A study conducted over six years by Ziska and colleagues revealed that rising levels of carbon dioxide and temperature as projected by climate scientists lead to higher concentrations of inorganic arsenic in rice grains. Rice absorbs both naturally occurring and anthropogenic arsenic from water used in cultivation. With climate change directly influencing these levels, the health implications are significant, as exposure has been linked to serious diseases including certain cancers and heart disease, particularly in regions where rice consumption is high.
What happens in rice, because of complex biogeochemical processes in the soil, when temperatures and CO 2 go up, inorganic arsenic also does.
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.
The new research demonstrates that climate change will ramp up those levels of arsenic in rice grains.
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