Posted By Karin on January 25, 2013

Poison in Our Rice

By Karin DuBois

If you’re eating sushi, put down your chopsticks.

Consumer Reports tested more than 200 samples of rice products, including rice cakes, brown rice, white rice, rice cereals for babies, and both conventional and organically grown rice, and found that all products tested positive for arsenic. Most samples contained significant levels of inorganic arsenic, a toxin that the Environmental Protection Agency lists as a potent carcinogen with no safe levels of consumption. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency also says consuming arsenic leads to health problems in humans, especially cancer (it is known to cause bladder, lung and skin cancer and may also contribute to liver, kidney and prostate malignancies). Yet in both Canada and the US, there are no regulations concerning the amount of arsenic allowed in rice and there are no recommended limits on daily rice consumption either.

Arsenic is found in the earth’s core and gets absorbed into soil, water, rock and air through natural weather processes. The toxin is also used in pesticides and wood preservatives, causing soil contamination. Since arsenic can persist in the earth for 45 years, insecticides that were used decades ago and are now banned can still poison our crops today. According to The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, most human exposure to inorganic arsenic occurs from drinking water and food consumption, most notably rice (other grains, such as wheat, have significantly lower levels of arsenic).

Studies looking at the varying levels of arsenic in different types of rice are limited but brown rice  seems to contain higher levels of arsenic than white rice, likely because a large amount of the toxin is absorbed into the grain’s outer hulls, which are then stripped to create white rice. It is currently unclear whether arsenic levels differ in organic (versus conventionally grown) rice.

While concerning amounts of arsenic were detected in all types of rice, young children consuming rice products may be particularly vulnerable due to exposure to the toxin during crucial years of development. Consumer Reports noted “worrisome levels” of the poison in infant cereals, including one sample of organic brown rice cereal that tested at 329 ppb. As a reference point, the federally regulated limit for arsenic in water in the United States is 10 ppb. Infants are often given rice cereals instead of wheat-based food products because they are less allergenic, but based on the potential for arsenic consumption, some toxicology experts think parents should be concerned.

Michael Waalkes, laboratory chief at the Division of the National Toxicology Program, says being exposed to a toxin like arsenic while in utero or in early childhood – a time when cell development in the body is vital – can cause damage that could appear decades later (Waalkes co-authored a June 2012 study that concluded that early life exposure to arsenic caused cancers and other illnesses later in life).

Consumer Reports took their findings one step further and analyzed over 3600 Americans who consumed rice to see if they had higher levels of arsenic in their bodies than those who didn’t eat rice. They found that those who ate one or two portions of rice had respectively 44 and 70 percent higher levels of arsenic in their urine than those who avoided the grain.   

Based on these findings, Consumer Union, the advocacy branch of Consumer Reports, has set recommended limits for rice product consumption in both children and adults. For example, they recommend no more than one rice cake per week for children, and no more than two and a half per week for adults. They are also urging the public to take action and lobby their governing agents for regulations to be set.

To read the complete results of the Consumer Reports investigation on arsenic in rice, please click here:  

http://www.consumerreports.org/content/dam/cro/magazine-articles/2012/November/Consumer%20Reports%20Arsenic%20in%20Food%20November%202012_1.pdf

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Posted By Karin on April 9, 2012

Originally published in the Salt Lake Tribune on February 29, 2012

Written by Karin DuBois

As a child, the possibilities seemed endless. Megan Elizabeth Kemp wanted to be a fashion designer. And a singer. And an author.

In a blog, she writes about the sleepless nights she spent in high school enthusiastically dreaming up fashion designs. Filled with bottled excitement, she would climb out of bed and bring her vision to life with a sewing machine, working all night and then proudly wearing her creation to school the next day.

Today, she rarely sings, even though she finds it soul-lifting. She has a fashion degree, but only sews for fun. And she has files of children’s stories saved on her computer that no one, other than a few family members, has read.

Somewhere along the way, the West Valley City resident stopped believing in her grand plans, allowing her dreams to fade into the background. But there’s been a shift. The 30-year-old mother of one has Stage 4 breast cancer, an incurable illness, and now wants to fulfill her neglected wishes before her disease takes over.

Her biggest dream? To design an outfit for Lady Gaga.

With time not on her side, Kemp needs help to empty her bucket list. While she’s adamant about not needing fame or power, she says trying to reach her goal will help her find the faith in herself that she had as a child, and also teach her 4-year-old daughter that having dreams is important.

Kemp had just finished breast-feeding then-10-month-old Makena when she was diagnosed with advanced-stage breast cancer. She initially responded well to hormone therapy. But the treatment stopped working after a few months.

Now, three years later, the young mother undergoes chemotherapy every three weeks. She hasn’t been told how long she is expected to live.

“I have a secret goal to make it to 40,” she says, “but I want to take what I have and do the best with it.”

For Kemp, the best includes going public with her dream of designing an outfit for Lady Gaga. In a YouTube video called “Help Me Gaga” that will be posted Friday, Kemp talks about her lifelong regrets and addresses the singer directly, hoping the clip will garner enough attention to connect her with the music superstar. She wants to interview the icon to feel out her mood, and then design a dress for her.

“I love her moxie when it comes to what she’ll wear,” Kemp says. If Lady Gaga “would take a second to believe in me the way she believed in herself, I just think that would be incredible.”

The West Valley City woman hopes to get her own community to share the YouTube clip, both to propel her toward her dreams and to inspire others toward theirs.

“None of us get to know for sure when we die,” she says. “If you knew you were going to die, what would you want? What regrets would you have?”

Kemp first wrote about her goals in a blog called “My Life with Stage Four Breast Cancer” to prove to herself that she was serious about her dreams. When she received positive feedback from friends and family, she felt even more motivated to work toward realizing those dreams.

“To think people are listening and are interested, that’s cool,” she says.

While designing for Lady Gaga is her ultimate goal, Kemp also hopes to someday publish a children’s story and to organize a fashion show to display her creative designs and raise money for cancer.

“It’s so much fun to be involved in a fashion show,” she says. “So to do one with all my designs I think would be awesome.”

As for her childhood dreams of becoming a singer? That’s on the sidelines. Kemp realizes she doesn’t have the energy to pursue that goal, but is content sharing her voice with her daughter.

Along with terminal cancer, Kemp deals with Crohn’s disease and arthritis. But she feels grateful to have a wonderful husband and daughter and a “good life.” Although she would be thrilled to empty her bucket list, Kemp says it won’t dictate her overall happiness. Most important, she hopes to set an example for her daughter.

“I want my daughter, Makena, to know that her dreams are possible and that her mom didn’t give up,” she writes in her blog. “Not in life, not in health, and not in her dreams.”

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