIVES: We characterized the impact of nitarsone use on arsenic species in turkey meat and arsenic exposures among turkey consumers, and we estimated cancer risk increases from consuming turkey treated with nitarsone before its 2015 U.S. withdrawal. METHODS: Turkey from three cities was analyzed for total arsenic, iAs, methylarsonate (MA), dimethylarsinate, and nitarsone, which were compared across label type and month of purchase. Turkey consumption was estimated from NHANES data to estimate daily arsenic exposures for adults and children 4-30 months of age and cancer risks among adult consumers. RESULTS: Turkey meat from conventional producers not prohibiting nitarsone use showed increased mean levels of iAs (0.64 µg/kg) and MA (5.27 µg/kg) compared with antibiotic-free and organic meat (0.39 µg/kg and 1.54 µg/kg, respectively) and meat from conventional producers prohibiting nitarsone use (0.33 µg/kg and 0.28 µg/kg, respectively). Samples with measurable nitarsone had the highest mean iAs and MA (0.92 µg/kg and 10.96 µg/kg, respectively). Nitarsone was higher in October samples than in March samples, possibly resulting from increased summer use. Based on mean iAs concentrations in samples from conventional producers with no known policy versus policies prohibiting nitarsone, estimated lifetime daily consumption by an 80-kg adult, and a recently proposed cancer slope factor, we estimated that use of nitarsone by all turkey producers would result in 3.1 additional cases of bladder or lung cancer per 1,000,000 consumers. CONCLUSIONS: Nitarsone use can expose turkey consumers to iAs and MA. The results of our study support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's removal of nitarsone from the U.S. market and further support its removal from the global marketplace. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP225, Introduction Arsenic-based drugs have been used in the production of chickens, turkeys, and swine in the United States since the 1940s (Silbergeld and Nachman 2008). The approvals for three of [...]

The main physicochemical characteristics of the volcanic soil of Southern Chile, with allophane as the main pedogenic mineral phase were analysed and compared with common zeolites (clinoptilolite) of the European [...]

A GC-MS/MS method with low solvent consumption and easy operation was developed to simultaneously determine ten new-generation pesticides, namely fenobucarb, acetochlor, pretilachlor, fipronil, trifloxystrobin, fluazifop-p-butyl, isoprothiolane, tebuconazole, cypermethrin and difenoconazole in leafy vegetables. Influences from ultrasonic sample extraction and the clean-up steps to reduce matrix effects were investigated. Under suitable conditions, good linearity (deviation of back calculated concentration from true concentration lower than 20%) was achieved for all studied pesticides; the method detection limits (MDLs) ranged from 1.4 to 3.6 ng g−1 wet weight. For mustard green and green onion the method yielded good recoveries at two spiking levels (201 and 100 ng g−1) ranging from 80% to 111% (n = 5). The repeatability, expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD), was lower than 11% (n = 5). The method was successfully used to quantify pesticide residues in 207 vegetable samples (green onions, mustard greens, and lettuce) collected in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Binh Provinces, Central Vietnam. The insecticide cypermethrin was found at critical levels in 98% of the vegetable samples. Green onions had high pesticide residues with a significant number of samples containing pesticides at concentrations exceeding the maximum residue levels (MRLs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Inorganic arsenic (iAs) causes cancer and possibly other adverse health outcomes. Arsenic-based drugs are permitted in poultry production; however, the contribution of chicken consumption to iAs intake is unknown. OBJECTIVES: We sought to characterize the arsenic species profile in chicken meat and estimate bladder and lung cancer risk associated with consuming chicken produced with arsenic-based drugs. METHODS: Conventional, antibiotic-free, and organic chicken samples were collected from grocery stores in 10 U.S. metropolitan areas from December 2010 through June 2011. We tested 116 raw and 142 cooked chicken samples for total arsenic, and we determined arsenic species in 65 raw and 78 cooked samples that contained total arsenic at ≥ 10 µg/kg dry weight. RESULTS: The geometric mean (GM) of total arsenic in cooked chicken meat samples was 3.0 µg/kg (95% CI: 2.5, 3.6). Among the 78 cooked samples that were speciated, iAs concentrations were higher in conventional samples (GM = 1.8 µg/kg; 95% CI: 1.4, 2.3) than in antibiotic-free (GM = 0.7 µg/kg; 95% CI: 0.5, 1.0) or organic (GM = 0.6 µg/kg; 95% CI: 0.5, 0.8) samples. Roxarsone was detected in 20 of 40 conventional samples, 1 of 13 antibiotic-free samples, and none of the 25 organic samples. iAs concentrations in roxarsone-positive samples (GM = 2.3 µg/kg; 95% CI: 1.7, 3.1) were significantly higher than those in roxarsone-negative samples (GM = 0.8 µg/kg; 95% CI: 0.7, 1.0). Cooking increased iAs and decreased roxarsone concentrations. We estimated that consumers of conventional chicken would ingest an additional 0.11 µg/day iAs (in an 82-g serving) compared with consumers of organic chicken. Assuming lifetime exposure and a proposed cancer slope factor of 25.7 per milligram per kilogram of body weight per day, this increase in arsenic exposure could result in 3.7 additional lifetime bladder and lung cancer cases per 100,000 exposed persons. CONCLUSIONS: Conventional chicken meat had higher iAs concentrations than did conventional antibiotic-free and organic chicken meat samples. Cessation of arsenical drug use could reduce exposure and the burden of arsenic-related disease in chicken consumers. KEY WORDS: antimicrobial, arsenic, chicken, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, nitarsone, poultry, roxarsone Environ Health Perspect 121:818-824 (2013). http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1289/ehp.1206245 [Online 11 May 2013], Arsenic-based drugs have been used in poultry production for decades (Silbergeld and Nachman 2008). Roxarsone β-nitro4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid) was approved in 1944 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to [...]