Arsenical Drugs in Poultry Around the World
Tracking what is known about arsenic-containing feed drugs, where they are allowed, and where current use remains unclear.
Status checked: October 30, 2026
Arsenical drugs such as roxarsone and p-arsanilic acid were added to poultry feed in some countries to control disease, improve growth or feed efficiency, and affect meat pigmentation. Their use can leave arsenic in poultry litter; studies have also raised concern that some organic arsenic compounds can transform into more toxic inorganic forms in birds or the environment.
A key distinction: legal approval is not proof that a drug is currently being used, and a paper that lists a country as allowing a drug may reflect rules from years earlier. Public, comparable data on actual use are scarce. This tracker therefore separates documented regulatory action from older reports of availability and does not label uncertain countries as current users.
Country and region tracker
| Place | What the available evidence shows | Confidence and caveat |
|---|---|---|
| United States | FDA records withdrawals of roxarsone, arsanilic acid and carbarsone approvals in 2014. The last remaining arsenical drug, nitarsone, was discontinued and withdrawn; it was unavailable for the 2016 growing season. | High confidence: withdrawn. (U.S. FDA, 2015) |
| European Union | Arsenical feed additives were not approved for poultry use in the EU. | High confidence: not approved. A recent academic review also describes roxarsone as banned in Europe. (Perera & Ravindran, 2025) |
| China | China prohibited phenylarsonic feed additives in food-animal production effective May 1, 2019. The measure covers compounds including roxarsone and p-arsanilic acid. | High confidence: prohibited. The 2020 research account documents the national phase-out. (Hu et al., 2019) |
| Brazil | Brazil prohibited arsenical and antimonial active ingredients in animal feed when used as growth promoters or performance enhancers in 2002. | High confidence for those purposes. This is not evidence about every possible veterinary use. (Brazil MAPA, 2002) |
| Malaysia, Canada, Australia | A 2020 research paper reports that these countries took action to ban phenylarsonic feed additives. | Reported as phased out; verify current product-level rules. The paper does not provide a current registry audit for each country. (Hu et al., 2019) |
| Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Vietnam | The same 2020 paper says use was still allowed in these countries at that time. | Historical regulatory status only. This is not confirmation that products remain approved or are currently used in 2026; current official registers and import rules need checking. (Hu et al., 2019) |
| Other countries | Older papers and regulatory documents list additional countries where roxarsone was once approved or available, including Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, the Philippines and Venezuela. | Unverified current status. These older lists should not be repeated as a present-day map without checking each national regulator. (D’Angelo et al., 2012) |
What the global picture says—and does not say
The evidence points to a broad international phase-out, but the phase-out has not been documented in one current, authoritative global database. Some older sources describe active use in countries that later adopted restrictions. For example, a 2012 paper listed Brazil among countries where roxarsone was available, while Brazil’s agriculture ministry records a 2002 prohibition on arsenicals as feed growth promoters. That is why dates and the exact legal purpose matter.
The most defensible current summary is: arsenical poultry drugs have been withdrawn or prohibited in several major markets, including the United States, the European Union, China and Brazil for growth-promotion use. Historical sources report later use or availability elsewhere, but public evidence is not enough to establish a reliable list of countries where poultry producers are using these drugs today.
Why track it
When treated birds excrete arsenic, poultry litter can carry it onto agricultural land. Repeated use and poor waste management can contribute to arsenic accumulation in soils and movement into water. FDA’s U.S. investigation found increased inorganic arsenic in livers of chickens treated with roxarsone, a key reason sales were suspended and the approvals withdrawn. The concern is not that every chicken product contains a dangerous level; it is that using arsenic compounds in feed can add avoidable arsenic to food and the environment.
What would improve this tracker
A reliable country-by-country update needs four separate checks: current veterinary-drug registrations; feed-additive rules and prohibited-substance lists; import and residue standards; and real-world sales or farm-use data. Regulatory approval alone cannot establish use. Where agencies do not publish sales or use records, this tracker will say unknown rather than infer use from old papers or residue limits.
References
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine. Arsenic-Based Animal Drugs and Poultry. Updated April 2015. Accessed October 30, 2026.
Perera, W. N. U., & Ravindran, V. (2025). Role of feed additives in poultry nutrition: Historical, current and future perspectives. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 326, 116371. doi:10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2025.116371.
Hu, Y., Cheng, H., Tao, S., & Schnoor, J. L. (2019). China’s ban on phenylarsonic feed additives, a major step toward reducing the human and ecosystem health risk from arsenic. Environmental Science & Technology, 53(21), 12177–12187. doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b04296.
Ministério da Agricultura e Pecuária (Brazil). Proibições de aditivos na alimentação animal. Updated May 19, 2026. Accessed October 30, 2026.
D’Angelo, E., Zeigler, G., Beck, E. G., Grove, J., & Sikora, F. (2012). Arsenic species in broiler (Gallus gallus domesticus) litter, soils, maize (Zea mays L.), and groundwater from litter-amended fields. Science of the Total Environment, 438, 286–292. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.08.078.