Arsenic found in rice?!

I saw a news clip on arsenic in rice recently and then received an email from a gluten free blogger about it.  She linked to consumer reports, who has apparently done a lot of recent researching and data collecting on this...I don't use rice flour in much of my baking anymore, but do use brown rice pasta, and eat rice often since we eat a lot of Spanish and Asian ethnic dishes...

Reading the portions on infants and pregnant women freaked me out a bit, let me tell ya.  Especially since I have had leftover spaghetti with brown rice pasta for breakfast and lunch today...(what can I say; I'm pregnant!)  Also, some of the highest levels of arsenic were found in infant rice cereal!  What?!

Also, I found it interesting that the especially high levels of arsenic were found in soils that used to be farmed in cotton, since I live in a cotton growing community.  Apparently, arsenic used to be sprayed on cooton crops to kill the dreaded boll weevil beetles.  Hmm...I once heard that our area has arsenic in the ground and drinking water; could it be from arsenic sprays? 

Here is Kelly Courson's take on it from Celiac Chicks.  She'll be at a special conference about this tomorrow, so I look forward to hearing her report. 

I am posting this here as rice is used in many gluten free processed foods...if nothing else, please scroll down to the two tables at the end, although the entire article is well worth the ten minutes it would take to read.