Did you get your aresenic today?

ARSENIC is often called the king of poisons, but it is everywhere: in the environment, in the water we drink and sometimes in the food we eat. And particularly in the chicken we eat.

It is deliberately being added to chicken. There is a very high chance that if you eat chicken some arsenic would be present because it has been a government-approved additive in poultry feed for decades. It is used to kill parasites and to promote growth.

Human exposure to it has been compounded because the consumption of chicken has exploded. In 1960, each American ate 28 pounds of chicken a year. For 2005, the figure is estimated at about 87 pounds per person. In spite of this threefold rise, the F.D.A. tolerance level for arsenic in chicken of 500 parts per billion, set decades ago, has not been revised.