Please post which brands had the issue so we can address it with those companies!

This study only narrowly looks at the uptake of arsenic from soil by brown rice crops used in organic production (as an alternative to high fructose corn syrup). The bigger question consumers might want to consider is where did the arsenic come from -- and where else does it show up in our food supply??

Although arsenic is an element that naturally occurs in soils and groundwater, it is usually present at lower concentrations. However, unlike conventional agricultural practices which use large amounts of arsenic-based herbicide, insecticide and feed formulations -- organic agriculture strictly prohibits their use -- as well as a wide range of toxic pesticides with documented negative health and environmental effects that end up on and in our food supply on a daily basis.

Fact is, in addition to the current reliance on arsenic-based pesticides -- persistent residues from sixty-some years of postwar conventional chemical farming operations have left a buildup of arsenic (and other pesticides) residues in our soils (and drinking and irrigation water) that has become the inheritance of our food supply today -- affecting both conventional and organic agriculture.

Along with the persistent neurotoxin pesticides in our food system, arsenic contamination is a worrisome problem, especially for children. Crop contamination from these residues represents a major challenge for organic -- as well as for our whole food system. While some heavily chemically-farmed soils will contain pesticide hot spots well into the future (if not forever) other soils still have low levels that can safely grow crops like rice which are known to extract arsenic.

All in all, organic agriculture is a major part of the solution. Organic soil building practices have been shown to remediate toxic soil conditions -- and unlike today's chemical ag methods they are not still adding more and more...

If I tell you I'm going to drop by your house today and put "JUST A LITTLE ARSENIC in your water,food, and babies food"----Would you let me?

I wonder where that brown rice is grown,and what pesticide is on it,or the land it's grown on?

Consumer Reports has an article on the issue of arsenic in rice. Rice that is grown in areas previously used for cultivation of cotton, such as the Carolinas, seems to have the highest content, apparently from the pesticides applied during cotton production. Rice grown in California has lower arsenic content, but it is still there because arsenic is also a natural mineral in certain types of rocks. Without better guidance, the best thing is to avoid baby products sweetened with brown rice syrup. At a recent talk at Dartmouth (I live and work in the Dartmouth area), the researcher noted that rinsing rice and cooking it like pasta in lots of water that you then throw out will leach out much of the arsenic. At the same time, he said that unless one eats rice on a daily basis, exposure for adults is not dangerous.

Where are all these products being manufactured? Has got to be an answer for that! As consumers need to know!! There has to be a recall on main items the organizations must list them!!!

Organic food can have arsenic and it is good for you. If it was bad for you they couldn't say it was organic. It is good to get a little sick sometimes to get a strong immunity. That is why organic food costs more. Anything with brown rice is good for you. When companies make food too pure that is very bad for you.

Also, Heather, people don't appreciate the difference between sustainable arsenic and industrial arsenic.

I think a typographic error was made in this article. Specifically, the statement: "One of the "energy shot" drinks registered at 84 ppm." I don't see, in the published article being cited (B. P. Jackson et. al, 2012) that the Dartmouth investigators found ANY arsenic level in the parts per million range. All values I saw reported were in the range of parts per billion (ppb or nanogram per gram). Also, I don't see that this article mentioned the point that the arsenic levels which were found were speciated by the study's authors who state in their article: "Moreover, the major As species is the more toxic Asi in the overwhelming majority of food products we
have tested." I hope we don't hear (as we did initially in the reports of arsenic in fruit juice) any more pathetic arguments regarding the toxicological merits of organic vs. inorganic arsenic.

Funny, why aren't the Darthmouth investigators researching GMO'S!!! Maybe this research was funded by Monsanto. I will never ever eat anything with corn syrup !! Why aren't we seeing anything about GMO's in the national news!! Just discussing, I for one will never not eat organic rice or anything with organic rice syrup.

My wife has been eating these "Go Naturally" hard organic candies like crazy, to help with her larynx reflux....after having burning throat being worse, we are wondering if this is the reason why...they are made with organic brown rice syrup....