Thursday, June 12, 2025
54.5 °f
Magee
  • About Us
  • Our Team
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
MageeNews.com
Advertisement
  • Home
  • Message from the Prez
  • News
  • Happenings
  • Obituaries
  • Sports
  • Schools
  • Videos
  • Ducks on the Pond
  • Home
  • Message from the Prez
  • News
  • Happenings
  • Obituaries
  • Sports
  • Schools
  • Videos
  • Ducks on the Pond
No Result
View All Result
MageeNews.com
No Result
View All Result
Home News Mississippi News

Arsenic in infant rice cereals compared with lead exposure

Sue Honea by Sue Honea
December 8, 2017
in Mississippi News, News
0
Arsenic in infant rice cereals compared with lead exposure
0
SHARES
16
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward MageeNews.com a small commission – at no extra cost to you.

By Dan Flynn | December 8, 2017

Food Safety News

To view a larger version of the graphic, please click on the image.
Infant rice cereals are popular with parents because they are affordable, easy to digest, and unlikely to cause allergic reactions. Infants typically begin eating cereals when they are between 4 and 6 months old.
But, rice absorbs more arsenic from soil and water than other grains used for infant cereals; about 10 times more. Consequently, the level of arsenic in infant rice cereals is an ongoing concern among researchers and some public health advocates. Some are comparing the danger from arsenic with the dangers of children’s exposure to lead.
A new report by activist health researchers credits cereal makers for limiting arsenic levels in infant rice cereals since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s most recent study, which was for 2013-14.
Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF), an alliance of scientists, nonprofits and donors, published the report. It found 85 ppb (parts per billion) of arsenic, on average in rice cereals tested in 2016-17. That’s about a 21 percent improvement over FDA’s 2013-14 average of 103 ppb.
But HBBF says arsenic in nine favorite brands of infant rice cereal is still too high in light of “growing science on arsenic’ toxicity at low levels…” Arsenic toxicity, according to the new report, causes lung, bladder and skin cancer. It also retards neurodevelopment of children exposed in utero or during the first few years of life.
The findings include an analysis by Abt Associates, an economic and toxicology research group, that shows rice-based foods are resulting in a loss of 9.2 million IQ points among 0- to 6-year-old children. Lower IQs will decrease lifetime wages for those children when they are adults, costing the United States an estimated $12 billion to $18 billion annually, according to the report.
The FDA should have already taken high-arsenic cereals off store shelves, according to HBBF.
“It hasn’t happened,” the report says. “FDA is, in a word, stalled. More than a year after issuing its 2016 draft guidance to cereal makers — the culmination of four years of assessment — FDA is falling short of protecting infants.”
HBBF says FDA has neither set a final limit for arsenic in rice cereal nor finalized the cap proposed in the draft guidance.
Arsenic levels in drinking water are strictly regulated, but there are no limits for infant rice cereal.
The new report is described as “parent-friendly” because it reviews 105 kinds of infant cereal showing non-rice and multi-grain cereals that contain as much as 84 percent less arsenic than leading brands of infant rice cereals. It says these alternatives are “reliable and affordable.”

Related posts

WICKER, HYDE-SMITH PRAISE ENACTMENT OF THE HBCU PARTNERSHIP ACT

WICKER, HYDE-SMITH DEMAND AN END TO BIDEN-ERA FLOOD INSURANCE PREMIUMS

June 11, 2025
Womack Named SCTC Student of the Term

HYDE-SMITH JOINS RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE JUNE AS ‘LIFE MONTH’

June 9, 2025

Source: Healthy Babies Bright Futures (HBBF)


While calling upon FDA to “act immediately to set an enforceable, health-based limit for arsenic in infant rice cereal and other rice-based foods, the report also called upon cereal makers to implement changes.
“We found no evidence to suggest that any brand has reduced arsenic levels in rice cereal to amounts comparable to those found in other types of cereal, despite at least five years of significant public attention to the issue that has included widespread consumer alerts and proposed federal action level,” according to the report.
The study — funded by the Forsythia and Passport Foundations and The John Merck Fund — warns parents to avoid rice-only infant cereals entirely. “Non-rice and multi-grain alternatives have lower arsenic contamination, and are a healthier choice,” the nonprofit organization recommends.
Additional information about arsenic is available at FDA’s main arsenic page and at Arsenic in Rice and Rice Products.
“Rice has higher levels of inorganic arsenic than other foods, in part because as rice plants grow, the plant and grain tend to absorb arsenic more readily than other food crops,” according to the FDA website.
“In April 2016, the FDA proposed an action level, or limit, of 100 parts per billion (ppb) for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal. This level, which is based on the FDA’s assessment of a large body of scientific information, seeks to reduce infant exposure to inorganic arsenic. The agency also has developed advice on rice consumption for pregnant women and the caregivers of infants,” according to the FDA website.

 

 

Tags: arseniccerealFDAhealthMageeNews.comrice
Previous Post

Beta Club Induction and Officer Pinning

Next Post

Mississippi Influenza Update

Next Post
Flu in Mississippi

Mississippi Influenza Update

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Latest News

Mississippi’s Seafood Labeling Law to take effect July 1, 2025

by Sue Honea
June 11, 2025
0
Mississippi’s Seafood Labeling Law to take effect July 1, 2025

(JACKSON, Miss.) – The Mississippi Legislature has recently passed House Bill 602, marking a significant move to enhance transparency in...

Read more

Will Brooks, MS Forestry Agent, informs Magee Lions Club on recovery from the drought

by Sue Honea
June 11, 2025
0
Will Brooks, MS Forestry Agent, informs Magee Lions Club on recovery from the drought

The Magee Lions Club heard from Mississippi State Forestry agent Will Brooks at their last meeting. He shared an update...

Read more

Willie Clyde Breeden, 82 of Mendenhall, Mississippi

by Sue Honea
June 11, 2025
0
Willie Clyde Breeden, 82 of Mendenhall, Mississippi

Willie Clyde Breeden, 82 of Mendenhall, MS passed away Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at his residence in Mendenhall, MS. He...

Read more
Facebook Twitter Youtube RSS Instagram
MageeNews.com

MageeNews.com is THE source for news and views in Simpson County, Mississippi, and beyond.

Recent News

Mississippi’s Seafood Labeling Law to take effect July 1, 2025

Mississippi’s Seafood Labeling Law to take effect July 1, 2025

June 11, 2025
Will Brooks, MS Forestry Agent, informs Magee Lions Club on recovery from the drought

Will Brooks, MS Forestry Agent, informs Magee Lions Club on recovery from the drought

June 11, 2025
Willie Clyde Breeden, 82 of Mendenhall, Mississippi

Willie Clyde Breeden, 82 of Mendenhall, Mississippi

June 11, 2025
Magee, US
Thursday, June 12, 2025
scattered clouds
54.5 ° f
45%
3.47mh
25%
66 f 45 f
Wed
68 f 40 f
Thu
71 f 44 f
Fri
75 f 46 f
Sat

© 2023 MageeNews.com

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Sue Stuff
  • News
  • Happenings
  • Schools
  • Sports
  • Obituaries
  • Ducks on the Pond
  • Videos

© 2023 MageeNews.com