ARSENIC TOXICITY IN CHINESE RICE

HIGH LEVELS OF ARSENIC IN CHINESE RICE

Very high levels of arsenic have been found in rice crackers, rice bran and rice from China.  Three billion people live on rice especially from Asian countries.  That is over 1/2 of the world.  Arsenic is known to increase the risk of cancer, especially bladder and skin.

DANGEROUS LEVELS OF ARSENIC

Most of the arsenic is in the form of arsenate and arsenite, inorganic forms of arsenic that sickens people exposed to it from drinking water.  Rice accumulates arsenic.  The Chinese allowed 700 micro grams in its food and drink.  This was recently reduced to 150 micrograms.

Rice has 10 times the arsenic concentrated as wheat and other cereal. This occurs because rice was grown in land near mines and smelters and former cotton fields.  These areas were heavily treated with arsenic pesticides. Paddy rice takes up arsenic from waterlogged soil.  Anaerobic microbes liberate the arsenic. Other crops growing in watery environments as water chestnuts, and water spinach also have high arsenic levels.

One single dose of 100mg can shut your entire energy metabolism.  Arssenic tainted wells in Bangladesh resulted in numerous bladder and skin cancers.  These wells contain hundreds of micrograms of arsenic per liter.  The World Health Organization, WHO, has set limits up to 10 micrograms per liter per day as acceptable.  The U.S. has no standards for maximum amounts of arsenic in foods.  Most other countries also have no limits on arsenic in foods.  The FDA put a tolerance level of 130 micrograms in water

HOW MUCH ARSENIC IS DANGEROUS?

This is an insidious problem. Arsenic is a natural element and a poison. It was used medically to treat leukemia. It also was in embalming fluid 100 years ago. It is a by-product of copper mining and gold and silver refining. 
Recently it is used in batteries. Currently it is used as an herbicide on golf courses. We import 30,000 tons annually from China and Chile.

CANCER RISKS

A major concern is that there are high levels of arsenic in bladder, lung and skin cancer. The EPA has recently lowered the safe level from 50 parts/billion to 10 parts /billion. A standard of 0.8/billion is considered safe. In the US, about 5parts/billions are considered normal.  It often takes about 20 years for cancer to be evident.

California and parts of India have low arsenic levels.  Rice bran food in health stores that come from Japan or here in the United States, for some unknown reason, also have high levels of arsenic.  Baby rice cereal in England was recently tested and found to have 1/3 of the cereals  contain levels even above the new Chinese acceptable levels of 150 micrograms.  Incidentally fish and seafood also have arsenobetine, an organic compound benign at dietary levels.

SOLUTIONS

IF RICE COULD BE RAISED ON BEDS SO THE SOIL ARSENIC DOESN’T GET TO THE RICE, THE PROBLEM WOULD BE SOLVED.  But this would change the entire farming practices in Asia. 

Arsenic could be controlled genetically, by putting a family of proteins, called aqua glyceroporins, into plants to resist arsenic uptake into rice cell membranes.  “Currently this protein helps uptake of vital nutrients as boron and silicone.

It the rice is engineered to have a bacterial enzyme, it could change inorganic arsenic to methylated arsenic that would be volatile.

Yet it seems that more and more contaminated land with arsenic is being  used to grow rice.  We can certainly choose our rice crackers carefully as the Olymics in China begins.

         Sources: Science July 11, 2008, americanacupuncture.com

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