High Levels of Arsenic Found in 1,300 California Wines; See the Complete List
CBS reported last week that "very high levels of arsenic" showed up in nearly a quarter of 1,300 California wines tested by independent Denver-based lab BeverageGrades.
"Very high," BeverageGrades founder and former wine distributor Kevin Hicks told CBS, meant four to five times more arsenic than the EPA standard for drinking water, which is 10 parts per billion (ppb), or 10 micrograms per liter (mcg/L).
Arsenic is an odorless, colorless and highly toxic poison known to cause illness and death when ingested. Long term exposure can cause various types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, according to medical experts.
The best-selling wines with three, four and five times the 10 ppb arsenic standard were Trader Joe's Two-Buck Chuck White Zinfandel, Ménage à Trois Moscato and Franzia White Grenache. Hicks told CBS the least expensive wines had the higher amounts of arsenic, on a per-liter basis.
Hicks found the results so worrisome that he's filing a class action suit against more than two dozen wine makers and sellers for their unsafe products.
Meanwhile, wine makers are tasked with conducting their own independent testing to (at least they hope) disapprove Hicks' findings.
The question remains for the wine lover: should you be concerned if you are a regular wine drinker?
Kenneth Spaeth, MD, chief of occupational and environmental medicine at the North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, New York, told Forbes the answer is we simply don't know yet.
"It's a bit of dilemma for consumers right now because there's so much information we don't have," he said. "I also know nothing about the methodology, about how these data were collected and how much consistency there was from sample to sample and bottle to bottle. Given all these gaps in the information, it's hard to give advice about it, but some of the levels sound high enough to caution about how much wine is being consumed."
Based on Hicks' findings, Forbes did the math for two standard glasses of wine a day:
"A 5 oz. glass is approximately 150 ml, so two glasses is 300 ml. If that wine contains arsenic at five times the EPA standard for drinking water, then 300 x 5 means you're getting as much arsenic as the equivalent of drinking 1.5 L of drinking water at the maximum amount allowed by the EPA."
The calculation, however, ignores the total effect of arsenic from different sources. It also assumes that the EPA standard is appropriate, which some experts disagree.
The biggest health concerns related to high arsenic levels in wine? Different types of cancer, especially lung, skin and bladder cancer, according to Forbes.
If you are a concerned wine connoisseur, here is the complete list of wines involved in the lawsuit:
Acronym's GR8RW Red Blend 2011
Almaden's Heritage White Zinfandel
Almaden's Heritage Moscato
Almaden's Heritage White Zinfandel
Almaden's Heritage Chardonnay
Almaden's Mountain Burgundy
Almaden's Mountain Rhine
Almaden's Mountain Chablis
Arrow Creek's Coastal Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
Bandit's Pinot Grigio
Bandit's Chardonnay
Bandit's Cabernet Sauvignon
Bay Bridge's Chardonnay
Beringer's White Merlot 2011
Beringer's White Zinfandel 2011
Beringer's Red Moscato
Beringer's Refreshingly Sweet Moscato
Charles Shaw White Zinfandel 2012
Colores del Sol's Malbec 2010
Glen Ellen by Concannon's Glen Ellen REserve Pinot Grigio 2012
Concannon's Selected Vineyards Pinot Noir 2011
Glen Ellen by Concannon's Glen Ellen Reserve Merlot 2010
Cook's Spumante
Corbett Canyon's Pinot Grigio
Corbett Canyon's Cabernet Sauvignon
Cupcake's Malbec 2011
Fetzer's Moscato 2010
Fetzer's Pinot Grigio 2011
Fisheye Pinot Grigio 2012
Flipflop's Pinot Grigio 2012
Flipflop's Moscato
Flipflop's Cabernet Sauvignon
Foxhorn's White Zinfandel
Franzia's Vintner Select White Grenache
Franzia's Vintner Select White Zinfandel
Franzia's Vintner Select White Merlot
Franzia's Vintner Select Burgundy
Hawkstone's Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
HRM Rex Goliath's Moscato
Korbel's Sweet Rose Sparkling Wine
Korbel's Extra Dry Sparkling Wine
Menage a Trois' Pinot Grigio 2011
Menage a Trois' Moscato 2010
Menage a Trois' White Blend 2011
Menage a Trois' Chardonnay 2011
Menage a Trois' Rose 2011
Menage a Trois' Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
Menage a Trois' California Red Wine 2011
Mogen David's Concord
Mogen David's Blackberry Wine
Oak Leaf's White Zinfandel
Pomelo's Sauvignon Blanc 2011
R Collection by Raymond's Chardonnay 2012
Richards Wild Irish Rose's Red Wine
Seaglass's Sauvignon Blanc 2012
Simply Naked's Moscato 2011
Smoking Loon's Viognier 2011
Sutter Home's Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Sutter Home's Gewurztraminer 2011
Sutter Home's Pink Moscato
Sutter Home's Pinot Grigio 2011
Sutter Home's Moscato
Sutter Home's Chenin Blanc 2011
Sutter Home's Sweet Red 2010
Sutter Home's Riesling 2011
Sutter Home's White Merlot 2011
Sutter Home's Merlot 2011
Sutter Home's White Zinfandel 2011
Sutter Home's White Zinfandel 2012
Sutter Home's Zinfandel 2010
Trapiche's Malbec 2012
Tribuno's Sweet Vermouth
Vendange's Merlot
Vendange's White Zinfandel
Wine Cube's Moscato
Wine Cube's Pink Moscato 2011
Wine Cube's Pinot Grigio 2011
Wine Cube's Pinot Grigio
Wine Cube's Chardonnay 2011
Wine Cube's Chardonnay
Wine Cube's Red Sangria
Wine Cube's Sauvignon Blanc 2011
Wine Cube's Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2011
The wines listed without specific years are non-vintage, which means the grapes used did not come from a single year.
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