The
Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has found elevated
levels of inorganic arsenic in imported pear juice, and
issued an import alert barring shipments of pear juice and
concentrate from specific Chinese producers, and acknowledged
that surveillance of heavy metals in fruit juices from all
countries is warranted.
Senator
Schumer stated “Since China currently exports the vast majority
of certain juices, you can never be too careful.”
Carefully
skirting the arsenic-in-the-apple-juice scare sparked last
week by TV doctor Mehmet Oz (Dr. Oz), U.S. Sen. Charles
Schumer, D-NY, has called on the FDA to set standards for
imported juice concentrates, and to step up inspection of
concentrates from countries such as China that are known
to use inorganic arsenic in pesticides.
"While there
is no cause for alarm and no need to stop drinking juice,"
Schumer said in a NEWS RELEASE ... "given the terrible
track record of countries like China that export the vast
majority of certain juices these days, you can never be
too careful ...
"Juice
is safe and good for you, and the last thing parents should
do is stop giving their kids fruit juices. My family drinks
them and we will continue to, but the bottom line is that
the Food and Drug Administration needs to have clear standards
for what is acceptable and what is not, and while standards
for toxic, inorganic arsenic currently exist for bottled
water, they do not exist for fruit juices," he said.
Schumer's
statement noted that after the FDA found elevated levels
of inorganic arsenic in imported pear juice, it issued an
import alert barring shipments of pear juice and concentrate
from specific Chinese producers, and acknowledged that surveillance
of heavy metals in fruit juices from all countries is warranted.
Although
the FDA has said it is not necessary to set standards for
juice concentrates similar to those for bottled water, which
allow inorganic arsenic levels up to 10 parts per billion
(ppb), Schumer argued that because juice is often consumed
by children, greater precaution is necessary.
The
Dr. Oz Show said apple juice samples it tested showed results
as high as 36 ppb of total arsenic, but the FDA said it
obtained the same lot of apple juice and found significantly
less arsenic (2 to 6 ppb), trace amounts it described as
consistent with the government's test results over the past
20 years.
And
the FDA pointed out that arsenic occurs naturally in many
foods in both inorganic and organic forms, and that only
the inorganic forms of arsenic are toxic, depending on the
amount. Although the FDA said in advance of the Dr. Oz TV
program that it would be irresponsible and misleading to
suggest that apple juice is unsafe, the Dr. Oz Show did
so anyway.
The
FDA said it has been tracking total arsenic in apple and
other juices, particularly since imported juices gained
an increased share of the market.
SEPTEMBER
27, 2011
STATEMENT
FROM BORESHA MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD
|
"Boresha®
International does not use any
imported fruits or fruit juices from China or any other
external country, and only uses fruits and fruit juices
in Boresha® products that originate from within the United
States of America (from highly selected U.S. growers) and
that have been assayed for purity.”
