It's not broken glass in cereal that you need to worry about. It's the iron filings that cannot be used by the body...

Why is the gubmint allwaise trying to control our lives?

The levels of lead and arsenic are too damn high.

Can't we just let the free market take its course?

How will The Job Creators survive this assault on The Free Market?

I though having a Republican Congress was bad

Captain Karunch, I'm looking at you!

This will just make it harder for our brave, noble and godlike business leaders to compete in the global juice market! Deregulation! Looters and Moochers! RON PAUL! Uh... remember the Maine!

congress hasn't done anything because;

1. free market should decide, even though they didn't let us know to decide, but whatever comrade and;
B. The powerful arsenic lobby needed someplace to put the excess arsenic otherwise the arsenic market value would collapse. They're now putting it in bacon because no one cares whats in bacon.

Having solved all the other more serious problems, Congress now turns to issues raised by afternoon doctor shows

/Get the antifreeze out of our toothpaste!

A little late, aren't they? The bored housewife panic on this was 2 or 3 months ago. farking Dr. Oz.

And how long until a Republican finds a problem with this and tries to block it?

Isn't there a difference between poison arsenic and natural arsenic, which is and has always been in apple juice?

DNRTFA

This man would like to have a word with you

Yeah, well, look - you know, the average kid, he picks up, you know, broken glass anywhere, you know? The beach, the street, garbage cans, parking lots, all over the place in any big city. We're just packaging what the kids want!

I have a problem with this. Do we really need to have set limits for every toxic chemical in every food group? Can't we merely have a single set of standards for all consumed foodstuffs that lists every known toxin? And really, the acronym for the bill is APPLE? Maybe I'm just being cynical but I see this as simply a piece of legislation that will cost billions of dollars and mostly serve to provide politicians politicians a bill they can show off, even though it's something that no one can really vote against.

From TFA: "The bill would give the FDA two years to establish these new standards."

TWO YEARS??? That's a hell of a long time to know you can happily dump arsenic and lead into your juice production. How the fark can it take the FDA two years to set a safe standard?

Either say zero, or enforce the same levels as allowed in drinking water (which should be zero.) Boom. Takes four seconds.

Jack-booted job-killing socialist regulations.

January 2013 can't come soon enough. The GOP President will bring back theTRUTH and restore our FREEDOM!!!

Next thing you know, they'll be having "smart" meters UL tested!

ongbok: And how long until a Republican finds a problem with this and tries to block it?

Honestly, this is one of the few things I'd have no problem with them blocking. The levels in question are basically background noise and the only reason anyone even cares is because Dr. Oz ran with a scare report on it for ratings.

On the one hand, I don't care for poisons in our food and drink. On the other hand, Fark Doctor Oz.

jaytkay: Jack-booted job-killing socialist regulations.

January 2013 can't come soon enough. The GOP President will bring back theTRUTH and restore our FREEDOM!!!

Regulation really isn't a partisan issue. Dems love regulation as much as the next guy, just in different areas.

IIRC, there was a person on the Dr. Oz show that criticized the FDA and told parents there were high levels of arsenic in apple juice.

The FDA told him and Dr. Oz to STFU and stop fear baiting because they failed to mention that organic arsenic is non toxic.

So yes it has been regulated already. Congress people and the public are just too stupid to understand.

I can't take it any more! I'm going to end it all! I'm going to go on the Dr. Oz show and drink apple juice!

Anagrammer: Having solved all the other more serious problems, Congress now turns to issues raised by afternoon doctor shows

/Get the antifreeze out of our toothpaste!

The FDA has about 13000 employees,'the exact number of USDA employees may not be known.

Surely with so many devoted to food safety, Congress could be freed up to deal with the critical issues?

Some Michigander: IIRC, there was a person on the Dr. Oz show that criticized the FDA and told parents there were high levels of arsenic in apple juice.

The FDA told him and Dr. Oz to STFU and stop fear baiting because they failed to mention that organic arsenic is non toxic.

So yes it has been regulated already. Congress people and the public are just too stupid to understand.

And I'm an idiot, because I didn't read TFA.

Consumer Reports tested 88 samples of apple and grape juices and found that approximately 10% of the sampled juices contained arsenic levels that exceeded federal drinking-water standards.

Which is not terribly surprising since the apple trees and grapevines, and any other growing plant, pick up the natural arsenic in the soil with water and tend to concentrate it.

What will also not be terribly surprising is when the FDA creates its standards based on this fact and Consumer Reports screams bloody murder because it isn't practical or possible to make them as low or lower than the drinking water standards.

croesius: Isn't there a difference between poison arsenic and natural arsenic, which is and has always been in apple juice?

DNRTFA

Er, no. It's true that apple seeds contain a lot of arsenic. Eat enough apple seeds and you will die of arsenic poisoning.

Speaking as a painter, until the last twenty years or so there were no rules about identifying the ingredients in artists' paints. Of course, a serious artist should familarize himself with the chemical makeup of his pigments in any case, but I painted with Flake White for ten years befoe I found out it was carbonate of lead. I still paint with it, by the way--it's the best pigment out there; I'm a heck of a lot more careful with it though. The same goes for the Thalo colors, the full name of which are pthalocyanine blue and pthalocyanine green. I suppose the manufacturers could have called the pigment "Cyanide Blue," but for some reason they chose not to. Similarly, Emerald Green is mostly arsenic. In the good old days they used to take half the factoy output and sell it to the paint jobbers as Emerald Green, then take the other half and sell it as rat poison.

