Lead-arsenate insecticides were widely used in cotton fields, orchards, and vineyards until their use was banned in the 1980s. About half of that cumulative total has been used since only the mid-1960s. See the map from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) showing test results of arsenic levels in groundwater throughout the United States.īut the public's exposure to arsenic extends beyond those areas because since 1910, the United States has used roughly 1.6 million tons of it for agricultural and other industrial uses. "People sometimes say, ‘If arsenic exposure is so bad, why don't you see more people sick or dying from it?' But the many diseases likely to be increased by exposure even at relatively low levels are so common already that its effects are overlooked simply because no one has looked carefully for the connection," says Joshua Hamilton, Ph.D., a toxicologist specializing in arsenic research and the chief academic and scientific officer at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.Īs our investigation found, when scientists and doctors do look, the connections they've found underscore the need to protect public health by reducing Americans' exposure to this potent toxin.Īrsenic is a naturally occurring element that can contaminate groundwater used for drinking and irrigation in areas where it's abundant, such as parts of New England, the Midwest, and the Southwest. They recommend an even lower arsenic limit for juice: 3 ppb. Our scientists believe that juice should at least meet the 5 ppb lead limit for bottled water. Our findings have prompted Consumers Union, the advocacy division of Consumer Reports, to urge the FDA to set arsenic and lead standards for apple and grape juice. Inorganic arsenic has been detected at disturbing levels in other foods, too, which suggests that more must be done to reduce overall dietary exposure.Mounting scientific evidence suggests that chronic exposure to arsenic and lead even at levels below water standards can result in serious health problems.Thirty-five percent of children 5 and younger drink juice in quantities exceeding pediatricians' recommendations, our poll of parents shows. Apple and grape juice constitute a significant source of dietary exposure to arsenic, according to our analysis of federal health data from 2003 through 2008.As with arsenic, no federal limit exists for lead in juice. One in four samples had lead levels higher than the FDA's bottled-water limit of 5 ppb.Most of that arsenic was inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen. Roughly 10 percent of our juice samples, from five brands, had total arsenic levels that exceeded federal drinking-water standards.Our study, including tests of apple and grape juice ( download a PDF of our complete test results), a scientific analysis of federal health data, a consumer poll, and interviews with doctors and other experts, finds the following: The Food and Drug Administration, trying to reassure consumers about the safety of apple juice, claimed that most arsenic in juices and other foods is of the organic type that is "essentially harmless."īut an investigation by Consumer Reports shows otherwise. There's no federal arsenic threshold for juice or most foods, though the limit for bottled and public water is 10 ppb. Oz Show," told viewers that tests he'd commissioned found 10 of three dozen apple-juice samples with total arsenic levels exceeding 10 parts per billion (ppb). Arsenic has long been recognized as a poison and a contaminant in drinking water, but now concerns are growing about arsenic in foods, especially in fruit juices that are a mainstay for children.Ĭontroversy over arsenic in apple juice made headlines as the school year began when Mehmet Oz, M.D., host of "The Dr.
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