What Dr. Oz should have said about arsenic

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If anyone knows about arsenic, it's former NASW President Deborah Blum, who wrote a book on the subject of that and other poisons. Here on her Speakeasy Science blog, she takes apart the popular daytime talk host Dr. Mehmet Oz for his recent show on arsenic levels in apple juice. She saves her best criticism for last — that Dr. Oz squandered an golden opportunity to educate people about the real danger of arsenic, especially in drinking water.

RE: What Dr. Oz should have said about arsenic
Written by mark Obrenovich on Nov 1, 2011
Mehmet was right to call attention to the serious problem of arsenic in foods and water. However, arsenic is found commonly in many forms. Searching wiki on arsenic one finds the toxicity of arsenic-containing compounds varies and depends on valency as well:
Arsenic toxicity involve arsenates ability to bind to cysteine residues in proteins and can mediate oxidative stress, necrosis, apoptosis carcinogenesis, etc. A variety of arsenic compounds as chemical weapons, include dimethylarsenic chloride and antidotes exploit the affinity of As(III) for thiolate ligands, which convert highly toxic organoarsenicals to less toxic derivatives. In chemistry organic form is Thorin.
Organoarsenic compounds in nature include Trimethylarsine, arsenobetaine and arsenocholine, as well as in some nucleosides. Some organoarsenic compounds arise via methylation processes if inorganic arsenic is present. Some arsenic compounds are believed to be nearly non-toxic. However, Organoarsenic compounds may pose significant health hazards, depending extremely on their speciation (LD50 ranging from 5–6 mg /kg bw (very toxic) to 12000–15000 mg / kg bw (practically non-toxic).[citation needed]. So a little caution is in order when discussing arsenic. Nevertheless, we can assume it is usually not desired to intake or ingest arsenic or its derivatives.
What should have been done is more than ICP MS to determine the exact species of Arsenic. We do not know how much was inorganic or organic and the LD50 (if we can apply it) for apple juice, honey, apricots, chicken livers, water, or other food is likely quite High, I suspect. Dr. Obrenovich
RE: What Dr. Oz should have said about arsenic
Written by Allison (not verified) on Dec 5, 2011
High amounts of arsenic in fruit juice were the topic of a segment on Dr. Mehmet Oz's television program in September, beginning a media row with federal experts. Oz's claims irked the Food and drug administration, but a brand new Consumer Reports study confirms Oz's findings. Get more info at: http://www.newsytype.com/13756-consumer-reports-arsenic-in-juice/