“Half the World’s People Depend on Rice. New Research Says Climate Change Will Make it Toxic.”
“Warmer temperatures and more carbon dioxide will boost levels of arsenic, a dangerous heavy metal, in the staple crop.”
“Rice, the world’s most consumed grain, will become increasingly toxic as the atmosphere heats and as carbon dioxide emissions rise, potentially putting billions of people at risk of cancers and other diseases, according to new research published Wednesday in The Lancet”.
“Eaten every day by billions of people and grown across the globe, rice is arguably the planet’s most important staple crop, with half the world’s population relying on it for the majority of its food needs, especially in developing countries.”
As you may already know about rice, it grows mostly submerged in paddies. Rice has a highly porous texture meaning “it can absorb unusually high levels of arsenic” (found naturally in some foods, including fish and shellfish, and in waters and soils), and is a “potent carcinogenic toxin that is especially dangerous for babies.” Moreover, “[i]norganic arsenic is found in industrial materials and gets into water—including water used to submerge rice paddies.” “The new research demonstrates that climate change will ramp up those levels.”
“Rice is easily inundated with weeds and other crops, but it has one advantage: It grows well in water. Farmers germinate the seeds, and when the seedlings are ready, plant them in wet soil. They then flood their fields, which suppresses weeds, but allows the rice to flourish. Rice readily absorbs the water and everything in it—including arsenic, either naturally occurring or not. Most of the world’s rice is grown this way.”
“Exposure to inorganic arsenic has been linked to cancers of the skin, bladder and lung, heart disease and neurological problems in infants. Research has found that in parts of the world with high consumption of rice, inorganic arsenic increases cancer risk.”
“There is a toxicological effect of climate change relative to one of the most consumed staples in the world, and the consumption is one of the hallmarks of whether you’re going to be vulnerable to that effect.”
“Researchers have known that rice can contain high levels of arsenic and regulators have suggested exposure limits, especially for infants who are particularly vulnerable and tend to eat a lot of rice. This new research should put extra pressure on regulators to set more stringent thresholds, the authors say. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has never set limits for arsenic in foods.”
“The researchers also point to the potential of various interventions that could limit exposure to inorganic arsenic from rice, including developing strains of rice that are less absorbent and educating consumers about alternatives to rice.”
“Rice has always been a food where arsenic is an issue, and climate change is making it worse,” said Keeve Nachman, one of the report’s authors, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and a longtime researcher of health risks related to food production and consumption. “This is one more reason to intervene—to control people’s exposure. The number one thing we can do is everything in our power to slow climate change.”
Sources:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(25)00055-5/fulltext
https://www.fao.org/4/y4347e/y4347e01.htm#:~:text=Over%2050%20percent%20of%20the,and%20consumed%20in%20developing%20countries.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16042025/half-the-worlds-people-depend-on-rice-new-research-says-climate-change-will-make-it-toxic/
