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Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

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Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#191

Post by Joel_Mckay »

bluGill wrote: post #10
loopdoend wrote: post #2

Wish there were some way to detect impurities like this at home.

I have found lead detection kits. However they are somewhat expensive and I'm not sure how well they work.

Really? Lead test kits are $10 on amazon, and will include several dozen tests. The better kits will include paper to verify the tests still are working (short shelf life in the open.)

The sodium rhodizonate tests usually turn pink in the presence of traces of lead. These tests are intended for testing paints/ceramics, and may have false positives in the presence of zinc or copper etc.

Our local Griefers seem to have strong feelings about this information, but talk with your chemistry teacher if you want to understand the details about testing.

If a credible 3M brand test shows possible contamination, than consider sending a sample into a lab to figure out the details. =3

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#192

Post by kragen »

rayiner wrote: post #134
kragen wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your family is from Bangladesh, aren't they?

Yes. I lived there until I was five. Even at that age you learn not to see other people as human. You kind of have to—people do things like cut off kids’ hands to make them more effective at begging.[1] You walk through the street with amputees coming up to you. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jul/31/india.randeepr...

That seems like important context for your comment above, which otherwise people might read as akin to Churchill's dismissal of Gandhi as a "naked fakir".

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#193

Post by OJFord »

sorcerer-mar wrote: post #154
OJFord wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I wasn't suggesting it would be 'caught at the US border' so much as that if you're buying from big industrial process exporting around the world it's just so much less likely to be an issue to begin with. Article is about relatively small time farmers (processing and perhaps direct selling it themselves) trying to save their failed crop and their livelihood.

“Less likely,” sure. But way more likely than people would probably intuit. There are plenty of very mainstream industrial brands with all sorts of contamination. > I don't think you need to worry buying it from a store that's imported it properly This statement is not true.

It very much is true: I am 'I' and that is what I [don't] 'think'.

Statements I didn't make like 'it has never ever been detected at any level in ...' may well not be true, but on the scale of risks to worry about I do not think this ranks.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#194

Post by kazinator »

abeppu wrote: post #93
phendrenad2 wrote: post #57

I think this NPR article is too quick to put a positive spin on this. They have made a nice little story here with a happy ending. Farmers had blackened turmeric -> they used a random yellow die they found -> massive lead spike in everyone's bloodstream -> Americans came in with a xray gun and saved the day -> no more lead in the blood. But if you ascribe even the slightest but of agency to any of the non-Americans i…

> But if you ascribe even the slightest but of agency to any of the non-Americans involved, you have to wonder if this problem will come back. From the article: > And recently they are celebrating some big news on the lead fighting front: This week, UNICEF and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a new $150 million initiative to combat lead poisoning. Americans have disassembled US…

America's main job is to protect its citizens/residents from lead in imported turmeric, not to be a global crusader in wiping out all lead in all turmeric everywhere.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#195

Post by fakedang »

maxerickson wrote: post #114
infinitifall wrote: post #71

I'm put off by how this is framed as a detective story. Pesticides that contain heavy metals and other carcinogens are a well known issue, with India (and South Asia more generally) being the worst affected. > You'll never guess the culprit Not knowing about turmeric comes off as deeply ignorant when a billion people consume it as part of their daily diet. > They don't know that this is harmful for human health Let m…

Uh, the culprit isn't turmeric, it's lead chromate that farmers were putting on turmeric. For most readers of English, it is not an expected fact that someone would be intentionally adding lead to food. In the article, the turmeric related lead poisonings were due to turmeric bought at Bangladeshi markets, not processed, packaged spices bought from a grocer.

In most of South Asia, including India and Bangladesh, we were often taught in school that adding lead paint to turmeric is extremely prevalent (along with a number of other adulteration techniques for other foods). We were also taught various tests we could carry out to test food quality.

If there were elevated levels of lead in a South Asian population , and only them, the first thing any reasonable scientist or detective should have looked at was the lead concentration from turmeric usage. Not lead paint, not lead from water pipes.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#196

Post by littlexsparkee »

zargon wrote: post #37
vasusen wrote: post #4

I grew up in India and now live in the US. My mom recently got some ground turmeric from our own farm when she visited us. I am was stunned by how much more duller, brownish-yellow it was compared to the turmeric I buy in Indian stores in the US. Those are usually really bright yellows. Now, I am really scared that even stuff sold in California is probably lead paint tainted turmeric.

