If you've seen or heard the current reports about tests that located arsenic in apple juice, you may be wondering whether it might be perilous to juice drinkers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement trying to assure customers that most of the arsenic in juices and other foods was of the so-called "organic" form, which the agency recounted was "essentially harmless." But latest systematic proof and public information issued by another Fed agency puts doubt on that conclusion.

Fears about arsenic in beverages heightened after Mehmet Oz, M.D, a heart operator and host of The Dr. Oz Show aired a segment announcing results of lab tests he commissioned that found 10 of 3 dozen apple juice samples tested contained total arsenic levels surpassing the 10 parts per billion ( ppb ) Fed. limit for total arsenic levels in public drinking h2o.

The Oz test results are just the most recent of one or two tests for arsenic in juice conducted during the last 3 years. As we reported formerly, tests by university analysts and other laboratories say they have noted levels of total arsenic in apple juices that were up to 3 to 5 times higher than the 10 ppb public drinking water limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ), which is a limit that the FDA imposes for bottled water. The FDA does not set such boundaries for arsenic in other drinks, though in a Sept. Eighteen letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has called upon the agency to do that.

As an element of our continuing series of stories about contamination of food and consumer goods with lead, cadmium and other heavy metals, we are at present digging into the hazards posed by diet exposures to arsenic and will be bringing you additional info shortly on this problem and what can be done to reduce your risks of exposure. Meanwhile, these are some facts to help cut thru bafflement about the types of arsenic you may be exposed to in what you eat and drink :

What exactly is arsenic?
Arsenic is a metalloid, meaning it shares properties of metals and non-metals. It can be found in rock and soil, with trace amounts in some areas and heavy concentrations in others. Bear in mind that "naturally occurring" arsenic doesn't translate to "harmless." On the list of 275 unsafe substances at dangerous waste sites, the Fed. Agency for Poisonous Substances and Illness Registry ranks arsenic as number one, primarily based on hazards to people living around those sites.

When arsenic leaches from such rock formations into groundwater, it can contaminate water utilized for drinking and irrigating crops. But arsenic has additionally been employed for many commercial uses. For many years arsenic-containing insecticides were commonly used in orchards, vineyards and cotton fields. Although the use of lead arsenate pesticides was banned in the U.S. In the late 1980s, arsenic remains in the soil, so past use of those pesticides can end up in contamination of fruit now grown in those orchards. Concerns also have been raised about the likely continuing use of arsenical insecticides in other countries, including China, which now supplies the bulk of apple concentrate employed in the U.S.

Arsenic also has been an ingredient in a wood preservative, chromated copper arsenate ( CCA ), utilized in pressure-treated lumber ordinarily found in out of doors decks or children's playground kit. Though CCA was banned for virtually all U.S. Residential use in 2003, it is still used industrially and can even make a contribution to arsenic in groundwater when recycled as mulch. Through all these routes and more, arsenic can enter the food chain.

What's the greatest difference between organic and inorganic arsenic?
Arsenic can mix with other elements to create compounds that are split into 2 forms : inorganic arsenic compounds and organic arsenic compounds. When used to describe arsenic, the word "organic" has nothing do with the term that is on labeling for foods that meet USDA licensed organic standards.

When arsenic ties to elements such as sulfur, oxygen and chlorine, it forms inorganic arsenic compounds. Inorganic arsenic is a known human carcinogen and is the form found in drinking water, lead-arsenate insecticides and CCA.

Organic arsenic compounds are created when arsenic binds to molecules containing carbon. Fish can contain an organic sort of arsenic called arsenobetaine, which is usually believed non-toxic to humans. But a lot less is understood about the health effects in humans of other types of organic arsenic, and products containing them have raised enough concerns they are no longer being sold. EPA in 2006 took steps to stop the employment of herbicides containing organic arsenic because of concern about their potential to transform into more toxic inorganic arsenic in the ground and then contaminate drinking reseviors.