Caveat emptor.

shivashakti: It's not broken glass in cereal that you need to worry about. It's the iron filings that cannot be used by the body...

i think we have all seen that video...but really, we do need some iron in our diet, right?

can i get a scientist to comment?

eatsnackysmores: From TFA: "The bill would give the FDA two years to establish these new standards."

Either say zero, or enforce the same levels as allowed in drinking water (which should be zero.) Boom. Takes four seconds.

Guess how we know you don't know much about water

Lead and arsenic levels have risen and fallen before, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

Why are our lawmakers so stupid? Limits on arsenic were set for water but not fruit juice, so they decide to fix that.

Next they'll need to create a law to keep arsenic out of yogurt.

Then one for vegetable based drinks like V8.

Then one for beer, milk, ...

How about a unified beverage safety law that covers all liquid or semi liquid food.

Job killing regulation from the socialist usurper again, I see.

Mr. Eugenides: Why are our lawmakers so stupid? Limits on arsenic were set for water but not fruit juice, so they decide to fix that.

Next they'll need to create a law to keep arsenic out of yogurt.

Then one for vegetable based drinks like V8.

Then one for beer, milk, ...

How about a unified beverage safety law that covers all liquid or semi liquid food.

They're lawmakers. They need something to do.

/I really, really hate Dr. Oz BTW

SwiftFox: Consumer Reports tested 88 samples of apple and grape juices and found that approximately 10% of the sampled juices contained arsenic levels that exceeded federal drinking-water standards.

Which is not terribly surprising since the apple trees and grapevines, and any other growing plant, pick up the natural arsenic in the soil with water and tend to concentrate it.

What will also not be terribly surprising is when the FDA creates its standards based on this fact and Consumer Reports screams bloody murder because it isn't practical or possible to make them as low or lower than the drinking water standards.

Wait a minute. Do you mean that since people drink a lot more tap water than they do apple juice that the limit in apple juice can be higher without being more dangerous? Are you also saying that apples are naturally higher in As than most other foods? That doesn't make any damn sense to me.

Big government marxistnazifeministsocialist regulation hurting juicers' jobs. I'm moving to Somalia.

First, Congress regulates "plastic" guns based on a throwaway line in a Bruce Willis movie, and now it's regulating apple juice based on Dr. Oz trying scare bored housewives.

Too bad we can't get the economy on a TV show or movie. Then Congress might take it seriously.

/Just kidding. I know Hollywood and news stations would never touch the subject of the economy as long as Obama is president

RogermcAllen: SwiftFox: Consumer Reports tested 88 samples of apple and grape juices and found that approximately 10% of the sampled juices contained arsenic levels that exceeded federal drinking-water standards.

Which is not terribly surprising since the apple trees and grapevines, and any other growing plant, pick up the natural arsenic in the soil with water and tend to concentrate it.

What will also not be terribly surprising is when the FDA creates its standards based on this fact and Consumer Reports screams bloody murder because it isn't practical or possible to make them as low or lower than the drinking water standards.

Wait a minute. Do you mean that since people drink a lot more tap water than they do apple juice that the limit in apple juice can be higher without being more dangerous? Are you also saying that apples are naturally higher in As than most other foods? That doesn't make any damn sense to me.

No, I'm saying that there isn't any practical way to grow food with less arsenic than is in the water used to grow the food. I would not single out apples. Treating water is also simpler than removing arsenic from mixtures of more complex compounds such as food.

While bottled water has standards for these toxins, no such limits exist for juice. The bill would give the FDA two years to establish these new standards.

Would it be out of the question to, I don't know, maybe USE THE ALREADY-ESTABLISHED BOTTLED WATER STANDARDS EFFECTIVE NOW???

Don't apples naturally carry arsenic but at levels too low to be hazardous? Thumbs up to the lead limitng, though.

LouDobbsAwaaaay: I get the feeling that this law is being pushed because some legislator watches Dr. Oz.

Now, now...it could just be a legislator who just happens to have a large contingency of bored housewives in his district that are willing to call their congressman over every little thing.

"Congressman, I just heard Dr. Oz discovered dangerous levels of antifreeze in name-brand toothpastes!"

YoungSwedishBlonde: Job killing regulation from the socialist usurper again, I see.



Usyruper?

rustypouch: Can't we just let the free market take its course?

No, because without the benevolent and all- seeing Eye of Government the idiot masses would happily kill themselves over and over again with toxic fruit juice, even to the point of idiotically ordering their halfwit children Jurleen and Cletus to step over the still- warm bodies of their poisoned family members to fetch more of that sweet, sweet arsenic from the MegaSuperCorporateEvilMart.

/hey, one strawman deserves another

Must be the Chinese apple juice. /s

I used to have a career doing factory automation. I've been in a bunch of food plants. You could eat off of the floor. In some places I'd end up with 3 lab coats on.

More than likely the lead is coming from them making the juice back from concentrate and adding tap water. I'm sure they are filtering it, but the plants are sometimes out in the middle of nowhere and the local municipal tap water kind of sucks.

alltandubh: rustypouch: Can't we just let the free market take its course?

No, because without the benevolent and all- seeing Eye of Government the idiot masses would happily kill themselves over and over again with toxic fruit juice, even to the point of idiotically ordering their halfwit children Jurleen and Cletus to step over the still- warm bodies of their poisoned family members to fetch more of that sweet, sweet arsenic from the MegaSuperCorporateEvilMart.

/hey, one strawman deserves another

Since when is it a strawman that there are people who want zero government regulation?

IIRC, apple seeds and other fruit seeds have a bit of arsenic in them naturally. I'm too lazy to Google it, but IIRC, I've never died from them.