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Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh
- MathMonkeyMan 3y ago> To mask flawed turmeric, some processors began dusting the roots with lead chromate — an orange-yellow industrial pigment used to color plastics and furniture.
- londons_explore 3y agoI don't really want lead in my plastic or my furniture either... In fact, I think there would be a good case for simply banning all mining of lead. Nearly all remaining uses of it (bullets, roof flashing, counterweights, car batteries) seem to still have a pretty high risk of contamination of either the environment or the workers who make or recycle products.
- athenot 3y agoIt's used medically, for example for nurses and doctors who work with radioactive tracers; they wear big aprons with lead in it which absorb any radiation that would be ok once in a while but that you don't want exposed to every single day at work.
- londons_explore 3y agoTrue - but lead doesn't actually perform much better than say steel, per unit weight.
- natdempk 3y agoSee also "Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United States": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/ The problem with lead in tumeric seems to extend beyond Bangladesh.
- CoastalCoder 3y agoYikes. Are their any trustworthy, mainstream sources of spices in the U.S.? E.g., if I buy turmeric from Walmart or Whole Foods, can I safely assume that they're monitoring the product streams for lead? EDIT: I just saw a sibling comment about a company named "American Turmeric". I'm curious about more mainstream sellers, who might possibly monitor other spices as well. I'd prefer to not play whack-a-mole on a spice-by-spice basis.
- natdempk 3y agoYeah I've also been wondering this. Would love it if anyone has similar knowledge, especially about other spices beyond Tumeric.
- TedDoesntTalk 3y agoI posted this above. ConsumerLab does this testing on all sorts of products and foods. They are a non-profit. The annual fee you pay supports the research and testing directly. They tested many brands of both spice and supplement for lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, and published the amounts they found in each brand: https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/turmeric-curcumin-supple https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/turmeric-curcumin-supple... Of great importance lately was their discovery of benzene in many common sunscreens which forced many product recalls. I used their findings to change brands for my entire family.
- CoastalCoder 3y agoThanks for the ConsumerLab pointer. The link you provided doesn't work for me. Is [0] the right article? [0] https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/turmeric-curcumin-supplements-spice-review/turmeric/ https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/turmeric-curcumin-supple...
- TedDoesntTalk 3y agoSorry: https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/turmeric-curcumin-supplements-spice-review/turmeric/ https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/turmeric-curcumin-supple...
- no_butterscotch 3y agoI wonder if this turmeric spread and was sold in the West. My mother recently started taking "golden turmeric" and insists that it's a cure for a lot of ills. Maybe that's true I don't know, she sent me some articles a couple years ago. It was clear that she was influenced by Facebook groups. Hopefully the turmeric she takes is safe :(
- natdempk 3y agoIf you want to be extra safe, you can buy some for her from a safer supplier like: https://www.americanturmeric.com/lead-free-turmeric https://www.americanturmeric.com/lead-free-turmeric
- perihelions 3y agoThey expect us to be swayed by a stock photo of a laboratory? https://www.americanturmeric.com/how-we-test-our-turmeric https://www.americanturmeric.com/how-we-test-our-turmeric ("Laboratory Results - Buy With Confidence") https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-laboratory-image24729171 https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-laboratory-image24729... ("Royalty-Free Stock Photo: Laboratory with many operated science instrument [sic] and computer")
- natdempk 3y agoIt's a stock photo used on a website, did you expect them to go to the actual laboratory they worked with and take one? I have no affiliation here, but they even listed the company they used for testing so presumably you could call/email them if you want further confirmation. None of this seems unreasonable to me, and I don't think a stock photo is a gotcha for product quality.
- perihelions 3y agoThere's a lack of forthrightness in publishing a stock photo without a disclaimer. "Lack of forthrightness" is an anti-signal. Stock photography on a commercial website is an anti-signal.
