Public warned on cancer-causing toxic chemical in commercial rice
After the escalating prices of rice in the market, the consumers may now have to deal with another problem.
At least two groups have raised concerns that the rice imported by the National Food Authority (NFA) and made available in the local market may contain arsenic, a cancer-causing toxic chemical.
A Quezon City-based health watchdog, the EcoWaste Coalition, raised the warning and demanded that the Department of Agriculture (DA) initiate urgent efforts to ensure that rice sold commercially is safe for human consumption.
Thony Dizon, coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition Project Protect, said DA officials should immediately get samples of polished rice being locally sold to determine if they contain the hazardous chemical.
“The sampling should cover locally grown rice, as well as rice imported from other countries,” Dizon said.
Dizon said for the sake of transparency and accuracy, the rice sampling process should involve the food safety stakeholders.
At the same time, Mike Domingo, convenor of People for Empowerment and Truth, said that rice is the main staple of the Filipino people, hence the government should take seriously “this unwelcome development.”
“The government should ensure that the millions of tons of imported rice are safe,” he said.
Domingo was reacting to a July 19 news article of the South China Morning Post which reported that the Codex Alimentarius Commission has decided to recommend a uniform “international standard limiting the arsenic level of rice being sold in the market by rice exporting countries.”
Codex is an international body established by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) that sets international food safety and quality standards.
According to Codex, arsenic is present in many foods due to absorption from the soil and water.
Arsenic is said to be a highly toxic metallic element and its component is being used in the manufacture of pesticides, weed killers and other products for farming and agriculture purposes.
A study of a Geneva-based commission revealed that consumption of food that contains arsenic beyond the tolerable limit could cause serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and nervous system breakdown.
Bangladesh, parts of China, Cambodia, India and Vietnam were reportedly among the countries found to have high level of arsenic on their rice products.
Domingo also raised concerns on the entry of imported rice and his group suggested that the government rethink its rice importation policies.
“We should rather focus our attention on how we could develop our farms and farmers so that we would not depend on other countries to feed our countrymen,” he explained.
“Being a rice-eating nation of 100 million people, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala and Food Security Chief Francis Pangilinan need to ensure that all Filipinos, especially the children and other vulnerable groups, have access to safe rice,” Dizon added.
“Rice in particular can take up more arsenic than other foods; due to its high consumption, it can contribute significantly to arsenic exposure,” Codex said.
At the recent 37th Session in Geneva, Switzerland, Codex adopted several food safety standards, including maximum allowable levels for inorganic arsenic in rice, fumonisins in maize and maize products and lead in infant formula, as well as maximum levels for food additives and maximum residue levels for pesticides.
Arsenic belongs to the WHO’s list of “10 chemicals of major public health concern.”
“Contaminated water used for drinking, food preparation and irrigation of food crops poses the greatest threat to public health from arsenic,” the WHO fact sheet warned.
The WHO report noted that long-term exposure to arsenic from drinking-water and food can cause cancer and skin lesions, adding it has also been associated with developmental effects, cardiovascular disease, neurotoxicity and diabetes.
Source: Yahoo News
Published: 28 July 2014
Category: Features, Health alert
