"FDA Issues Warning on Arsenic in Infant Rice Cereal"

"After several years of study, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today advised parents to stop feeding their infants so much rice cereal, warning that the latest research now suggests that arsenic concentrations in the grain can interfere with cognitive development.

It was the agency’s strongest acknowledgment yet that arsenic in the food supply poses a measurable risk to American citizens.

In a “Consumer Update” posted early this afternoon, titled “Seven Things Parents and Pregnant Women Need to Know about Arsenic in Rice and Rice Cereal,” the agency stated that it had found that “exposure may result in children’s decreased performance on certain developmental tests that measure learning.”

The FDA also advised pregnant women to avoid a diet high in rice products, again because of arsenic exposure, citing a “growing body of scientific studies linking adverse pregnancy outcomes to intake of relatively high levels of inorganic arsenic during pregnancy.”"

Deborah Blum reports for Undark April 1, 2016.