- CoastalCoder 3y agoInteresting article. One thing I'm left wondering though is: for the offending vendors, how aware were they of the potential harm they were causing? IMHO the punishment should, in some sense, scale with that detail. As a parent, if I found out that someone was knowingly poisoning my children for profit, I'd have some very uncharitable urges.
- no_butterscotch 3y agoI do wonder if some of the dirt poor street-vendors were "in on it" or just the fall-guys.
- alephnerd 3y agoIt's bought wholesale at Mandis/Markets. Any kind of lead adulteration probably happened with the Spice Distributor (either the spice distributor or the wholesaler). If you are a street food vendor, your margins are low so you would probably go for the cheaper alternative. The price of turmeric across SAARC also skyrocketed due to higher than average rainfall in MH+TG along with skyrocketing "Western Hipster Superfood" demand, which has a carryover effect to the Bangladesh and Nepal markets. Farms -> Trader -> Wholesale Mandi/Market -> Spice Distributor -> Restaurant/Street Food Vendor
- bee_rider 3y agoMaybe to some extent it should scale with that detail. However, to some extent everyone in the food processing chain has a responsibility to be diligent and competent, right? If we let people off the hook for not knowing the quality of their suppliers, and finding out is expensive, then we’re applying a filter in favor of incompetence.
- slumberlust 3y agoThis behavior is pervasive across all industry. If profit is the sole motivator, public opinion or insubstantial fines are not enough of a deterrent.
- more_corn 3y agotl:dr they use a lead based pigment to keep it a vibrant color apparently not knowing that the pigment was lead based.
- heywhatupboys 3y agoThis article screams "white american saviour" WHO in 2023 writes like this?? > Food Safety authority representatives, flanked by soldiers in camouflage uniforms, magenta berets and guns slung over their shoulders, strode down the center of a busy street market in Dhaka, the capital city. The crowds parted. > Men riding three-wheeled rickshaws pulled over. Street vendors stopped stirring their aromatic curries. The spice sellers wearing parti-colored lungi skirts fell silent. Some curious merchants, sitting atop stacks of potatoes, ginger, onions and garlic, jumped down to follow the entourage.
- ziml77 3y agoDid you even read the context around that? Everyone involved in the scene described was Bangladeshi. And the point of writing it like a dramatic scene in a movie is made clear in the giant quote and paragraph that follow: it was law enforcement theater. They didn't have the capacity to enforce food safety at the scale necessary, so they used this tactic to instill fear in people who were still using the outlawed lead-based pigment.
- EricE 3y agoSo I wasn't the only one that was unimpressed with the flowery anecdotes either?
- ramesh31 3y ago>WHO in 2023 writes like this?? All websites do, as their staff is entirely comprised of 23 year old English majors who equate this style with "good writing". The entire internet reads like a C+ sophomore term paper now.
- heywhatupboys 3y agooh my, I feel sheltered from bad blog posts-as-news, you have ruined the allegory I had of modern articles
- adultSwim 3y agoI was also uncomfortable reading the article. It presents the Western scientist as the only one who knows that lead is dangerous, instead of grappling with the material economic issues at play.
- valarauko 3y agoI'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric, the next suspect probably would be yellow lentils. EDIT: actually the next suspect should be red chillis, adulterated with lead oxide. On an aside, food adulteration used to be such a common social menace in India in the 70s & 80s, such that it was a common theme in the backdrop of Bollywood films, with the hero taking on local mafia bosses who also dabble in food adulteration. India did a mediocre job controlling the rampant food adulteration, with the last major case I recall being an outbreak of Epidemic Dropsy in 1998 due to contamination of mustard oil. There's been cases every once in a while, though I suspect in those cases it is inadvertent contamination with Argemone plants growing in mustard fields.
- Natsu 3y agoWhat sort of test would you do for this? Did you have to buy a test kit?
