Readers may have noticed the renewed kerfuffle over arsenic in rice, and mercury in tuna. I'd take these latest reports with several pinches of salt. For example, only one type of arsenic (inorganic) is particularly dangerous. Rice contains mostly organic arsenics, taken up from the soil - which the human body can metabolize fairly efficiently. Similarly, not all tuna is affected by mercury poisoning to the same extent: white or albacore tuna is more risky than 'light' tuna. The Natural Resources Defense Council offers a chart showing recommended maximum consumption levels of both kinds of tuna. If you stick to those guidelines, you should be OK.
What bugs me is that these reports are designed to pressure the FDA and other organizations into 'doing something' - something regarded by vocal pressure groups as necessary. Whether or not the steps they propose are actually worthwhile is seldom discussed. It's like the water fluoridation controversy: the science tends to be obscured by the politics.
Beware screaming "OMG! TEOTWAWKI! The sky is falling!" headlines . . . and continue to enjoy your tuna with rice. I suggest a little onion, salt and pepper to add to the flavor, with perhaps just a tiny dash of soy sauce. Hey, wait a minute! Soy sauce? That causes cancer!
Peter
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