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If you have seen or heard the present reports about tests that located arsenic in apple juice, you're probably wondering whether it might be dangerous to juice revellers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement attempting to reassure patrons that most of the arsenic in juices and other foods was of the so-called "organic" form, that the agency said was "essentially harmless." But latest systematic evidence and public info issued by other Fed. agency cast doubt on that allegation.
Concerns about arsenic in beverages heightened after Mehmet Oz, M.D, a heart surgeon and host of The Dr. Oz Show aired a piece exclaiming findings of lab tests he commissioned that discovered Ten of 3 dozen apple juice samples tested contained total arsenic levels surpassing the 10 parts per bn. ( ppb ) Fed. limit for total arsenic levels in public drinking h2o.
The Oz test findings are just the newest of one or two tests for arsenic in juice conducted during the last three years. As we reported formerly, tests by varsity analysts and other laboratories say they have noted levels of total arsenic in apple juices that were up to three to five times higher than the 10 ppb public drinking water limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ), which is a limit that the FDA imposes for bottled water. The FDA does not set such limits for arsenic in other beverages, though in a Sept. 18 letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has called upon the agency to do it.
As an element of our continuing series of stories about contamination of food and consumer products with lead, cadmium and other heavy metals, we are at present investigating the risks posed by diet exposures to arsenic and will be bringing you additional information soon on this problem and what you can do to reduce your risks of exposure. In the meantime, these are some facts to help cut thru confusion about the kinds of arsenic you could be exposed to in what you drink and eat :
What precisely is arsenic?
Arsenic is a metalloid, meaning it shares properties of metals and non-metals. It can be found in rock and soil, with trace amounts in some areas and heavy concentrations in others. Keep in mind that "naturally occurring" arsenic does not translate to "harmless." On the list of 275 unsafe substances at noxious waste sites, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Illness Registry ranks arsenic as number one, based mostly on hazards to folks living around those sites.
When arsenic leaches from such rock formations into groundwater, it can contaminate water used for drinking and irrigating crops. But arsenic has additionally been employed for many business purposes. For decades arsenic-containing pesticides were widely used in orchards, vineyards and cotton fields. Even though the utilising of lead arsenate insecticides was banned in the U.S. In the late 1980s, arsenic remains in the soil, so past use of those pesticides can end up in contamination of fruit now grown in those orchards. Concerns also have been raised about the likely continuing use of arsenical pesticides in other countries, including China, which now supplies the majority of apple concentrate employed in the U.S.
Arsenic also has been an ingredient in a wood preservative, chromated copper arsenate ( CCA ), employed in pressure-treated lumber ordinarily found in outside decks or children's playground kit. Though CCA was banned for almost all U.S. Residential use in 2003, it's still used industrially and can even contribute to arsenic in groundwater when recycled as mulch. Through all of these routes and more, arsenic can enter the pecking order.
What's the most important difference between organic and inorganic arsenic?
Arsenic can mix with other elements to make compounds that are separated into 2 forms : inorganic arsenic compounds and organic arsenic compounds. When used to explain arsenic, the word "organic" has nothing do with the term that pops up on labeling for foods that meet USDA authorized organic standards.
When arsenic binds to elements such as sulfur, oxygen and chlorine, it forms inorganic arsenic compounds. Inorganic arsenic is a known human carcinogen and is the form found in drinking water, lead-arsenate insecticides and CCA.
Organic arsenic compounds are created when arsenic ties to molecules containing carbon. Marine animal can contain an organic type of arsenic called arsenobetaine, which is generally considered non toxic to humans. But much less is known about the health effects in humans of other sorts of organic arsenic, and products containing them have raised enough concerns they are no longer being sold. EPA in 2006 took steps to stop the use of herbicides containing organic arsenic because of concern about their potential to transform into more toxic inorganic arsenic in the ground and then contaminate drinking water.
Concerns about arsenic in beverages heightened after Mehmet Oz, M.D, a heart surgeon and host of The Dr. Oz Show aired a piece exclaiming findings of lab tests he commissioned that discovered Ten of 3 dozen apple juice samples tested contained total arsenic levels surpassing the 10 parts per bn. ( ppb ) Fed. limit for total arsenic levels in public drinking h2o.
The Oz test findings are just the newest of one or two tests for arsenic in juice conducted during the last three years. As we reported formerly, tests by varsity analysts and other laboratories say they have noted levels of total arsenic in apple juices that were up to three to five times higher than the 10 ppb public drinking water limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ), which is a limit that the FDA imposes for bottled water. The FDA does not set such limits for arsenic in other beverages, though in a Sept. 18 letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has called upon the agency to do it.
As an element of our continuing series of stories about contamination of food and consumer products with lead, cadmium and other heavy metals, we are at present investigating the risks posed by diet exposures to arsenic and will be bringing you additional information soon on this problem and what you can do to reduce your risks of exposure. In the meantime, these are some facts to help cut thru confusion about the kinds of arsenic you could be exposed to in what you drink and eat :
What precisely is arsenic?
Arsenic is a metalloid, meaning it shares properties of metals and non-metals. It can be found in rock and soil, with trace amounts in some areas and heavy concentrations in others. Keep in mind that "naturally occurring" arsenic does not translate to "harmless." On the list of 275 unsafe substances at noxious waste sites, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Illness Registry ranks arsenic as number one, based mostly on hazards to folks living around those sites.
When arsenic leaches from such rock formations into groundwater, it can contaminate water used for drinking and irrigating crops. But arsenic has additionally been employed for many business purposes. For decades arsenic-containing pesticides were widely used in orchards, vineyards and cotton fields. Even though the utilising of lead arsenate insecticides was banned in the U.S. In the late 1980s, arsenic remains in the soil, so past use of those pesticides can end up in contamination of fruit now grown in those orchards. Concerns also have been raised about the likely continuing use of arsenical pesticides in other countries, including China, which now supplies the majority of apple concentrate employed in the U.S.
Arsenic also has been an ingredient in a wood preservative, chromated copper arsenate ( CCA ), employed in pressure-treated lumber ordinarily found in outside decks or children's playground kit. Though CCA was banned for almost all U.S. Residential use in 2003, it's still used industrially and can even contribute to arsenic in groundwater when recycled as mulch. Through all of these routes and more, arsenic can enter the pecking order.
What's the most important difference between organic and inorganic arsenic?
Arsenic can mix with other elements to make compounds that are separated into 2 forms : inorganic arsenic compounds and organic arsenic compounds. When used to explain arsenic, the word "organic" has nothing do with the term that pops up on labeling for foods that meet USDA authorized organic standards.
When arsenic binds to elements such as sulfur, oxygen and chlorine, it forms inorganic arsenic compounds. Inorganic arsenic is a known human carcinogen and is the form found in drinking water, lead-arsenate insecticides and CCA.
Organic arsenic compounds are created when arsenic ties to molecules containing carbon. Marine animal can contain an organic type of arsenic called arsenobetaine, which is generally considered non toxic to humans. But much less is known about the health effects in humans of other sorts of organic arsenic, and products containing them have raised enough concerns they are no longer being sold. EPA in 2006 took steps to stop the use of herbicides containing organic arsenic because of concern about their potential to transform into more toxic inorganic arsenic in the ground and then contaminate drinking water.