- rikelmens 3y ago1. The Water Test: Take a glass of warm water and add a teaspoon of your turmeric powder to it. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes. If the turmeric powder settles down, it is pure. If it doesn’t settle to the bottom and leaves a dark yellow colour, it is adulterated. 2. The Palm Test: Take a pinch of your turmeric powder and rub it into the palm of your hand for a few seconds, then turn your palm over. Pure turmeric will stick to your palm and leave a yellow stain, whereas adulterated turmeric will mostly fall off.
- ed25519FUUU 3y agoWouldn’t lead contamination cause the turmeric to sink?
- snapetom 3y agoForsyth's work was submitted here on HN four years ago, if you want to read the study. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935119305195?via%3Dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393511... They found no elevated lead in Indian samples in their study, but they note Indian tumeric have been subject to lead recalls in the past. And of course, proper and transparent sourcing from manufacturers, is an issue.
- glonq 3y agoI have a friend who strongly gravitates towards non-traditional solutions for every health & medical problem. Upon hearing that I had developed cancer, she whipped up a batch of turmeric-infused notions and potions for me, which I appreciate. I haven't touched them yet. Maybe I'll get them tested first; the last thing I need right now is lead poisoning!
- newaccount74 3y agoI don't understand how lead pigments are still legal in some parts of the world at all. What kind of things need a bright yellow color that will slowly poison you if you touch it? Also, those handheld XRF spectrometers are amazing tech. I wish they were more affordable.
- adamwong246 3y ago> "Why? For the same reason our reactors do not have containment buildings around them, like those in the West. For the same reason we don't use properly enriched fuel in our cores. For the same reason we are the only nation that builds water-cooled, graphite-moderated reactors with a positive void coefficient. It's cheaper." ~ Valery Legasov, Chernobyl
- asdff 3y agoUSSR could have really been something if only they adopted the US model of just not saving money
- asdff 3y agoA lot of oil paint for fine art contains heavy metals.
- db48x 3y agoAnd a layer of varnish over the top so that you can’t even touch the paint, even if you are rude enough to try.
- notjulianjaynes 3y agoLead pigments are still legal in the United States[1], and were only banned in the EU a few years ago[2]. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434842/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434842/ [2] https://speciation.net/News/EU-court-rules-Commission-authorisation-of-lead-chromate-pigments-was-illegal-;~/2019/03/12/9006.html https://speciation.net/News/EU-court-rules-Commission-author...
- perihelions 3y agoThe broad outline of these facts has been known for decades (that spice processors intentionally adulterate turmeric with the yellow pigment, lead chromate). These are sold in the First World as well, and are culpable e.g. for acute lead poisoning in children in the USA: https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2017/high-levels-of-lead-detected-in-turmeric-purchased-from-boston-stores/ https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2017/high-levels-of-lea... (2017) - "The study, in Public Health Reports, the official journal of the US Public Health Service and the US Surgeon General, also describes several cases of child lead poisoning in the US that have been linked to consumption of spices, including turmeric."
- TheRealPomax 3y agotl;dr: Color matters to turmeric purchasers, and turmeric that is more vibrantly yellow typically sells for higher prices. The Stanford University team learned that this color-linked perception of quality may have started in the 1980s, when a flood interrupted the drying process, turning rhizomes brown and moldy. To mask flawed turmeric, some processors began dusting the roots with lead chromate — an orange-yellow industrial pigment used to color plastics and furniture. From the interviews, Forsyth learned that this coloration step continued for four decades after the flood and that most processors weren’t aware that the pigments were toxic Even tl;dr-er: they color low quality tumeric with lead-based pigments to make it look like high quality tumeric. Like how China spray paints dead grass green. But with more lead.
- WirelessGigabit 3y agoChina? Grass paint is booming business in SoCal. All because they don't realize they live in a desert. People bash on Arizona for spending water when it's super dry but take a look at Southern AZ lawns vs SoCal lawns. The Southern AZ ones are much more adept to the desert.
