Rice, the lifeblood of Indian cuisine, is now under threat. A recent international study published in The Lancet Planetary Health warns that climate change may be fuelling a dangerous rise in inorganic arsenic levels in rice, potentially triggering a surge in cancer cases across Asia by 2050
Rice, the lifeblood of Indian cuisine, is now under threat. A recent international study published in The Lancet Planetary Health warns that climate change may be fuelling a dangerous rise in inorganic arsenic levels in rice, potentially triggering a surge in cancer cases across Asia by 2050.
Rice is one of the earliest cereals known to humanity and especially held in great reverence in India, with the ancient Vedic scriptures mentioning it as annam. Today, India is a major rice producer, being the second-largest in the world after China.
In 2024, India produced nearly 138 million metric tons of rice. This significant production contributes to the food security and economic prosperity of the nation, besides enabling it to be a leading global rice exporter as well. Rice also happens to be a staple food of the nation, making it the second-largest consumer of rice globally, after China.
India logged an estimated consumption of 121 million metric tons of rice in the 2024–25 season, with an average per capita consumption of 52–55 kg per year, or 4.5 kg per person per month. Rice always has been a worry-free part of every Indian’s diet due to the perception that nothing much could go wrong with its quality.
However, those carefree days seem to be over. According to a new report published in The Lancet Planetary Health on April 16, 2025, researchers from China and the US, led by Dongming Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, used Free — Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) technology to analyse 28 rice varieties over a decade and discovered that high CO2 levels, aided by a rise in temperatures beyond 2°C, could trigger a spike in the inorganic arsenic levels in rice grains. Even brown rice, generally considered a safer and healthier choice, is not safe — as in this type of rice, the outer bran layer is intact and tends to have higher arsenic levels than white rice, as the arsenic concentrates in the bran.
According to the World Health Organisation, arsenic contamination in rice must not exceed 1 mg per kg; however, in many nations, this limit has been surpassed. Based on the findings, the researchers highlighted that exposure to inorganic arsenic through rice can increase cancer and associated health risks — especially across multiple Asian nations such as Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam by 2050.
The health risk projections, arrived at using advanced modelling techniques, suggested a surge in cancer cases — especially lung and bladder cancers. China is expected to face the highest impact, with roughly 13.4 million additional cancer cases tied to arsenic in rice. Climate change — led deviations in soil composition and water are the main drivers of the spike in arsenic absorption in rice crops. Moreover, the customary practice of flood irrigation in rice cultivation also tends to contribute to arsenic accumulation in rice — especially in areas with naturally high arsenic levels in the soil or water. The study brings to the fore the threat posed to global food safety by arsenic in rice, as this staple food is the main source of nutrition for billions across the world. Left unchecked, arsenic levels may cause an unprecedented health and food security crisis. Adequate climate adaptation and mitigation strategies that are region and country-specific are urgently needed to address the problem. This can help design suitable interventions at appropriate levels so that the purity of rice can be maintained. India must set the pace in this regard so that this silent threat posed by arsenic does not become an unmanageable health crisis by 2050. The first challenge faced by India is the lack of awareness among the general population regarding the potential presence of arsenic in rice and its adverse effects.
The common person purchasing loose rice from a neighbourhood grocery store or from a Government ration shop, or ordering online, may not even know what arsenic is, how it can find its way into the rice he has just bought, and what damage it can do to the human body. The general practice of thoroughly washing and cooking rice can to some extent reduce the arsenic levels but cannot rid the same entirely. Given the pervasive ignorance and lack of awareness regarding the presence of arsenic in rice, the Government must make it mandatory for all rice sale points in the country to follow a strict process of sharing quality — related information in clear, legible language. The quality information can be in the form of a Certificate of Analysis (COA) from a Government laboratory that clearly spells out critical quality parameters of the rice batch — such as level of arsenic, heavy metals and pesticide content, milling quality, grain size and shape, and nutritional content.
This information should be made available in the form of a QR code as well, so that a simple smartphone can download the COA. This practice, when made widespread, will begin the critical chapter of educating the consumer — who in turn can make a responsible choice. Currently, no such availability of COA is there; as a result, the consumer is assuming best quality when he makes a purchase. Similarly, the Government must put in place strict systems at the agricultural end, where paddy crops are being grown.
The local administration must be equipped with robust and accurate arsenic testing kits that can take spot samples of soil and water and measure the arsenic content of the same. The same data must be relayed back to the higher authorities so that arsenic level variation and spikes can be immediately addressed. Based on the collation of such data, it will also become possible to identify which parts of India have a higher incidence of arsenic in rice. This can help initiate further investigations behind this phenomenon and take corrective measures in the form of improving soil and water quality — the two major determinants for a paddy crop.
Additionally, there are many portable home arsenic testing kits available specifically for rice. In order to prevent a calamitous disease burden arising out of rising levels of arsenic in rice by 2050, the Government can promote the sale and usage of home arsenic testing kits for rice. These kits are generally very simple to use, and results are reasonably accurate.
This initiative can go a long way in preventing consumers from buying and consuming low-quality, high-arsenic contaminated rice and opt for better-quality rice. This in turn will also discourage the sellers — who, when faced with an aware consumer, will stop selling rice with high contamination levels. Rice is the mainstay diet for India, and arsenic contamination can have serious health and food security ramifications for India unless corrective measures are taken.
(The author is former DG, Doordarshan. Views are personal)
