Arsenic in your juice: How much is too much? Federal limits don’t exist.

Consumer Reports Magazine ^ | January 2012 | NA

[neverdem]

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.

Controversy over arsenic in apple juice made headlines as the school year began when Mehmet Oz, M.D., host of “The Dr. 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). There’s no federal arsenic threshold for juice or most foods, though the limit for bottled and public water is 10 ppb. 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.”

But an investigation by Consumer Reports shows otherwise. 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:

Roughly 10 percent of our juice samples, from five brands, had total arsenic levels that exceeded federal drinking-water standards. Most of that arsenic was inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen. One in four samples had lead levels higher than the FDA’s bottled-water limit of 5 ppb. As with arsenic, no federal limit exists for lead in juice. 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. Children drink a lot...

--snip--

The form of arsenic in the examples above is inorganic arsenic. It’s a carcinogen known to cause bladder, lung, and skin cancer in people and to increase risks of cardiovascular disease, immunodeficiencies, and type 2 diabetes...

[Viking2002]

I'm out of town and on a lousy connection. Question: is the home tap water filtration issue addressed vis-a-vis it's effectiveness in the removal of arsenic from the municipal water supply? I know our tap water tastes like an alligator took a whiz in it (which isn't too far from the truth), so I can only imagine what else is in it, even after being processed by the local plant. We currently use two pitchers (one Brita, one Pur), for most kitchen uses. I'd like to know if that's doing anything else but making the water taste better.

[TigersEye]

Alligator whiz is the only known substance to precipitate arsenic out of water.
You need to put some in your filters.

[Viking2002]

That's a lot of friggin' help. Maybe I should just go lasso one below the dam and squeeze it off into my home water cooler jug? I'll be sure to let it go in your bathroom after it eats one of my dogs.

[TigersEye]

Sorry. I really don’t know much about arsenic or water filtration. I like alligators though.

[vbmoneyspender]

I died from Arsenic Poisoning a few years ago but I got better.

LOL

[Viking2002]

Well, I'm a Type II diabetic with a question for decimon about arsenic and filtration. So if you'd kindly take your cabaret act to the Oak Room, I'd like to find out if my tap water has helping to turn my pancreas into a slab of inert mystery meat, thank you. My left eye would also thank you, as it's under observation due to symptoms of diabetic retinopathy.

[TigersEye]

Yeah, that’s all my fault and my posts are preventing you from getting other replies. LOL Moron.

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

You’re too funny!

[17th Miss Regt]

They has some ugly socialistic editor hag for a while that was pushing hard for single payer healthcare.

The name Rhoda Karpatkin comes to mind....

[POWERSBOOTHEFAN]

You’re too funny!

[Doe Eyes]

Question: is the home tap water filtration issue addressed vis-a-vis it's effectiveness in the removal of arsenic from the municipal water supply?

Reverse Osmosis will remove arsenic.

[Viking2002]

What's the market look like for retail-level reverse osmosis filters? Are there filters that can be attached at the tap, or do they have to spliced into the main line into the house?

[RileyD, nwJ]

Reference to the J Curve concerning arsenic and other poisons may be found here. Things are not always as they seem.

[neverdem]

Question: is the home tap water filtration issue addressed vis-a-vis it's effectiveness in the removal of arsenic from the municipal water supply? I know our tap water tastes like an alligator took a whiz in it (which isn't too far from the truth), so I can only imagine what else is in it, even after being processed by the local plant. We currently use two pitchers (one Brita, one Pur), for most kitchen uses. I'd like to know if that's doing anything else but making the water taste better.

Go to the original article. At the bottom, the last section is called "Sidebar: Ways to reduce your family’s risk." There's an EPA link about testing water and a "federal Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791."

[Viking2002]

Bookmarked for reading when I'm back at a computer with a better connection - thank you.

[Doe Eyes]

RO filtration produces water that is stored in a tank, usually under the sink. The waste product (water) goes out the drain. Cost about $150 plus install. I installed mine myself.

[neverdem]

Sometimes it’s called a U shaped curve, e.g. alcohol consumption and mortality. Thanks for the link.

[Viking2002]

No, I got the response I solicited, despite you interjecting yourself into the request with an admitted lack of knowledge of what you were talking about. And with none of the parties casting aspersions upon each other's intellectual capabilities. That's how a subject like this is addressed between those suffering from it. Moron.

[Paleo Conservative]

Lady Astor: “If you were my husband, I’d put arsenic in your coffee.”
Churchill: “Madam, if I were your husband, I’d drink it!”br

[Viking2002]

This concept is actually similar to the filtration systems on high-end saltwater aquariums, believe it or not. If I were to do this, I'd like to do it at the point where the water actually enters off the main line.