Person:

Carignan, Courtney

Background: Rice is known to be high in arsenic, including in infant rice cereal. Although arsenic in drinking water is currently regulated, there are currently no US regulations regarding arsenic concentrations in food. Objective: We used published values to estimate arsenic exposure via rice cereal relative to breast milk or formula for 6- to 12-month-old infants in the general US population. Results: We found that arsenic exposure from 3 servings of rice cereal exceeded that of formula made with water containing arsenic at 10 mg/L, the US Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that rice cereal can markedly increase arsenic exposure among US infants relative to breast milk and formula.

Drinking water contamination with poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) poses risks to the developmental, immune, metabolic, and endocrine health of consumers. We present a spatial analysis of 2013–2015 national drinking water PFAS concentrations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (US EPA) third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3) program. The number of industrial sites that manufacture or use these compounds, the number of military fire training areas, and the number of wastewater treatment plants are all significant predictors of PFAS detection frequencies and concentrations in public water supplies. Among samples with detectable PFAS levels, each additional military site within a watershed’s eight-digit hydrologic unit is associated with a 20% increase in PFHxS, a 10% increase in both PFHpA and PFOA, and a 35% increase in PFOS. The number of civilian airports with personnel trained in the use of aqueous film-forming foams is significantly associated with the detection of PFASs above the minimal reporting level. We find drinking water supplies for 6 million U.S. residents exceed US EPA’s lifetime health advisory (70 ng/L) for PFOS and PFOA. Lower analytical reporting limits and additional sampling of smaller utilities serving <10000 individuals and private wells would greatly assist in further identifying PFAS contamination sources.