About Author

Green Diva Meg

(aka Megan McWilliams Bouchard) is the founder of The Green Divas media brand; the producer and host of the popular The Green Divas podcast; and founded GDGD Radio Network (the first green and healthy living radio network on earth for the earth). Green Diva Meg is well-known as a green living expert, media personality and podcast producer.
Comments (7)
  1. Pingback: Green Diva Meg's Gluten-Free, Arsenic-Free Quinoa Pilaf

  2. Stuart (reply)

    October 14, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    Meg, Anna – give us some information.
    What are the ppm levels of arsenic in the rice?
    How much rice would one have to eat to be negatively affected?
    So much stuff on the internet screaming ‘don’t …..’ but few facts behind the blogs. Or few stated – maybe because they don’t add up.
    Stuart.

  3. Anna@Green Talk (reply)

    October 14, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    Stuart,
    I wish I could tell you an exact amount of ppb for rice. It is hard to put an exact figure on how many ppb of arsenic is in rice. Much depends on where the rice is grown and whether arsenic laden fertilizer was used. Certain parts of the country have higher levels of inorganic arsenic due to past pesticide treatment. As I mentioned above, Consumer Reports tested 200 different rice and products containing rice. Varying degrees of arsenic were found in different products. See http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/arsenic1112.htm#chart. (They also provide their detailed finding in a PDF that you can also read.)

    Consumer Reports provided a chart on how many servings of commonly eaten rice products are safe to consume. (Same link as above.) They provided these guidelines so everyone can easily limit their intake without having to calculate arsenic ppb.

    In defense of many blogs out there, no one knows the long term effect of low levels of arsenic exposure in food. They have only done studies on long term low level arsenic exposure in water as I noted above. However, inorganic arsenic has been associated with cancer. So, as a precaution given the nature of arsenic, Consumer Reports is suggesting caution and varying your diet. As mentioned above, Consumer Reports is the latest study in a long line of scientific studies which have red flagged arsenic in rice.

    I hope this answered your question. Feel free to click on all the links in my article above for further information. Anna

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