Burlap and Barrel tests their turmeric for lead and publishes the results. It’s a lot more expensive than Indian store turmeric, but personally I’m no longer willing to buy untested turmeric. (Relatedly, Lundberg publishes the arsenic levels of their brown rice, so that’s basically the only brand of rice I buy any more.)

Diaspora also lab tests theirs, plus the variety they sell has a high curcumin level

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#197

Post by sorcerer-mar »

OJFord wrote: post #193
sorcerer-mar wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Less likely,” sure. But way more likely than people would probably intuit. There are plenty of very mainstream industrial brands with all sorts of contamination. > I don't think you need to worry buying it from a store that's imported it properly This statement is not true.

It very much is true: I am 'I' and that is what I [don't] 'think'. Statements I didn't make like 'it has never ever been detected at any level in ...' may well not be true, but on the scale of risks to worry about I do not think this ranks.

"I think the earth is flat"

No that's not true

"Well it's true that I think that."

You got me!

For other readers: OJFord doesn't know what s/he's talking about and you should look up tests for the specific brands for the specific spices you're looking to buy, especially if you have children and/or you use spices liberally in your food. The US does not systematically test spices for contamination like this and it does show up in high levels in the American spice supply. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like there are brands that are across-the-board good on contamination.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#198

Post by biohcacker84 »

Led, mercury, cadmium and arsenic are showing up in so many foods. In rice in spinach and obvious in fish.

Microplastics and PFAS in fruits and fish and everything else.

And the most recent TV report on cadmium in spinach, I watched, told me to have a diversified diet.

Diversified into WHAT?

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#199

Post by teapot7 »

_DeadFred_ wrote: post #188
abeppu wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, so ericmay was not entirely explicit and perhaps we read his point differently. > then I don’t want to hear a peep about us taking any other actions in the world that we deem just I think the noteworthy peeps are not about the mere fact that we involve ourselves in the world outside our borders but that we often do it pretty badly. We attack Iraq with "shock and awe" over WMDs that do not exist, and create the Ab…

Adding because this has somehow been forgotten around Iraq/911. We attacked Iraq because we were attacked on 9/11. Justification for the attack was stated in part because of American troops in Saudi Arabia. American troops were in Saudi Arabia because of Iraq's prior invasion of Kuwait. Changing the government of Iraq would allow us to remove troops from Saudi Arabia and remove it as a cause for terrorism. This was a…

> We attacked Iraq because we were attacked on 9/11

Yes, by 15 Saudis, 2 from the United Arab Emirates, one Lebanese and one Egyptian.

Funny old world.

Re: Lead pigment in turmeric is the culprit in a global poisoning mystery (2024)

#200

Post by specialist »

refurb wrote: post #163
steveBK123 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, I'm 100% against the dismantling of our foreign aid programs, USAID included.. However, the world playing both sides of the coin on "US World Police" being bad when it does stuff but also bad when it doesn't do stuff is part of how we end up where we are. It's a minuscule part of our budget, but an easy sell for right wingers to say "well the world isn't grateful for it and its all a bunch of waste so we are k…

I think it’s important for people to educate themselves about USAID. International aid isn’t the point, it’s a channel for shaping the world according to the US’ goals. For example, look up the role of USAID in the Vietnam war. It was used to fund village self defense forces and the Phoenix program which used targeted apprehension and assassination to combat the Viet Cong. Sure it dug a few wells but net net I don’t…

You prompted me to learn something about USAID. Thank you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Agency_for_Inter...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_A...

I've always kind of assumed the USA's hegemonic "soft power" (Peace Corps, USAID) was an outgrowth of Civil Affairs Units.

Likewise, I assume the USA's chaotic, neurotic policies are the result of the never-ending food fight between liberals and reactionaries. Reflected in the tortured history of USA's domestic policy making wrt foreign policy. Carrots vs sticks.

Regardless, hegemony is not great. Will a multi-polar world be better (overall)?

Insofar as "soft power" prevents the greater evil of war, I'm all for it. (Per the cliché "war is the failure of diplomacy".) Obviously, reactionary tantrums (neocons, GWOT, Second Gulf War w/ Iraq, total failure in Afghanistan, etc, etc) are complete failures.

Further, I am skeptical that any "soft power" can be more moral than not (on the balance). I acknowledge that the USA (and friends) have managed to pull off a few win/win scenarios, like PERPAR.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_Emergency_Plan_f...

For future, I'm for whatever reforms or innovations or governance or moral progress or whatever which supplants hegemony with something better. The prospect of Pax Sinica, Pax Europa, Pax Indica, or whomever, is no more desirable than (our now waning) Pax Americana.

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