Good explanation in this article about how rice agricultural practices can raise the level of inorganic arsenic in the rice (and how climate change will drive those numbers up) #chemsky 🧪⚗️ www.bbc.com/future/artic... - ThreadSky

chemjobber.bsky.social • 2 days ago

Good explanation in this article about how rice agricultural practices can raise the level of inorganic arsenic in the rice (and how climate change will drive those numbers up)

#chemsky 🧪⚗️

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250417-how-climate-change-could-affect-arsenic-in-rice

Comments

graver0byn.bsky.social•2 days ago

What about the drying out afterwards?

graver0byn.bsky.social•2 days ago

Never mind, that's asian rice not Californian

coal-carter.bsky.social•2 days ago

it sticks around as primarily arsenate or arsenite. There's some literature out there about removing arsenic via soaking procedures prior to cooking. Simple washes don't do much

graver0byn.bsky.social•2 days ago

The Japanese man that I lived with for decades washed and soaked his rice.
Is there any evidence of heavy rice eaters like the Japanese getting arsenic poisoning? Most Japanese that I knew personally are now in their 70s or close, and doing fine.

coal-carter.bsky.social•2 days ago

The amount you'd be exposed to is highly geographically dependent.

I don't think there's concern about "poisoning" but there is concern about chronic effects that it can have. There are a lot of studies on this question. It kind of seems to be "it depends" 🤷‍♂️

coal-carter.bsky.social•2 days ago

Though there is also concern about toxic elements in some food coming from ocean in general. Like kelps and algaes (and infamously fish higher up the food chain). Atmospheric pollution and mining activities unfortunately make the problem worse

coal-carter.bsky.social•2 days ago

There's an interesting study on the levels of lead in wine that was produced during the years before, during, and after leases gasoline was phased out. It is not a subtle correlation

comptonscatter.bsky.social•1 day ago

doesn't the US constantly warn people about baby food made with rice?

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/06/health/arsenic-infant-rice-cereal-fda-wellness/index.html

graver0byn.bsky.social•1 day ago

I don't know, I can't have children

comptonscatter.bsky.social•1 day ago

2 decades as a non-parent I regularly ran into baby-rice-arsenic stories but it might've been the stuff I tended to read back then. Or maybe it's bc I've never lived a span of my life *not* next to a toxic waste dump or Superfund site, dunno.

adamouest.bsky.social•18 hours ago

https://greekreporter.com/2025/04/18/heavy-metals-toothpaste/

graver0byn.bsky.social•18 hours ago

Fawk! Well, she needs to release the whole list! The Roman's used powdered lead as makeup!!
Definitely do not swallow toothpaste even without lead as fluoride is poisonous.

coal-carter.bsky.social•18 hours ago

I have quibbles with these kinds of reports. I can detect uranium in my tap water, because detecting something is easy if you have good enough equipment. The question is always what the exposure is RELATIVE to other avenues

calicoday.bsky.social•2 days ago

Always wondered why paddies. Used to thinking of plants as the underdog vs weeds but in water, rice > weed. Cool.

coal-carter.bsky.social•2 days ago

There are similar processes in The ocean as well. Microbes metabolize mercury oxide into methyl mercury, which due to its higher bioaccessibility then bioaccumulates

coal-carter.bsky.social•2 days ago

With the whole counterintuitive thing that typically organometallics are more dangerous than pure inorganics. Except for arsenic. Which can also replace phosphate in some processes

supersciencegrl.co.uk•2 days ago

There's methylmercury IN THE OCEAN???

timoer.bsky.social•2 days ago

The inorganic mercury is converted to methylmercury by bacteria and plankton; >75% of mercury in fish and shellfish is methylmercury

coal-carter.bsky.social•2 days ago

Methyl mercury cation, yeah. That's the form that people are worried about with mercury in seafood

supersciencegrl.co.uk•2 days ago

Aha wasn't sure whether you meant the horror of Me2Hg
Not that the cation isn't also horrific

coal-carter.bsky.social•2 days ago

Lol not to my knowledge. That would be wild

simonhammann.bsky.social•2 days ago

Don't eat the tuna

comptonscatter.bsky.social•1 day ago

*remembers big signs at every freshwater lake in Michigan warning preggers and young kids not to eat what they catch*

meh, it's all everywhere, don't eat anything

popher.bsky.social•13 hours ago

Interesting

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