Consumer Reports Raises Concerns About Arsenic in Rice
Description: Consumer Reports is now raising concern about arsenic in rice, after addressing it in apple and grape juices a few months ago. The consumer group says the carcinogen, which can be harmful to people, was found in more than 60 rice and rice products. The Director of Safety and Sustainability at Consumer Reports, Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D. says "The goal of our report is to inform__not__alarm___consumers about the importance of reducing arsenic exposure and offer actions they can take moving forward, such as limiting their rice consumption."
Arsenic has been linked to lung, skin and bladder cancer.
Consumer Reports says "White rice grown in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas generally had higher levels of total arsenic and inorganic arsenic than rice samples from elsewhere (India,Thailand and California combined)." The magazine says the levels of arsenic was higher in brown rice than in white rice.
Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York told CBS News why more arsenic is found in rice grown in southern states. He said "When there was cotton there, they had to treat the cotton with arsenic pesticides to control boll weevils. A century later, the arsenic is still in the soil and the rice is very effective at pulling it out of the soil and it concentrates in the rice."
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