Do You Want Arsenic With That? Cargo Trailer.

In Europe, no arsenic is added to animal feed. So why do it in the US?

Time to end the insane practice of lacing chicken feed with arsenic:

Picture of Chicken houses along the Pocomoke River, which empties into the Chesapeake BayPhoto: IAN
"The Delmarva Peninsula, historically one of the most productive fisheries in the U.S., is now nearly an ecological wasteland."

"As a jaded observer of the meat industry, even I'm flummoxed by this fact: It's standard practice on factory chicken farms to dose those unfortunate birds with arsenic. The idea is that it makes them grow faster -- fast growth being the supreme goal of factory animal farming -- and helps control a common intestinal disease called coccidiosis.

The industry emphasizes that the arsenic is applied in organic form, which isn't immediately toxic. "Organic" in the chemistry sense, that is, not the agricultural sense -- i.e., molecules containing carbon atoms as well as arsenic.

Trouble is, arsenic shifts from organic to inorganic rather easily. Indeed, "arsenic in poultry manure is rapidly converted into an inorganic form that is highly water soluble and capable of moving into surface and ground water," write Keeve E. Nachman and Robert S. Lawrence of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future."
More at: http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-03-time-to-end-insane-practice-of-lacing-chicken-feed-with-arsenic
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Chicken manure laced with arsenic is fed to pigs and beef:

"It’s chemical name is Roxarsone, and it’s widely used on chicken AFOs (Animal Feeding Operations) to control an intestinal parasite that allows the chickens to feed more productively and grow faster (it’s also used in AFO pig feed, although today I am focusing solely on chickens).

It's still standard practice on chicken AFOs (Animal Feeding Operations) to dose the birds with arsenic. Arsenic makes the birds grow faster and helps control a common intestinal disease of chickens.
Inorganic arsenic is a toxic poison that ends up both in the chicken meat and the chicken litter that is commonly used as fertilizer on surrounding fields.
(For some reason chicken litter is also routinely fed to AFO beef, thereby contaminating them as well)."
More at:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/03/23/what-to-know-if-you-ever-want-to-eat-chicken-again.aspx 
and: http://www.livablefutureblog.com/2010/06/the-hidden-hazard-of-poultry-litter-pelletization/

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Arsenic Found In Baby Food, Raising Alarms

"Swedish researchers are saying they have found “alarming” amounts of arsenic, cadmium and lead in rice-based infant foods, which include cereals and porridges, in a new study in the Journal for Food Chemistry. The foods were produced by global manufacturers such as Nestle and Mead Johnson, who insisted in the Sunday Telegraph that their products are safe.
Dr Karin Ljung, who led the Swedish research, told the Telegraph: "The producers will say they are not above any guideline values and it is true -– they are following all the rules. The trouble is that the guidelines are not based on infant exposure. As we are getting more information coming out, it is may be time to reconsider what these safety limits are."

While arsenic is known as a poison, the element has also been tied to to cancer and immune-system issues. The U.S. has not set legal limits for arsenic levels in food, though it was found in rice grown here by researchers in 2005."
More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/13/post_674_n_848564.html
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Where Can You Find Healthy Organic Chicken?

"If you really want to be sure your food is healthy and safe, it would be best to avoid grocery stores as much as possible, as conventionally-raised, factory farmed, livestock, including chickens, are not your best choice.

More and more people are buying food fresh off the farm from producers they personally know and trust, through CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture), farmers’ markets, or other local food movements. When you can actually go visit the farm itself, you can see that it’s natural, fresh, and exactly as advertised.

There are plenty of organizations around to help you get started.  And if you are concerned that organic, free-range poultry and other natural foods are too expensive, please be sure to read Dr. Colleen Huber's excellent article on replacing your processed, conventional foods with organics without spending more.

The bottom line is, when choosing chicken you’ll want to make sure they are cage-free, or free-range, organic chickens that are fed organic feed and never given hormones or antibiotics."
From the same article above: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/03/23/what-to-know-if-you-ever-want-to-eat-chicken-again.aspx

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Today:

Ray was in the cargo trailer puttying and caulking some places, and painting what he had primed yesterday.

Jay wanted to clear out some limber that he had stored under his house, and I had another dog food for Maddie, the Yorkie, to try.  She is so picky that they can't get her to eat any kind of dog food, so she is just fed chicken, which doesn't have all the nutrients in it that she needs.

So I drove the Puddle Jumper down there, and we loaded it up with the lumber and a couple of door slabs.  Maddie didn't like this sample of dehydrated, reconstituted dog food either. 
Jay came back with me to help me unload the lumber and put it away in it's various departments.  Then he put the side panel on the cargo trailer's closet, so that Ray could putty the joins and paint it.

I went back to Jay's for another load, but there wasn't much left that just needed burning, and we have a burn ban today.