McDonald's Chicken McNuggets Contain Silly Putty and Arsenic

Even at low levels, arsenic causes cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and brain damage.  However, the drive to enrich pharmaceutical companies and produce more animals for "food" in less time is the reason that chickens in the U.S. are given arsenic in their feed as an antibiotic.  Please consider watching the documentary Food Inc. to learn more about how the mechanized and industrialized food system in the U.S. and the associated adverse effects on our environment, health, economy and workers' rights. 

Arsenic in the U.S. chicken supply is the topic of a recent report, in which the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) Food and Health Program follows up on USDA scientists concerns about arsenic in chicken meat.  What the IATP discovered is shocking.  All chicken from fast food restaurants contained some level of arsenic in their tests.  On average, chicken thighs from Church's had 20 times the arsenic than chicken from KFC.  Most uncooked chicken products from supermarkets and grocery stores contained arsenic as well.  In IATP tests, Perdue Chicken had ten times the arsenic of the least contaminated brand, Smart Chicken.  It is important to note that IATPs tests for arsenic in chicken are informative and the most testing to date, but not definitive.  Testing is expensive, so they tested no more than five samples of any one product.  However, the results of IATPs study shows that U.S. consumers deserve a more comprehensive testing protocol for arsenic in chicken and statistical analysis.


A June 25, 2010 CNN article, entitled All McNuggets Are Not Created Equal, illustrates the difference in chemical additives between British and U.S. chicken McNuggets.  In addition to arsenic in chicken, we also need to be concerned about the chemical preservatives, TBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone and dimethylpolysiloxane in McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.  TBHQ is a petroleum-based preservative for vegetable oils and animal fats, limited to .02 percent of the oil in the nugget. One gram (one-thirtieth of an ounce) of TBHQ can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse," according to “A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives.  Dimethylpolysiloxane is“an anti-foaming agent” and a form of silicone that is also used in cosmetics and Silly Putty.   A review of animal studies by The World Health Organization found no adverse health effects associated with dimethylpolysiloxane.  By contrast, British Chicken McNuggets contain neither of these ingredients!  McDonald's claims the difference is a matter of consumer taste.  However, as a rule we should not be consuming food with ingredients that cause delirium, ringing in the ears, etc. In general, we should not consume food ingredients that are virtually impossible to pronounce.

If you must consume chicken, buy organic whenever you can to avoid arsenic and chemicals additives like TBHQ and silicone.  There are countless other reasons to avoid fast food, as it contains genetically modified organisms (cause cancer, diabetes, kidney/liver damage), monosodium glutamate (causes brain damage), aspartame, preservatives and artificial flavors and colors.  You can get affordable organic chicken from U.S. Wellness Meats.  Antibiotics, like arsenic, growth hormones, chicken feces and dead animals as feed are not allowed in organic brands.  Remember, if God didn't make it, don't eat it!  Yes, you can take control of your health and be healthy without toxic drugs and risky surgery!  Yes, you can!