A recent study has definitively confirmed that excessive consumption of arsenic-containing rice can lead to genetic damage, i.e., damage to the nuclear membrane of the cell nucleus. Although various reports have earlier confirmed that the human body can absorb toxic elements through rice consumption, but did not attract the attention of the U.S. FDA, the study provides strong evidence for the Consumers Union to urge the FDA to establish safety restrictions on arsenic-containing rice as soon as possible. It has been more than a decade since scientists first warned the world about excessive levels of arsenic in rice, a warning based on rice’s ability to naturally absorb toxic elements from the soil. Successive studies have proven that rice products contain higher levels of arsenic than any grain. Consumer health advocates are actively urging health regulators to set standards for rice safety. China, a high consumer of rice in the world, is doing so. The World Health Organization is currently working on relevant safety standards. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, under pressure from activist social groups, reluctantly announced that official development of relevant standards was being explored. Awaiting Regulation Although the FDA has released some data in response to a comprehensive data report from the Consumer Research Coalition on arsenic levels in rice, the agency has so far not provided any further information or set a deadline for when safety standards will be developed. Lisa Madigan, a public health researcher with Consumers Union and Illinois Attorney General, wrote to the FDA last month to ask why the agency has been so slow to develop safety standards to protect U.S. consumers, and stressed in her letter that nearly every test of rice products has reported excessive arsenic levels. Yet in the face of questions from multiple sources, the FDA has neither acted nor explained to the public. The U.S. Rice Federation insists that excessive arsenic in rice does not affect health. However, data from a study released last week showed a direct link between high rice consumption and genetic damage caused by arsenic. Cells with damaged nuclear membranes Researchers from the University of Manchester and the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology studied 400 subjects living in the West Bengal region of India, a group of subjects who consumed rice as a staple food, but had no other similar sources of arsenic such as drinking water. The researchers collected urine from 400 subjects and screened many cells shed from the urinary tract (these cells float in the urine). The researchers chose these cells because they were easy to obtain, did not require invasive procedures to collect samples from the body, and because of the link between arsenic and gastrointestinal diseases. The researchers searched for cells with damaged nuclei using the micronucleus test, a standard screening test for compounds that cause genetic damage, also known as genotoxicity. The study found that elemental arsenic was responsible for malignant bladder and lung tumors in humans. Rice “feast” Researchers conducted chemical analyses of rice from subjects and the results revealed a number of problems. The study found a significant correlation between the level of arsenic in rice and the degree of damage to the subjects’ cell nuclear membranes, which were damaged when the concentration of arsenic in rice exceeded 2 mg/kg, and the arsenic in rice was derived from inorganic arsenic compounds, which ironically are the most toxic arsenic compounds by the WHO. Although this is the first definitive evidence of a link between arsenic and nuclear membrane damage, there have been earlier reports that the human body can absorb toxic elements through rice consumption. 2011 Dartmouth College epidemiologist Margaret Karagas conducted urine tests on pregnant women in New Hampshire who had been using rice for a long time and found that their arsenic levels were as high as 56%, much higher than those who did not consume rice. This was much higher than in pregnant women who did not consume rice. Although concerns about excessive arsenic in rice have been raised for some time, this study is the first to definitively link high levels of arsenic-containing rice consumption to hereditary damage. This study vindicates additional concerns about the adequacy of regulation of arsenic in rice. The FDA, at the urging of Consumers Union, set safety limits on arsenic in apple juice this summer, however, safety limits on arsenic in rice remain unqualified.