WASHINGTON (AP) - The Food and Drug
Administration may consider new standards for the levels of arsenic in
rice as consumer groups are calling for federal guidance on how much of
the carcinogen can be present in food.
So far, FDA officials say
they have found no evidence that suggests rice is unsafe to eat. The
agency has studied the issue for decades but is in the middle of
conducting a new study of 1,200 samples of grocery-store rice products -
short and long-grain rice, adult and baby cereals, drinks and even rice
cakes - to measure arsenic levels.
Rice is thought to have
arsenic in higher levels than most other foods because it is grown in
water on the ground, optimal conditions for the contaminant to be
absorbed in the rice. There are no federal standards for how much
arsenic is allowed in food.
Arsenic is naturally
present in water, air, food and soil in two forms, organic and
inorganic. According to the FDA, organic arsenic passes through the body
quickly and is essentially harmless. Inorganic arsenic - the type found
in some pesticides and insecticides - can be toxic and may pose a
cancer risk if consumed at high levels or over a long period.
How much organic and
inorganic arsenic rice eaters are consuming, and whether those levels
are dangerous, still remains to be seen.
FDA Commissioner Margaret
Hamburg says consumers shouldn't stop eating rice, though she does
encourage a diverse diet just in case.
"Our advice right now is
that consumers should continue to eat a balanced diet that includes a
wide variety of grains - not only for good nutrition but also to
minimize any potential consequences from consuming any one particular
food," she said.
The agency on Wednesday
released 200 of an expected 1,200 samples after the magazine Consumer
Reports released its own study and called for federal standards for
arsenic in rice. The FDA will not complete its study until the end of
the year, Hamburg said, and cannot draw any conclusions from the results
until then.
Both studies show
relatively similar levels of arsenic in rice. The FDA's analysis,
including 200 samples, showed average levels of 3.5 to 6.7 micrograms of
inorganic arsenic per serving. Consumer Reports, with 223 samples,
found levels up to 8.7 micrograms. That is roughly equivalent to one
gram of arsenic in 115,000 servings of rice.
It is almost impossible to
say how dangerous these levels are without a benchmark from the federal
government. Consumer Reports uses New Jersey's drinking water standard -
a maximum of 5 micrograms in a liter of water - as comparison because
it is one of the strictest in the country. But it is unclear how
accurate it is to compare arsenic levels in water and arsenic levels in
rice - most people consume more water than rice, so drinking water
standards may need to be tougher.
It is because of this uncertainty that consumer groups have urged the FDA to set a standard.
Urvashi Rangan of Consumer
Reports says the group is not trying to alarm rice eaters and parents
feeding their children rice, but to educate them so they can diversify
their diets. Consumers should be more protected since arsenic is a known
carcinogen and could build up in the body over time, she said.
"It doesn't make sense not to have standards for rice," she said.
The Consumer Reports study
found higher levels of arsenic in brown rice than white rice, a result
of how the two different types are processed. It also found higher
levels in rice produced in Southern U.S. states than in rice from
California or Asia.
Rice growers jumped on the
report. A statement from the industry group USA Rice Federation said
that U.S. rice growers do not use pesticides with arsenic.
"We understand that
'arsenic' is an alarming word, but we believe it is important for
consumers to know that arsenic is a naturally occurring element in our
air, water, rocks and soil," the group said in a statement. "This is how
plants uptake arsenic. As a result, it's always been in the food
supply and is in many healthy foods that are consumed by billions of
people every day."
Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan joined with Consumer Reports Wednesday, also calling on FDA
to set standards, particularly for baby food. She, like the magazine,
urged parents to limit the amount of rice they feed their children.
The FDA was not willing to
go that far, however. Hamburg cautioned that neither the FDA nor
Consumer Reports had tested enough samples to be certain of any trend.
"These are very few samples and there is great variability in the levels," she said.
Scientists have known for
decades that arsenic is present in rice, but the issue has renewed
interest as consumers are more interested than ever in what they eat and
technology has advanced to the point that inorganic and organic arsenic
can be measured separately.
The consumer group's push
on arsenic in rice comes a year after it pressured the FDA to define
standards for arsenic in apple juice. Michael Taylor, the FDA's deputy
commissioner for foods, said Tuesday that the agency had completed an
assessment on apple juice and would be making recommendations soon. The
levels of arsenic found in apple juice are low, he said.
Professor Jaymie R. Meliker
of Stony Brook University, who has studied the effects of arsenic, says
it's all a matter of moderation.
"In general, in life, you
shouldn't stand out in the sun eight hours a day," he said. "You
shouldn't eat rice exclusively every meal. You should introduce variety
in your diet because there are contaminants in everything. Nothing is
completely safe."
