Title: (Reports 4 of 12) New Report on Pilot Study (also in review at Journal of Agromedicine): “Poultry Roxarsone Use in Rockingham County, Virginia: A Community Health Concern"
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Section/SPIG: Environment
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One source of inorganic arsenic is the organic arsenic compound Roxarsone, which is added to poultry feed for veterinary and production purposes by major poultry corporations. Rockingham County, Virginia, is a major poultry-producing area where about 75 percent of total agricultural output derives from the poultry industry. Recent research demonstrated Roxarsone bio-transforms to inorganic arsenic upon release into the environment. The common practice there, and in other poultry-growing regions, is for farmers to utilize this poultry litter for application to their fields as an inexpensive fertilizer. However, research suggests the release of inorganic arsenic from this practice, and, given the solubility of inorganic arsenic, raises the concern rural communities dependent on domestic wells could be subject to arsenic exposure, long regarded as carcinogenic. In our 2005 pilot study, the measured urinary inorganic arsenic levels (N = 16 samples) of four different local community groups were not statistically significantly different from one another. However, the continued concern of inorganic arsenic release from poultry management practice and the identification of arsenic as a carcinogen suggest larger future studies are warranted. The complete report provides suggestions for study improvements, and the current regulatory issues are discussed in more detail.
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