Faculty First Year Seminars 197CHEM - How much Arsenic do we eat?

An introduction to the ideas that we need protect ourselves from naturally occurring toxic chemical substances in our environment, and to deal responsibly with those chemical substances we deliberately distribute into the environment. In answering the question posed in the course title, we will learn how science advances by dissemination of research results in the peer-reviewed literature, several examples of which we will read. We will discover what arsenic compounds are in our food, how they got there, and whether they are potentially harmful. We will discuss the reasons why consumer advocacy groups are calling for regulations governing the concentrations of arsenic in food and in rice in particular. The key role of chemical analysis in providing reliable information for the various sciences involved in such studies will be examined, and the current capabilities of chemical measurement technologies will be critically evaluated.

Freshmen Only