As a result, arsenic can be found in fruits, vegetables,
rice and seafood - all of which are considered healthy. The U.S.
government has a federal limit for arsenic in drinking water at
10 parts per billion (ppb).
"There is no such thing as a safe level of arsenic," said
Michael Harbut, a researcher and physician who leads the Barbara
Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute's Environmental Cancer Program at
Wayne State University in Detroit and treats people with arsenic
"Consumers should demand that the FDA do a better job of
patrolling inorganic arsenic in the food supply," said Caroline
Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the
Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit.
She added that the public would be well served with limits
that consider exposure to inorganic arsenic in water as well as
a variety of foods.
White rice grown in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas,
which account for 34 percent of U.S. produced rice, generally
had higher levels of total arsenic and inorganic arsenic than
rice samples from elsewhere, including India and Thailand,
Consumer Reports said.
The group's rice tests included multiple samples of more
than 60 products - including white and brown rice, infant rice
cereals, rice crackers, rice pasta and rice drinks. It found
measurable amounts of total arsenic - both inorganic and organic
forms - in samples of almost every product tested.
The tests also showed that brown rice had higher levels of
arsenic. That is because arsenic is concentrated in its healthy
outer layers, which are removed to make white rice.
Products that raise particular concern for children - who
are still developing and have significantly lower body weights
than adults - include infant rice cereal, ready-to-eat cold
breakfast cereals and rice milk, Consumer Reports said.