'Locally produced rice not harmful'

The consumption of locally produced rice is not harmful for the human body.

Although it is natural for locally produced rice to contain minute particles of arsenic, its content is insignificant and much less than arsenic found in rice produced abroad that it will never cause any harm to a person's health, a group of scientists who met Prime Minister D M Jayaratne said.

"For that matter, all food items consumed by people naturally contain some amount of arsenic," they told the Prime Minister at the Prime Minister's office on Monday to discuss the arsenic in rice issue which has become a concern among the people today.

The Prime Minister's office in a communique issued recently said a wide range of scientists representing a research team from the Kelaniya University, Industrial Technology Institute, Peradeniya University, WHO, Agriculture Ministry, Science and Technology Ministry, Sri Lanka Standards Institution and several other institutions, attended the discussion summoned by the Prime Minister's office to ascertain their views on this issue.

Members of the Kelaniya University Research Team said the views expressed by them earlier on this issue had been misunderstood.

They said food items like fish had international standards and specifications regarding the permissible arsenic content. Rice which is the staple diet of a vast majority of people in the world had no such standard specifications.

The team said they had never said that consumption of rice is harmful for the human body.

The Kelaniya University team said according to research carried out by them, the main cause for the spread of kidney disease in the North Central Province was found to be Calcium Arsenate poisoning.

They said according to research, many pesticides used in Sri Lanka contained arsenic. Scientists from the Industrial Technology Institute and the Agriculture Ministry said their research was conducted according to international standards and country's laws and regulations.

The research proved that three varieties of agro-chemicals contained arsenic and the issuing of these three varieties to the market has been banned.

They said standards relating to arsenic content had not been specified for certain agro-chemicals. The committee on agro-chemicals under the purview of the Agriculture Ministry will take a decision on the matter and announce it through a gazette notification.

WHO representatives said they were in the process of conducting research to find out the cause of the kidney disease in the NCP and so far it has not been found for certain that the cause is arsenic.

Balkan countries too had high incidents of kidney disease but they too had not been able to find the actual cause despite 30 years of research.

Since the method used in the Kelaniya University research had not been approved by local or foreign scientists, it was decided to develop it further to obtain international approval. Prime Minister Jayaratne said once that research method gained scientific approval, information found by it will be issued to the public.