30243: Karshan (news) re: Health concerns/Rice exported from US South (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

I wonder where the majority of Haiti's imported rice is coming  from these
days. Haitians consume so much rice that it is  worth looking into this.

Elevated Arsenic Levels Reported In Rice Grown In South Central  States
12 Mar 2007

The largest market basket survey of the arsenic content of rice grown in  the
United States has found elevated levels of arsenic in rice produced in the
South Central part of the country, scientists report in an article scheduled
for  the April 1 issue of ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a
semi-monthly  journal. The University of Aberdeen's A. A. Meharg and colleagues 
did the
study,  which involved analyses of rice purchased at U. S. supermarkets. A
previous  study found that U. S. rice purchased in the United Kingdom had 
higher
arsenic  levels than rice grown in Europe, India or Bangladesh.

In the study, researchers compared arsenic levels in rice from the two main
rice-producing areas of the country - the South Central States and California.
 They focused on inorganic arsenic, which the report describes as a known
human  carcinogen and implicated in several other diseases. Rice grown in the
South  Central States had more arsenic than California rice. Rice in those 
states
often  is grown in old cotton fields that previously were treated with
arsenic  pesticides, the study states, adding that arsenic-tolerant strains of 
rice
often  are grown in those fields.

When researchers modeled rice intake, they concluded that certain  population
groups could get dietary exposure to arsenic that exceeds  California's state
exposure limits. Those groups include low-income individuals  who consume
large amounts or rice as an inexpensive food; people with celiac  disease (who
eat rice as part of a gluten-free diet); Asian-Americans who  consume a
high-rice diet; and Hispanic infants and toddlers, who also have a  diet high 
in rice,
the study notes. ARTICLE #3

"Market Basket Survey Shows Elevated Levels of As in South Central U. S.
Processed Rice Compared to California: Consequences for Human Dietary Exposure"

CONTACT:

Andrew A. Meharg, Ph.D.
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, Scotland,  U.K.

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