Specifically, Chinese rice contains harmful levels of lead. If there is one lesson we've learned about consumer products in the last decade, it's don't eat anything from China.
US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
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Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#32Specifically, Chinese rice contains harmful levels of lead. If there is one lesson we've learned about consumer products in the last decade, it's don't eat anything from China.
The Chinese invented rice, though. If you want to avoid chinky food, you shouldn't eat it at all.
Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
The government does overregulate damned near everything. Even worse, it fails to regulate the right things. You can't buy Kinder Eggs in the US because of FDA regulations, and yet the FDA lets in literally tons of rice that is tainted with lead or arsenic. Does that seem like a problem to you? It seems like a problem to me.
Number of kids that've died from lead poisoned rice: Zero. Number of kids that've died from eating a Kinder Surprise, Darwin's Law notwithstanding: At least one? If you want to complain about regulation, you're really complaining about people who don't want to take personal responsibility for their own actions. Rather than not buy Kinder Surprise treats for infants, they'd rather ban them for everyone just in case .…
I'm not sure what sort of point you're trying to make. The major risk of lead poisoning isn't death it's the many other serious negative health effects, especially on children's development. Is there a particular reason why we should ignore lead exposure in children at levels several times higher than the current EPA limits?
Moreover, if a simplistic analysis of deaths caused by "exposure" are to be used to guide policy then we should ban water first of all, along with buckets, gravity, and food.
Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#34Here's an abstract from the researcher, Tsanangurayi Tongesayi. Not this exact presentation, but apparently the same research: Lead was present in all the foods samples and its concentration ranged from 4.3 to 17.9 µg/g. Some baby rice food had levels of Pb as high as 12.5±0.2 µg/g. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:d4lyxhr... (Google Cache because of the intellectual property circus). The FDA's re…
Thanks for pulling those numbers. But something doesn't quite add up.. The first linked report says:
Samples of rice products from the US, South America, Asia, and Europe were purchased from local supermarkets and analyzed using XRF and GFAAS. Lead was present in all the foods samples and its concentration ranged from 4.3 to 17.9 µg/g.
So both domestic US rice and imported rice were in the 4.3-17.0 µg/g range, which if true would contradict the FDA's results, and mean that US rice was order-of-magnitude as dangerous as imported rice. What are we (or I) missing?
Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#35I've been trying to find drinking straws not made in China.
Makes me wonder what's in them with mouth contact.
But this endeavor seems to have no solution, cannot find any.
Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#36Here's an abstract from the researcher, Tsanangurayi Tongesayi. Not this exact presentation, but apparently the same research: Lead was present in all the foods samples and its concentration ranged from 4.3 to 17.9 µg/g. Some baby rice food had levels of Pb as high as 12.5±0.2 µg/g. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:d4lyxhr... (Google Cache because of the intellectual property circus). The FDA's re…
Thanks for pulling those numbers. But something doesn't quite add up.. The first linked report says: Samples of rice products from the US, South America, Asia, and Europe were purchased from local supermarkets and analyzed using XRF and GFAAS. Lead was present in all the foods samples and its concentration ranged from 4.3 to 17.9 µg/g. So both domestic US rice and imported rice were in the 4.3-17.0 µg/g range, which…
It doesn't make sense to me either. If the FDA found n.d. levels of lead in all their samples, you would expect some of the new study's samples to have low levels as well.
Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for pulling those numbers. But something doesn't quite add up.. The first linked report says: Samples of rice products from the US, South America, Asia, and Europe were purchased from local supermarkets and analyzed using XRF and GFAAS. Lead was present in all the foods samples and its concentration ranged from 4.3 to 17.9 µg/g. So both domestic US rice and imported rice were in the 4.3-17.0 µg/g range, which…
It doesn't make sense to me either. If the FDA found n.d. levels of lead in all their samples, you would expect some of the new study's samples to have low levels as well.
Right, the low end of the range should be much lower. Right now, my money is on a units error.
Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#38So is there a source of rice that is reliably free from Arsenic contamination?
Rice from India had the least arsenic, but apparently now they have lead!
I'm not sure there is anyplace that is safe.
Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#39"If you look through the scientific literature, especially on India and China, they irrigate their crops with raw sewage effluent and untreated industrial effluent," he explained." ... "Dr Tongesayi also said that the increasing practice of sending electronic waste to developing countries - and the pollution it leads to - exacerbates the problem." This is seriously scary! I had no idea that the delicious Indian and P…
"If you look through the scientific literature, especially on India and China, they irrigate their crops with raw sewage effluent and untreated industrial effluent," he explained." I guess that gives new meaning to rice that's "organic"
Except for the "untreated industrial effluent" part, which is the scarier bit and presumably how the lead would get in.
Re: US rice imports 'contain harmful levels of lead'
#40Here's an abstract from the researcher, Tsanangurayi Tongesayi. Not this exact presentation, but apparently the same research: Lead was present in all the foods samples and its concentration ranged from 4.3 to 17.9 µg/g. Some baby rice food had levels of Pb as high as 12.5±0.2 µg/g. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:d4lyxhr... (Google Cache because of the intellectual property circus). The FDA's re…
UPDATE: Here's the current abstract from the ACS.
Lead is a neurotoxin that severely impairs cognitive development and intellectual performance in children. It causes blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases in adults in addition to inducing calcium deficiency by replacing calcium in bones. Agriculture, mining and the general chemical industry are increasingly contaminating the environment, resulting in toxic heavy metal(loids) such as lead getting into agricultural food products. The level of environment contamination is not monolithic across the globe, thanks to geography and differences in environmental regulations. However, with the globalized food market, populations in both polluted and non-polluted geographical areas are equally at risk of lead exposure through food. We measured the levels of lead in rice that is imported into the U.S. using XRF and the data was validated using a NIST1568a reference sample. Lead levels ranged from 5.95±0.72 to 11.9±0.6 mg/kg and the calculated Daily Exposure amounts were significantly higher than the Provisional Total Tolerable Intakes for all age groups.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/acs-hlo031113...