Arsenic Found in Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Foods, Baby Formulas

Arsenic Found in Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Foods, Baby Formulas

shine.yahoo.com

Organic arsenic is found naturally in the soil, but a more dangerous kind of the chemical, known as inorganic arsenic, was widely used in pesticides for years before the EPA banned it in 2009. Inorganic arsenic has been linked to lung, bladder, and liver cancer, and exposure to arsenic can affect brain function over time

(visit the link for the full news article)


www.abovetopsecret.com...
bostonglobe.com

edit on 16-2-2012 by becomingaware because: Added link to another thread about the same story

I see this story as a BLATANT attack on organic farming.
How convenient, that as soon as Monsanto gets sued by Organic Farmers this story comes out.

The author does not cite the study, which brands, or the companies that produce the tainted formulas. Why? Because the blame isn't being pointed at the companies, it's being blamed on Organic Farming. Monsanto and their GM crops are being force fed into the food industry and only THEY use harmful pesticides that contain arsenic. I am an organic farmer, I use pyrethrins and "companion plants" as natural pesticides. We all do.

This story is complete BS, fear-mongering, and as irresponsible reporting as I've seen. Striking fear into parents trying to keep our kids as healthy as possible is waaay below the belt, and I'm pissed.

If organic crops have arsenic in them, it's because of cross pollination from down wind GM crops.

I would not be suprised that in the following weeks, the government launches an investigation, and also points the blame on Organic farming.

shine.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Already posted a few down from yours.

When in doubt, find the source:

Dartmouth Superfund Research Project

Edit to add:

If you want the actual study, it can be downloaded from here:

EHP
(top right for download links)

reply to post by peck420


DISCUSSION: We found that OBRS can contain high concentrations of Asi and dimethylarsenate (DMA). An ‘organic’ infant milk formula containing OBRS as the primary ingredient had Astotal concentrations up to six times the EPA safe drinking water limit. Cereal bars and high energy foods containing OBRS also had higher As concentrations than equivalent products that did not contain OBRS. . Inorganic As was the main As species in the majority of food products tested in this study.

That seems to contradict the story. That study also states that "as copmpared to any equivelant product". What products? Compared to high fructose corn syrup products? Am I missing something?

...also added a link to the other thread. They beat me by a few minutes.

Originally posted by becomingaware
. Inorganic As was the main As species in the majority of food products tested in this study.

That seems to contradict the story. That study also states that "as copmpared to any equivelant product". What products? Compared to high fructose corn syrup products? Am I missing something?

It may contradict the story, but it does not contradict the study. The study makes no judgement on organic foods, they make a judgement on arsenic and on rice (specifically the type of rice grown organically in the US). They are pushing for government regulated arsenic levels, that's it.

The "as compared to any equivalent product" is in regards to different OBRS's from different countries (and different areas of the US) have different levels of arsenic, and different levels of organic/inorganic arsenic.

Gotcha. That makes that story on yahoo even more misleading in my opinion. From my understanding rice starch in baby formula, is used to "thicken up" the formula. I guess it could also be done with corn starch.

My interpretation of the story is that Organic crops are getting the blame. Although it does state that inorganic arsenic pesticides were banned by the epa in 2009, it doesn't say that could be the root cause. It translates to me that the "organic products" are getting the blame. Very misleading to me.

Thanks, star for you.

Spot on with the Monsanto smear campaign on organic foods, and the farmers that produce them. It's pretty disturbing knowing the measures the FDA and other chemical/pesticide companies take to pursuade the consumer NOT to eat raw, organic, and nourishing food. I take several supplements to back up the organic and non-GMO foods I eat, because vitamins and antioxidants are mostly lost due to processing and handling the produce. Keep spreading this blasphemy, because once TPTB fully regulate our food supply, they control us. Not me though, I have stocked potent supplements and my father stocks a plethora of healthy sustainable foods in the freezer and storage

they are using misleading statments to smear organic,
i too see a conection to the organic farmers taking monsanto to court,
is this a case of intimidation through media campain?

monsanto is evil

xploder

reply to post by becomingaware


This is a scary thread...it is getting hard to trust anything I am eating or drinking these days, sometimes I wonder if my vitamins are even what they are! I had a friend , who worked on an organic farm who had a hugggeee beetle elidemic first hand this last year about the Japanese beetles that have been posted about on here, thankful,y they don't sorry pesticides on their stuff but that meant my poor friend working the farm had to hand pick them I to buckets and they still never got them all. It makes me see why they would have sprayed but also I do not condone or approve nor am I excited about the fact what they were spraying was hurting us more than what they were trying to prevent!! Cancers of the organs, scares me to know food we buy in Kroger or Whole foods on a daily basis to live will give using term slow growing stomach and colon cancers...all the more reason to keep up my own garden and feed myself

I absolutely recommend a personal garden. Its the winter now and my indoor garden is going full blast. Its not easy on our electric bill, but the harvest has a huge payoff.

Mites and bud worms are the only pests that worry me, but they are manageable.

reply to post by XPLodER


That's exactly the point I was trying to make. To me it just screams smear campaign.

reply to post by becomingaware


Our world is polluted and contaminated - that's what I get from this. From your source article:

Brown rice syrup is frequently used as a "healthy" alternative to high-fructose corn syrup and can be found in foods that consumers don't think of as rice-based and in products that are touted as "healthy," "all natural," and "organic."