- TheRealPomax 3y agoNot at the same scale, but sure, I'm perfectly happy to call out SoCal too. Except SoCal sure as hell won't be using lead paint.
- School-Cotton 3y agoGrass lawns are way more common in Phoenix than Tucson, for whatever reason.
- TheRealPomax 3y agoFascinating downvotes for a perfectly accurate tl;dr. Not everyone is interested in wading through 1000 words of scene-setting before actually getting to the point.
- bakul 3y agoThey could have just asked.... Most who grew up in the subcontinent know this.
- EricE 3y agoYeah, but then they couldn't have wrote a multi-page flowery article about how smart they were interspersed with social justice. What fun would that be?
- wolpoli 3y agoSo they leveraged the Stanford name and got the government to pay attention and take actions. That's great for the people in Bangladesh but still, it's not groundbreaking research that they made it out to be.
- hinkley 3y agoThose who do not learn from history will be exploited by those who do?
- Tozen 3y agoPeople and companies knowingly contaminating food products with poisons like lead, should be put in jail. Companies knowingly selling such products, should be at least heavily fined, possibly prosecuted as well. Bottom line, this is clearly poisoning (and killing people) to make a few extra bucks. There should be no leniency whatsoever for this clear evil.
- itsoktocry 3y ago>There should be no leniency whatsoever for this clear evil. Normally I'd call this sort of language hyperbolic, but in this case I'm not sure it is. You know people are consuming this product. Literally poisoning people to save a few dollars? It's inexplicable.
- mkoubaa 3y agoJail is too lenient, this is the sort of offence where I want to see heads on spikes
- ajmurmann 3y agoThis sounds extreme, but someone is destroying the health of and potentially killing thousands of people to safe a small amount of money. It's hard to think of a worse crime. I wonder if this is similar to the old adage that one death is a tragedy and a thousand are a statistic. If someone violently kills a single person and we learn all the details, in some places they'll face capital punishment. You low-key poison thousands of people and jail is suddenly controversial.
- colechristensen 3y agoA corporation of any size caught doing this with any amount of knowing about it (i.e. not sabotage by a troubled lone wolf) should be seized, sold for parts, and the proceeds from the fire sale going to the victims and if anything is left over afterwards, the state. There is no fine value appropriate that isn't "considerably more than the company is worth" for that kind of blatant violation. You should not get to continue to exist after poisoning people for profit margin.
- yumraj 3y agoPowdered turmeric can be bright yellow, if the roots are boiled before drying and grinding, or dark/dirty yellow if not boiled since natural color of turmeric is dirty yellow. Costco/Kirkland powered turmeric[0] is one of the rare ones that is dirty yellow, so we generally get that in the hope that it is lead free. [0] https://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-ground-turmeric,-12-oz.,-2-count.product.100400211.html https://www.costco.com/kirkland-signature-ground-turmeric,-1...
- howdoesthiswo 3y ago"no safe level of exposure" is facially absurd. One atom of lead (or any element) is going to poison you? Come on. There might not be a practical way to keep exposure to a substance low enough to be safe but that sort of nuance is not dramatic enough to sell an article!
- benced 3y agoI like high quality spices so I buy from places that I have faith can trace their supply chains (all the better if they have testing) but even if you don’t care about quality, you should buy high quality turmeric. Lead poisoning is so bad the amount of money you should be willing to pay to not have it is high.
- denton-scratch 3y agoThere's too much padding in the article. TL;DR Lead is bad for you; shoppers don't like turmeric that isn't yellow; processors dust off-colour turmeric with lead chromate to make it look yellow.
- SomeRndName11 3y agoAmerican rice, grown in Texas has lots of arsenic in it. There is a reason why "Rice from Brownswille" was advertised in the stores.
- selimthegrim 3y agoI mean, an ICP instrument can be found in a lot of the better municipal water quality labs these days, this isn’t like a particle accelerator.
- spider60613 3y ago[dead]