Arsenic in Rice Group Project:
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Can be caused by pesticides,
fertilizers, water, soil
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Arsenic Test Kit
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Climate needs: Warm wet weather
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Arsenic can be found in water
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Problem Definition/ Literature
Review (5 points, MJ)
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Thousands of metric tons of rice
are consumed each year by millions of people worldwide. This is an important
source of nutrition for many countries around the world, especially Asia. This
is also a massive problem our world faces today because arsenic is found in the
consumed rice which is very dangerous for humans to ingest and has been linked
to numerous diseases. We believe the way the rice is grown may be the
underlying reason arsenic is found in it. Researchers are interested to find
out the causes of high arsenic and ways to eliminate this health hazard (SOHN,
2014). Arsenic levels have been rising in rice every year, which makes this
issue time sensitive (Editorial, 2016). We will test this rice and the elements
used to grow the rice to understand how the arsenic infiltrates the rice and
eventually our bodies. Then, we can begin a new way of growing rice safely for
everyone.
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Current Situation, where are we
now (5 points MJ)
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The arsenic levels are rising in
rice, this is a dangerous element found in rice. The long-term effects of
arsenic are devastating for human health. We want to study the environment
which grows the rice with high arsenic levels, mainly found in brown rice. In
the study, we will block for multiple confounding variables to isolate where we
believe the rice will be found. We will test brown rice because it has the
highest levels of arsenic and therefore will be the easiest and most helpful to
see change in. We will test four states which have been known to have the
highest arsenic levels i.e. Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Louisiana (https://dailyhealthpost.com/arsenic-in-rice/).
and long-term effects of arsenic are considered. The researchers tested water
and soil of each location rice was grown.
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Design of Experiment (Davis, 40
points):
1.)
Test all the rice and blocking for
confounding variables; Fertilizers and locations.
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Chose Texas, Arkansas, Missouri,
and Louisiana because these states produce the most arsenic in their rice
compared to the rest of America.
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We will have 40 rice plants per
block
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We are only testing brown rice
because the highest levels are arsenic are found in brown[1] .
Therefore, brown should be the easiest to see change in and will be the most
helpful to the world to solve first. We also would like to keep the cost of the
study as low as possible. So, we would like to stay in the United States.
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We will also block by fertilizer
vs no fertilizer so we will know if fertilizer is helping or hurting the
cultivation of clean healthy rice. It is known that Arsenic can be found in
animal food which is then deposited by the animal into the soil. Therefore, a
better fertilizer may be our answer.
2.)
After this test is complete, we will test the
growing conditions of the rice to find if the
arsenic is due to other environmental factors such as soil or water.
Essentially, we will study the resources that the plant uses to grow itself.
Then we can compare chemical levels of the rice to the resources it used to
grow. This way we will know if the arsenic levels are in the rice itself or the
plants food.
- We will not collect samples of
the air around plants because this is already known that arsenic is not in the
air, we breathe[2]
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Collect rainwater samples each day
it rains throughout growing cycle
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Collect soil samples each day
throughout growing cycle
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Send samples to lab to be
evaluated for arsenic levels
3.)
Once the step above is complete we
will evaluate the data. Depending on where we find the arsenic after the tests.
Whether it’s; Water, soil, location, or fertilizer. We will retest with a
higher emphasis on the conflicting variable found.
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Comparing Methods (20 points,
Jake)
In this sample, we are going to use a two
factor ANOVA test. A z-test will also be utilized because we have more than
thirty samples.
We decided against the t-test because a t-test
utilizes only two groups and our test has eight groups.
“While there is no federal standard for arsenic in food, according to
the Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer
Reports, one serving of rice may have as much inorganic arsenic as an
entire day’s worth of water. “-
^^^this article has a lot of good shit
1) First, the rice will be
assessed to see which states produce the highest arsenic levels
2) A preliminary background
of lead-arsenate pesticide use should be tracked from past usage
Arsenic in rice can also be due to animal waste
from hogs and chickens that consume food containing arsenic feed (used to make
animals grow faster)
3) Conduct tests to assess
whether pesticide use and/or arsenic feed impacts the levels of arsenic found
in participating farmlands (state average as a whole)
4) Test the air, rain, and
soil (earth’s crust also?) of the three highest rice producing farms in each
state
5) Draw the two states with
the highest arsenic levels for comparison with one another
6) Next, the rice will be
assessed in the categories of white and brown rice
The brown rice typically has higher arsenic
levels, however, test the variance of arsenic levels in each type of rice
^
I did this section wrong, but I am leaving this info in case it finds itself
useful
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Plans for completion (5 points,
Ahmed)
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In this project we are supposed to
design an experiment which will include research and analysis about the current
growing conditions of rice produced in the United States. We chose four states,
Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Louisiana where they considered as significant
sources of distributing rice around the United States. In addition, we selected
to study the brown rice because it is known for having high arsenic levels. We
found that water, soil, fertilizers and the animals in the selected lands could
play as root causes in rising the arsenic level according to the research we
did. As a result, after collecting data and performing the tests, we would be
able to identify the root causes and be able to fix the problems.