"Even if you were an educated consumer, some products might just creep under the radar," Jackson told ABC News.

Still, some dietitians warned consumers to take Jackson's study with a grain of salt.

"I would encourage consumers to not worry about this study, but to use it as a reminder that foods that grow in soil are growing with a wide variety of chemicals, both those found naturally in the soil and those that may be there from use of chemicals to foster growth," Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis, told HealthDay News. "Whether organic foods contain more arsenic, or other minerals, than conventional foods is hard to estimate, but this study does remind us that organic is not necessarily equal with healthier/better for you/safe from harm."

Next step: do something. Like stop all the contamination and pollution. It's already disabling billions and killing millions every year.

reply to post by soficrow


Organic growers don't use chemicals for fertilizer. We literally use crap. Bird crap, bat crap, seagull crap, artwork,horse, cow, pig crap. We use organic compost teas. We use natural substances to balance the soils ph. We also take great care of the soil after harvests. After all, we use the earth to feed our families. Some of us even have advanced irrigation systems that recycle the water we use.

Organic farmers do not use harsh chemicals or any chemicals at all. As for the "grain of salt" that we're supposed to swallow with this study. Why even publish the story until it has been through further peer review? Why scare people into thinking that organics can kill our kids?

I have a newborn. 1 & 1/2 months old today. ..If their goal was to scare people, talking about the very food our kids eat and saying its poison, well that will do it. So they better be dam well sure before they publish bold claims like that.

Clearly organic food is not safe. This means I need to go consume GMO laden, pesticide enhanced, aspartame sweetened Monsanto foods. I'm glad I'm not eating that fake organic stuff.

if it is in brown rice syrup the farmer probably isnt the cause if brown rise is grown in paddies like asian rice maybe the water source might be the source, in wisconsin they had trouble with lakes getting so much nitrogen in them that out of control algae blooms would choke lakes to death. maybe arsenic came out of natural spring or runoff from pesticide use on a nearby fiel sprayed with arsenic based pesticise.

Samples for the study -- 17 kinds of baby formula, 29 cereal bars, and three energy shots -- had been purchased from grocery stores in the Hanover, N.H., area. The report did not say which brands were tested.

Why not say which brands if this is a huge concern? Here's more...

ABC News found two with brown rice syrup as their primary ingredient: Baby's Only Organic Dairy Toddler Formula and Baby's Only Organic Soy Toddler Formula, both by Nature's One. But Nature's One says their brown rice syrup producer "uses qualified, world-renowned, third-party, independent lab to test arsenic levels in their organic brown rice syrup. Their testing results report undetectable amounts of arsenic at laboratory testing limits."

thestir.cafemom.com...

If this was a case of contamination, it might be at the source of the brown rice syrup production. Or the contamination could be further down the line. Ugh I just want to know more.

The researchers also analyzed 17 baby formulas, 15 without organic brown rice syrup and two that did contain it – a dairy- and a soy-based product.

In the products without the syrup, the total arsenic concentrations were between 2 and 12 ng/g. In the other two, concentrations were more than 20 times higher, Jackson and colleagues found.

www.medpagetoday.com...
What the...

I'm really, really bad at math and worse at the metric system, so I may have messed this conversion up and embarrassed myself here, but look at this.

The FDA (here) says that 0.010 milligrams of arsenic per litre in bottled water is acceptable.

It we take the high range 12 nanograms, which seems acceptable, that converts to 0.000012 milligrams?

Multiply this by 20 for the worst case concentrations of the baby formula with the brown rice syrup, and that's still only 0.00024 milligrams? Still much lower than the 0.010 milligrams for bottled water?

Further...did they test the concentrated powder wet or mixed with water? And if mixed with water, did they test the water too? Would love to read the study.

I've really confused myself and probably messed this all up. Help.

And yes...very, very suspicious timing on this report.

Originally posted by becomingaware
reply to post by XPLodER

 

That's exactly the point I was trying to make. To me it just screams smear campaign.

Smear campaign? Silly dog... its outright WAR

Swat teams and guns....

US Government Declares War on Raw Milk
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Feds raid Amish dairy and threaten action over raw milk sales
www.naturalnews.com...

reply to post by zorgon


Lol. Yes my friend, it is.

Its to bad that even farming has been put through the bureaucratic ringer.

Everything, every god given right, something as simple as growing your own crops, raising your own children, and putting a roof over your familys head. All of these simple god given rights now have to be mandated, have some oversight committee, taxed, or you must have to pay for some sort of license to do it.

How we let this happen to ourselves is beyond me. Where is the point we lost control over our own lives?

Of course, arsenic is an element
(
en.wikipedia.org...
)
which you can't change unless you give it's atoms more neutrons usually making it radioactive.
If by 'organic' and 'inorganic' arsenic they imply that the arsenic is bonded to something to make another chemical like hydrogen and oxygen make water then they could make it anything they want.
But I've gone through college and never heard 'organic' applied to a chemical.
It's more a process isn't it where you don't use pesticides on foods and stuff,
organic is not a word you describe chemicals with.

Even if they mean it's naturally found arsenic as opposed to produced from industrially available arsenic,
it's still totally removed from naturally made apples compared to apples made with industrial chemicals.
It's like comparing arsenic and apples to say naturally found arsenic is worse therefore naturally grown apples are bad too. There's no way to link how the one is unhealthy therefore the other is unhealthy like they seem to be doing in the article since one is a chemical process and the other is growing food.