Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115748

Onyemaechi Nweke, MPH, Office of Policy, Economics and Innovations/National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, MC 1809, Washington, DC 20460, 202-5662314, nweke.onyemaechi@epa.gov, Lisa Gallicchio, PhD, Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe st, Baltimore, MD 21205, Vasken Aposhian, PhD, Dept of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, Life Sciences S., 1007 E. Lowell st., Rm 444, Tucson, AZ 85721, Anthony Alberg, PhD, MPH, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Sch of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205, and Ellen Silbergeld, PhD, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Room 6010, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205.

Roxarsone, an organoarsenic compound, is a broiler chicken feed additive permitted by the FDA for use as a growth promoter and to prevent coccidiosis. A significant proportion of Roxarsone administered during the lifetime of poultry is excreted in poultry waste, mostly unchanged. It is estimated that tons of Arsenic is released into the environment each year based on the amount of litter generated by the 6-8 billion broiler chickens grown annually in the US. No treatment of animal wastes is currently required prior to land application. Land disposal of Arsenic contaminated poultry litter can potentially result in the contamination of groundwater via leaching, and may in certain regions subsequently constitute a significant source of human exposure to Arsenic. We have studied the potential contribution of land application of poultry litter to Arsenic in drinking water on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This region is home to one of the oldest, most intensive and largest poultry production operations in the US. Moreover, 100% of drinking water is drawn from relatively shallow ground water aquifers. We designed a population based sampling scheme for collecting drinking water samples to estimate population exposure to arsenic via drinking water with funding support from the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund. 204 drinking water samples were collected and correlated by geographic analyses with land use indicators to assess the association between elevated levels of Arsenic in our drinking water samples and the agricultural practice of land application/disposal of poultry waste. We present our methods and preliminary results.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Articulate the implications of Roxarsone use in broiler chicken production for human exposure to Arsenic
• Describe a population based approach to collecting drinking water samples
• Describe methods for correlating land use data with water quality data.

Keywords: Animal Waste, Drinking Water Quality

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.