Carignan, Punshon, Karagas, Cottingham 2016 — Potential exposure to arsenic from infant rice cereal
This Annals of Global Health commentary by the Dartmouth Children’s Environmental Health Center group (Carignan, Punshon, Karagas, Cottingham) summarizes the case for U.S. regulatory action on arsenic in infant rice cereal. Published in early 2016, the commentary uses then-published rice cereal arsenic concentration values to estimate per-serving and per-day infant arsenic exposure for the typical introduction-of-solids window (4-6 months) and argues that infant rice cereal at then-prevailing arsenic levels can produce per-kilogram-body-weight arsenic exposure exceeding chronic-dietary-intake reference values. The commentary supported the FDA Closer-to-Zero rulemaking process that ultimately produced the 2020 final guidance for industry on infant rice cereal inorganic arsenic at 100 ppb. The Dartmouth group’s primary occurrence and prospective-cohort evidence is in the companion Jackson 2012, Carignan 2015, and Carignan 2016 cohort papers.
Key conclusions
The commentary documents that infant rice cereal, when consumed at typical pediatric introduction-of-solids serving sizes, produces per-kilogram-body-weight inorganic arsenic exposure that materially exceeds chronic dietary reference levels at then-prevailing rice-cereal As concentrations. The recommendation for U.S. regulatory action on infant rice cereal As preceded the FDA 2020 final guidance and was part of the academic-and-clinical consensus that supported FDA action.
Implications
- Certification: Citing reference for HMTc rice-cereal threshold rationale. The infant-cereal-As pathway and the resulting 100 ppb FDA action level are now codified; the commentary is the academic argument that supported the regulatory action.
- Courses: Standard reference for the U.S. infant-rice-cereal As policy story.