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This project is estimated to take
approximately six months to complete and samples should be collected during the
growing season of rice. Rice is grown in warm weather and generally planted in
the spring while taking three to six months to grow. Because of this a start
time around the two-three months into growing would be ideal, this would fall
around May. Each farm will need to be traveled to in order to collect the
samples then there will be a waiting period to get the data back once the rice
samples are sent in. Once that is completed the data will be analyzed, this is
estimated to take roughly three months. Once we are aware of which farms
require further analysis the environmental samples will be sent to a lab for
analysis. The return and analysis of the environmental data is estimated to
take another three months totaling the estimated six-month completion for the
project.
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Scope/Budget (5 points, Ahmed)
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In this experiment, we aimed to
collect data form such multiple state and such several farms from each state
which considered as big sources of distributing rice around the United States.
The experiment will focus on the brown since the research shows that it has a
higher arsenic level. We used the blocking method to specify the confounding
factors; locations and fertilizers. The test will block the rice plants by
groups of location, then block by fertilization treatments against no without
fertilization treatments. We will design the group to have 40 samples of rice
plants per each block at the end. The project will include the testing of the
growing conditions of planting the brown rice. We think that water and soil can
play a role in our experiment. As a result, we are going to collect samples of
rainwater and soil to test the arsenic level in them. Then, we will analyze the
results found on the test. However, we are going to ignore the air as
confounding factor since arsenic is barely exists in the air. In addition, this project will introduce the
comparing methods between each group using two factor ANOVA test and z-test.
Later, the group will perform analyze the effect of adding purified water vs.
rainwater and study the history of animals on the chosen lands. Moreover, the
project will show the results of test performed on the types of fertilizers in
which we randomly chose.
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Analysis and next steps (10
points, Davis)
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If arsenic is found in the water
and nowhere else, we will run an experiment using purified water that is
pretested to have zero arsenic in it.
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Then, retest the rice afterwards
to verify if we solved the issue at hand
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If we find the arsenic only in one
state and believe it has to do with the states and growing conditions, we will
do a retest growing brown rice in the
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If the arsenic is found to be in
the soil or fertilizer will test the top 3 fertilizers and 1 natural compost,
and a control group using regular dirt.
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If we find arsenic in all samples
tested, we will test the seeds from suppliers we used vs seeds of the top 3
rice seed cultivators. We will send them to a lab to test pre growth arsenic
levels to find out whether the arsenic starts from the very beginning of the
rice growing process.
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If we find arsenic nowhere in
these rice samples then we will retest using a larger sample size of 100 and
using more climates around the world.
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Lesson Learned
This project will allow an understanding how much the arsenic is
negatively impacting the health of human as millions of people eat rice on
daily basis. The increased level of arsenic in rice can cause a lot of issues
for the people as this is difficult to digest and leads towards health issues.
In Asian countries, rice is a source of nutrition, people cannot quit eating
rice. This project allows analyzing that arsenic ratio in the rice increased
while the rice is grown, and it is commonly found in the brown rice. I have
learned that it is important to reduce the level of arsenic in rice so that the
threat to human health can be reduced.
Another learning from this project is, arsenic has a negative impact on
the health which are devasting. We have decided to study the environment where
the rice is grown, brown rice will be tested as arsenic level is quite high in
this type of rice. We decided to work in the specific areas, for instance
Texas, Louisiana, Missouri and Arkansas. Water and soil of each location are
tested to check the level of arsenic in the rice grown in these areas.
Bibliography
Drug, U. F. (2016). FDA Statement on Testing
and Analysis of Arsenic in Rice and Rice Products. Retrieved from
https://www.fda.gov/food/metals/fda-statement-testing-and-analysis-arsenic-rice-and-rice-products
Editorial, D. (2016). Store-Bought Rice is
Filled with Arsenic…Here’s How to Remove as Much as Possible! Retrieved from
https://dailyhealthpost.com/arsenic-in-rice/
SOHN, E. (2014). The toxic side of rice.
Nature .
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