Slow Saturday Special: Rancid Rice For Breakfast

It is for most of the world, so.... 

"FDA says arsenic levels in rice are not dangerous; But the agency says consumers should vary diet" by Mary Clare Jalonick |  Associated Press, September 07, 2013

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration says consumers should not worry too much about levels of arsenic in rice — but should vary their diets just in case.

(Blog editor just spit out a mouthful)

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The FDA says the amounts are so small that rice is safe to eat and there is no concern of immediate or short-term adverse health effects. But the agency said it is still studying the long-term effects of eating rice.

These are the same people showing no concern that the Gulf of Mexico is now a lifeless pit or that the Pacific has been destroyed as a food source.

Rice is thought to have arsenic in higher levels than most other foods because it is grown in water on the ground, optimal conditions for the contaminant to be absorbed.

Arsenic is naturally present in water, air, food, and soil in two forms, organic and inorganic. Organic arsenic passes through the body quickly and is essentially harmless. Inorganic arsenic — the type found in some pesticides — can be toxic and may pose a cancer risk if consumed at high levels or over a long period.

Honestly, I'm a little offended at the minimization -- once again -- of bad food, poisoned food, contaminated food, the food you eat on faith for Chrissakes. The pesticides have been sprayed over the whole world, and there is wonder why this stuff is being found in the air, soil, and water?

The FDA is looking into how much organic and inorganic arsenic rice eaters are consuming and whether those levels are dangerous. The agency will conduct a risk assessment with the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency to further measure those effects.

But keep on eating that sandwich, kids.

And look what else came up in the Globe's fishing net.

The government and the public health community have long encouraged consumers to vary their diets to minimize risk.

Right, government has always been looking out for your health and not those of the food conglomerates and corporations -- or so claims the corporate pre$$ mouthpiece.

Pediatricians, for example, have moved away from only recommending rice cereal as a baby’s first solid food. There is evidence that other grains and even meats and fruits and vegetables can be just as healthful, said Dr. Stephen Daniels of Children’s Hospital Colorado, the chairman of the nutrition committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Daniels said the FDA results are ‘‘reassuring in many ways’’ and parents who have been giving their infants rice cereal should not be concerned.

How are the mixed me$$ages going down?

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The FDA study looked at rice from the United States, with some of the highest levels of arsenic found in rice grown in Southern states.

Well, that explains a lot of stereotypes, right? I'm sure the world will be wanting to import the stuff for their dinner tables.

It also looked at rice from Asia. The FDA said its study was not large enough to evaluate specific brands.

Meaning the levels are likely even higher, but they don't want to alarm all you over there.

FDA toxicologist Suzanne C. Fitzpatrick said that because arsenic is naturally occurring, it is going to be in food, and because rice is grown in water it will always have higher levels.

‘‘It’s not something that we can just pull off the market,’’ she said.

I suppose eating poisoned food is better than no food. Kills you quicker which means less hunger.

Heck, they are doing you a favor with the covert culling of earth's population.

The rice industry said Friday that it is working with the FDA and is encouraged by the results of the study. The industry has been conducting several of its own studies to try to figure out how to reduce arsenic levels, including investigating different ways to manage the water in which rice is grown and looking at processing and rinsing methods to see if there are ways to reduce arsenic levels.

Won't that put arsenic in the water, and wasn't that an issue years ago when Obomber arbitrarily raised the acceptable levels?

Consumer groups said they also are pleased that the FDA is taking a hard look at arsenic in rice....

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Related: Gone to Globe Well Once Too Often 

Yeah, it's all natural. Don't worry about the fracking at all.

Is there anyone who trusts the FDA or any other government department these days?

"Self-policing of food firms fails, says lawmaker" by Stephanie Armour  |  Bloomberg News, December 23, 2012

WASHINGTON — Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, says she will introduce a bill as soon as January to create an agency with the sole mission of protecting food safety and will press for more funding to prevent foodborne illnesses. 

I thought we already had one.

It is unacceptable for Americans to rely on private inspectors who have ties to food companies and award positive ratings to producers whose farms and factories are tainted with bacteria, DeLauro says.

Translation: You CAN NOT TRUST the SAFETY of the GLOBAL FOOD SUPPLY! 

Best to grow your own or go local farms.

The food industry has taken over much of the monitoring role of the Food and Drug Administration in the past two decades, Bloomberg Markets magazine reported in its November issue. Inspectors, paid by food companies, have awarded safety approval to food that has sickened and killed thousands of people.

No kidding? And yet the headlines blare gun shootings, gun shooting, stabbings, stabbings. It seems the MORE YOU KILL in the CORPORATE PRE$$ the LE$$ COVERAGE! Wars murder millions, corporations killed thousands, domestic authorities kill hundreds, and the ma$$ media focus is always on random acts of aloneness that kill handfuls? 

And HOW MUCH MORE PROOF do you need that this is a TRULY FA$CI$T NATION, folks?

‘‘We have to go after this third-party inspection system,’’ says DeLauro, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which funds the FDA. ‘‘This is a real opening. This is a moment where you can have an impact.’’

And then it was gone.

At the same time, the FDA, which has the resources to inspect less than 5 percent of all food in the United States, is launching an investigation of two farms in Mexico, says Michael Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods.

Yeah, all our tax loot has to go to well-connected corporations, Wall Street financial firms, aid for Israel, and the funding of lavish political lifestyles of our leaders. Food health and safety, pffft!

Bloomberg Markets found unsanitary conditions at those growers, including workers defecating in the field and wiping their hands on their pants.

You may want to take wash that stuff in arsenic-laden water, yeah.  

For some reason, I just lost my appetite.

The FDA will also step up inspections at the Mexican border to find potentially contaminated produce, Taylor says.

Overall, 48 million Americans fall ill each year from unsafe food; 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.

Wow, a 9/11 every year due to unsafe food. Wow. 

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At least the health in$urers and pharmaceutical companies benefited from all the products Americans were forced to buy to alleviate the symptoms of food poisoning. 

Related:

"Johnson & Johnson, the biggest health-care products maker, continued to sell a vaginal mesh implant for nine months after US regulators told the company to stop marketing the device, according to court records. The Food and Drug Administration cleared the device in May 2008 without ordering sanctions, after nine months of negotiations with J&J’s Ethicon unit. The company faces more than 1,400 lawsuits by women who said the mesh caused organ perforation, pain, scarring, and nerve damage." 

But they are looking out for your health, ladies.