According to a recent University of Michigan research, hazardous levels of arsenic and cadmium, heavy metals that can raise the risk of cancer and heart disease, are present in American rice shipments to Haiti, which make up most of the country’s supplies of this essential dietary staple.
Along with Mexico and Japan, Haiti is one of the major importers of rice into the United States. The Caribbean nation is considered the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere; therefore, cheap imports are deemed more economical than domestic products.
- Advertisement -
The study found that imported rice had average amounts of arsenic and cadmium that were almost twice as high as those of rice cultivated in Haiti, with some imported samples above international standards.
The majority of imported rice samples were higher than what the US Food and Drug Administration advised is OK for youngsters to eat. The levels of contaminants in other importing nations were not assessed by the research.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the State Department or the U.S. FDA.
According to the report, Haiti imports approximately 90% of its rice, virtually solely from the United States, and attributes this dominance to reduced import taxes and long-term contracts inked amid political unrest in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Former US President Bill Clinton, who aided in promoting US rice subsidies to Haiti, subsequently referred to the action as a “mistake” and claimed it had damaged the country’s ability to produce rice.
The study also highlighted the relatively lax U.S. regulations on arsenic and cadmium concentrations, which may contaminate food and water due to leaching from both naturally occurring and anthropogenic sources. Particularly vulnerable to absorbing these metals is rice.
Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas were listed as the top exporting states in the survey.
In 2020, the study’s researchers discovered that the average annual rice consumption of Haitians was 85 kg (187 lb), compared to 12 kg in the United States. This difference in rice consumption put Haitians, particularly their youth, at significantly higher risk of experiencing related health complications.
“The flooding of U.S. rice into Haiti is not only economically violent for Haitian peyizan who struggle to sell their local product but also violent toward the long-term health of Haitian consumers,” the report noted.
“By maintaining a system dependent almost exclusively on U.S. rice, Haiti is importing a substantial amount of risk.”
The study identified a “dire need” to enhance Haiti’s agriculture sector and recommended an ethics probe of U.S. rice exporters as well as steps to fortify the nation’s food safety laws.
Food costs are rising as a result of a bloody struggle between gangs with heavy weaponry that has extended to Haitian agricultural areas. Over 300,000 people are said to have abandoned their homes, and 40% of people are estimated to be hungry by the UN.
