Researchers: Higher levels of arsenic in U.S. rice

[ElsewheresDaughter]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050803/ts_usatoday/researchershigherlevelsofarsenicinusrice;_ylt=AucBloyYzVnJO_184soIurp34T0D;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Rice grown in the USA has low levels of arsenic. But those levels are up to five times higher than those found in rice grown in Europe, India and Bangladesh, says a report in the August edition of Environmental Science and Technology.

Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland found an average of 0.26 micrograms of arsenic per gram of U.S. rice. By contrast, Indian basmati rice had 0.05 micrograms per gram. (There are 1 million micrograms per gram of rice and about 16 grains of short-grained rice in one gram.)


Researchers calculated that of those 0.26 micrograms of arsenic in U.S. rice, 42% were an inorganic form that is potentially harmful. While these are tiny amounts, arsenic levels are monitored because long-term intake is associated with increases in some cancers. Low doses are not known to cause acute illness.


Despite its poisonous reputation - it is deadly in very high doses - arsenic is a naturally occurring chemical in soil. It can also come from pesticides. However, researchers don't yet know why levels in the U.S. are as high as they are.


The results are surprising because Bangladesh struggles with severe arsenic-contaminated ground and irrigation water. Arsenic levels as high as 0.95 micrograms per gram of rice have been reported there in the past, the researchers wrote.

[Ian David]

1. Is it enough to be concerned about? n/t

[Kraklen]

2. Depends on how much you eat.

According to the story if you eat more than 4.5 ounces of American rice per day you're over World Health Organization guidelines.

[Ian David]

3. Great. Lovely. Just tell me-- is anything NOT poison anymore?

[tocqueville]

4. check the phosphates

phosphates from some deposits contain arsenic as in impurity. Phosphates are widely used as fertilizers. The problem as occured in Sweden and lead to the import of certain phosphates.

[tocqueville]

5. correction

has happened in Sweden and lead to the banning of import of certain phosphates

[Tempest]

6. That's the biggest reason why I pay more to buy rice from India

They sell it at the organic store here in town.

I eat more than a pound of rice a week and have been following the arsenic issue for several years now.

[shockra]

7. Likely it comes from the chicken manure used as fertilizer.

Poultry industry, like the beef industry, is steeped in evil practices

Posted Jan 7, 2004 PT by the Health Ranger (Mike Adams)

This is fascinating news for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that chicken litter is being fed to cattle in the U.S. (see the mad cow disease articles for more) and, therefore, cows are ingesting highly toxic arsenic that's contained in the chicken litter. Another concern is that chicken litter, laced with arsenic, is being used as crop fertilizer. Inevitably, arsenic finds its way into the rivers, stream and even the crops that are later consumed by humans. In fact, on the face of it, the practice of feeding chickens even trace amounts of arsenic seems bizarre.

http://www.newstarget.com/000681.html

The use of arsenic in "poultry industry"

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service recently reported alarmingly high levels of arsenic contamination in the flesh of broiler chickens <1>. After having reviewed about 5200 chicken samples from the US, these government researchers found that the mean concentration of arsenic in young chicken was 0.39 ppm, 3- to 4-fold higher than in other poultry and meat. Based on the fact that chicken is a meat source of growing importance, it is reasonable to assume that arsenic ingested through chicken consumption has a significant influence on the arsenic intake by humans.

<snip>

Anyhow, how did the arsenic get into the chickens? According to the US Food and Drug Administration arsenic compounds are extensively added to the feed of animals--particularly chickens and pigs--to make them grow faster <11,12>. Most broiler chickens (which constitute 99% of the chicken meat that people eat) are fed arsenic in the United States <11,13>. Most of the animals are so heavily infested with internal parasites that adding arsenic to the feed can result in a "stunning" increase in growth rates <14>.

Since the 1970s, the American poultry industry has used certain arsenic-based ingredients as chicken feed additives. The three major compounds in this class are arsinilic acid, roxarsone (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylarsonic acid), and nitarsone (4-nitro-phenylarsonic acid) <5>. Roxarsone is currently the most commonly used arsenical compound in poultry feed in the United States, with a usage of 23 to 45 grams of chemical per ton of feed for broiler chickens for increased weight gain, feed efficiency, improved pigmentation, and prevention of parasites <12,16>. Roxarsone is used in turkeys as well as chickens <17>. By design, most of the chemical is excreted virtually unchanged in the manure <11,16,18>.

http://www.speciation.net/Public/News/2005/02/08/1304.html

Eating Chicken May Boost Arsenic Exposure
Study suggests need to reconsider safe levels

By Karen Pallarito

<snip>

A person who eats an average amount of chicken -- about 2 ounces a day -- might ingest 3.6 micrograms to 5.2 micrograms of inorganic arsenic and 5.6 micrograms to 8.1 micrograms of total arsenic a day, they found.

By contrast, the top 1 percent of the population that consumes about 12 ounces of chicken a day would get much more of the substance: some 21 micrograms to 31 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per day and 33 micrograms to 47 micrograms of total arsenic per day.

For someone weighing 154 pounds, that's 0.30 to 0.44 micrograms per kilogram per day of inorganic arsenic -- well below the tolerable daily intake of 2 micrograms per kilogram per day, but still a sizable portion of the total.

An expert committee administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization determines the tolerable daily intake for arsenic.

http://www.hon.ch/News/HSN/516998.html

[progressivebydesign]

8. Sux that you have to be wealthy to afford chemical free foods..

We're living in a fantasy land, where we think we're doing okay, but we can't even afford chemical free food or shoes that cost more than 14 bux. America the tainted.