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AMOUNTS OF ARSENIC IN GROUNDWATER from poultry farms. "Fields amended with poultry litter can accumulate significant levels of arsenic, according to new studies. These findings provide key information about the agricultural pollutants that can build up in agricultural soils over time -- and possibly migrate into nearby streams and rivers." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100816095623.htm View in LinkedIn

LITERATURE REVIEW of arsenic in chicken litter in 2011, before recent voluntary withdrawals of three of four arsenical growth promotors with emphasis on the Delaware peninsula intensive chicken farming region. It is very disturbing that the situation of arsenic contamination and use was so flagrantly out of control for decades before the voluntary withdrawal. http://lnkd.in/deg84mZ View in LinkedIn

DEAD ZONES FROM FACTORY FARMING. "The US Geological Service has traced flows of nitrogen and phosphorus into the Gulf, and there's no denying the link to farming. "In total, agricultural sources contribute more than 70 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorus delivered to the Gulf, versus only 9 to 12% from urban sources," the USGS reports." http://lnkd.in/dshzhUT View in LinkedIn

PHOSPHORUS OVERLOAD. "Phosphorus concentrations in Pocomoke Sound have increased by more than 25 percent since 1985, according to EPA data, suffocating sea grasses that are vital habitat for fish and crabs. "If it keeps going like this, we're going to lose all the [sea grasses] there in about five years," said Robert Magnien, a water quality expert." http://lnkd.in/dTU7CGG View in LinkedIn

ARSENIC IN CHICKEN RUNOFF. "A new report has concluded that arsenic added to chicken feed does run off into local waterways after chicken manure is applied to fields as fertilizer, renewing efforts in Maryland to ban the feed additive." http://lnkd.in/dHQGkZC View in LinkedIn

CHICKEN MANURE OVERLOAD. "Sussex County, Del., home to more than one-third of Delmarva's chickens, has only enough cropland to digest manure generated by about 64 million birds a year, according to a study released last fall by a University of Delaware team of researchers. The county produced more than 232 million birds last year." http://lnkd.in/dTU7CGG View in LinkedIn

SPARSE TESTING. "FSIS will be able to test for 55 pesticide chemicals, 9 kinds of antibiotics, various metals, and eventually more than 50 other chemicals ... screen for several types of legal and illegal drugs — including certain antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and growth promoters. In years past, NRP would have collected 300 samples looking for just one chemical at a time." http://lnkd.in/dAEzM7D View in LinkedIn

LEGACY OF LENIENCY. "Environmental regulators are now racing to catch up with a chicken business that has outpaced them. But their efforts come up against a legacy of lenience toward the primary economic engine for Delmarva, the local shorthand for the peninsula of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia." http://lnkd.in/dTU7CGG View in LinkedIn

NOT JUST MICROBIOLOGICAL TESTS. "The change is a significant update to an often-overlooked part of the food safety system. For the last several years much of the focus has been on microbiological contamination, but much less attention has been paid to drug and chemical contamination in the food supply." (2012). http://lnkd.in/dAEzM7D View in LinkedIn

CHESAPEAKE BAY. "From the air, the industry's true scale emerges: A massive operation, global in reach, it dominates the landscape. Chicken houses fill the horizons, nearly 6,000 in all, raising more than 600 million birds a year and turning out more than 750,000 tons of manure. Tractors rake it into soils as fertilizer, the winds carrying the smell of ammonia." http://lnkd.in/dTU7CGG View in LinkedIn