Purdue expert can speak about arsenic in rice

September 19, 2012  


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University scientist is available to comment on a report alerting consumers to levels of arsenic in rice.

Consumer Reports plans to release a report detailing arsenic found in rice and rice products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it found similar results in its tests.

There are no federal limits on arsenic in rice, but the FDA is planning more tests before making any reccomendations on rice consumption.

Jody Banks, a professor of botany and plant pathology, studies how plants accumulate and tolerate arsenic.

Banks has cloned a gene responsible for arsenic tolerance in an unusual fern that hyperaccumulates arsenic. Rice plants could be modified with the gene to keep arsenic from accumulating in grains, she says.

CONTACT: Jody Banks, 765-494-5895, banksj@purdue.edu

Writer: Brian Wallheimer, 765-496-2050, bwallhei@purdue.edu

Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page

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