beware cheap wine

by PAUL FASSA

In addition to being toxic enough to kill you with high doses of inorganic arsenic, chronic low levels of even organic arsenic can accumulate and inhibit the body’s natural process of eliminating other heavy metals. Arsenic of either type is also carcinogenic, but again, inorganic arsenic is the most toxic.

And that’s exactly the type of arsenic that is high in many cheap wines. Arsenic can also appear in ground water, but the EPA limit for ground water is 10 parts arsenic to a billion parts water. According to a recent class action suit filed March 2015 in Los Angeles, CA, several wines contain 500% or more than what’s allowed in drinking water.

But some of wine industry spokespersons among the 28 wineries that are defendants in the suit point out that the wine industry in Europe, Canada, and the USA has its own arsenic level standards for wine, 100 parts per billion. But half of that, which the winery people say is not unusual, is still much higher than the EPA’s arsenic/water standard.

The winery representatives claim the higher amount they allow in wine compared to water makes sense because “people drink more water than wine. … [And] water is the only beverage with an arsenic baseline that is monitored by the US government.”

The current class action suit recently filed has not appeared before a judge or jury yet. Its source of information comes from Kevin Hicks, a former wine distributor who had started a wine testing lab in Denver called BeverageGrades. Around a quarter of the 1300 bottles of California wines analyzed had higher than EPA’s allowable arsenic to water level.

The lawsuit alleges that the contaminated wines are cheaper in part because their producers don’t “implement the proper methods and processes to reduce inorganic arsenic.” Exactly how this is done, whether from how the winery grapes are grown, how it’s stored, or just prior to bottling was not disclosed in any of the sources for this article.

Because of their lower prices, some wine drinkers could wind up drinking almost as much wine as water. The lawsuit seeks measures for attempting to wineries to attempt coming closer to EPA 10 parts per billion arsenic to water standard, and not boast of 50 parts to billion.

Again, the analysis and lawsuit focused on California wines, where most this country’s wine is produced. The USA has surpassed France as the number one exporter of wines to be the world’s wine producer.

Some of them are those cheaper wines. So this information comes at a critical time. The French version of cheap wines are the table wines that people in France drink almost daily. Those haven’t been tested.

Perhaps cheap organic California wines are cleaner alternatives. They are according to this site that names names and merchant sources.

Meanwhile, here’s a list of wines that are included in the class action lawsuit. Buyer beware:

Acronym GR8RW Red Blend 2011
Almaden Heritage White Zinfandel
Almaden Heritage Moscato
Almaden Heritage White Zinfandel
Almaden Heritage Chardonnay
Almaden Mountain Burgundy
Almaden Mountain Rhine
Almaden Mountain Chablis
Arrow Creek Coastal Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
Bandit Pinot Grigio
Bandit Chardonnay
Bandit Cabernet Sauvignon
Bay Bridge Chardonnay
Beringer White Merlot 2011
Beringer White Zinfandel 2011
Beringer Red Moscato
Beringer Refreshingly Sweet Moscato
Charles Shaw White Zinfandel 2012
Colores del Sol Malbec 2010
Glen Ellen by Concannon’s Glen Ellen Reserve Pinot Grigio 2012
Concannon Selected Vineyards Pinot Noir 2011
Glen Ellen by Concannon’s Glen Ellen Reserve Merlot 2010
Cook Spumante
Corbett Canyon Pinot Grigio
Corbett Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon
Cupcake Malbec 2011
Fetzer Moscato 2010
Fetzer Pinot Grigio 2011
Fisheye Pinot Grigio 2012
Flipflop Pinot Grigio 2012
Flipflop Moscato
Flipflop Cabernet Sauvignon
Foxhorn White Zinfandel
Franzia Vintner Select White Grenache
Franzia Vintner Select White Zinfandel
Franzia Vintner Select White Merlot
Franzia Vintner Select Burgundy
Hawkstone Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
HRM Rex Goliath’s Moscato
Korbel Sweet Rose Sparkling Wine
Korbel Extra Dry Sparkling Wine
Menage a Trois Pinot Grigio 2011
Menage a Trois Moscato 2010
Menage a Trois White Blend 2011
Menage a Trois Chardonnay 2011
Menage a Trois Rose 2011
Menage a Trois Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
Menage a Trois California Red Wine 2011
Mogen David Concord
Mogen David Blackberry Wine
Oak Leaf White Zinfandel
Pomelo Sauvignon Blanc 2011
R Collection by Raymond’s Chardonnay 2012
Richards Wild Irish Rose Red Wine
Seaglass Sauvignon Blanc 2012
Simply Naked Moscato 2011
Smoking Loon Viognier 2011
Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Sutter Home Gewurztraminer 2011
Sutter Home Pink Moscato
Sutter Home Pinot Grigio 2011
Sutter Home Moscato
Sutter Home Chenin Blanc 2011
Sutter Home Sweet Red 2010
Sutter Home Riesling 2011
Sutter Home White Merlot 2011
Sutter Home Merlot 2011
Sutter Home White Zinfandel 2011
Sutter Home White Zinfandel 2012
Sutter Home Zinfandel 2010
Trapiche Malbec 2012
Tribuno Sweet Vermouth
Vendange Merlot
Vendange White Zinfandel
Wine Cube Moscato
Wine Cube Pink Moscato 2011
Wine Cube Pinot Grigio 2011
Wine Cube Pinot Grigio
Wine Cube Chardonnay 2011
Wine Cube Chardonnay
Wine Cube Red Sangria
Wine Cube Sauvignon Blanc 2011
Wine Cube Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 2011

Paul Fassa is a contributing staff writer for REALfarmacy.com. His pet peeves are the Medical Mafia’s control over health and the food industry and government regulatory agencies’ corruption. Paul’s valiant contributions to the health movement and global paradigm shift are world renowned. Visit his blog by following this link and follow him on Twitter here.

This article first appeared on RealFarmacy.com written by Paul Fassa

Sources:

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2015/03/cheap-wine-might-contain-arsenic

http://livingtraditionally.com/very-high-levels-of-arsenic-in-top-selling-wines/

http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/2015/03/19/high-levels-arsenic-top-selling-wine/25011515/

http://www.greenfacts.org/en/arsenic/

Images:

http://www.paradisespringsmountain.com/uploads/3/0/6/9/3069420/3952065_orig.jpg?393

http://blogs.uww.edu/journalism/files/2013/10/columbia-winery.jpg

http://miamionthecheap.com/lotc-cms/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/wine-toast-300×203.jpg