Rice Methylmercury Exposure and Mitigation

It is commonly believed that dietary ingestion of one of the most toxic forms of mercury, methylmercury, is primarily due to eating fish. This is not necessarily the case in many areas of the world where rice is a staple food and the levels of methylmercury in rice have been found at potentially concerning levels. However, it is unclear whether methylmercury in rice is more toxic to humans than exposure through fish ingestion. Mercury contamination of rice has not yet had the same visibility and popularity as other food toxicity issues. To address this, Sarah Rothenberg (University of South Carolina), Lisamarie Windham-Myers (USGS), and Joel Creswell (Brooks Rand Instruments) have written a fascinating paper that consolidates and summarizes the most significant research on this topic in the past 30 years. To view the abstract and obtain a copy of this paper (PMID: 24972509), please click here.