Diane Beauchemin

A native of Rosemère, QC, Diane Beauchemin obtained a B.Sc. in 1980 and a Ph.D. in 1984 at l'Université de Montréal. She worked as a Research Associate at the National Research Council of Canada until she joined the Department of Chemistry at Queen's University in 1988. She became Full Professor in 2001. Her research is broad, encompassing the risk assessment of food safety, forensic analysis, and the measurement of nanoparticles. Her work has been recognized by the: Alan Date Memorial Award in 1988, 1991 Maccoll Prize, 1995 NSERC Senior Industrial Fellowship, 2017 Maxxam Award, 2018 Gerhard Herzberg Award and 2019 Clara Benson Award. In fact, she was the first woman to receive the Maxxam Award and the Gerhard Herzberg Award.

Lecture: Should we be concerned about arsenic in rice?

Arsenic can be present in different forms in food. For example, in seafood, it is mostly in the form of arsenobetaine, which is non-toxic because it is not metabolised by the human body and is simply excreted. At the other end of the spectrum, inorganic arsenic, with which French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was poisoned, is a class 1 carcinogen that can be found in rice. In fact, the rice grown in several states of the USA, such as California and Arkansas, contains a significant amount of inorganic arsenic. However, in order to exert its toxic effect, the arsenic must be bio-available (i.e. reach the blood stream), which requires that it first be bio-accessible (i.e. dissolved in the gastro-intestinal tract). Our studies have shown that, unfortunately, a large fraction of the inorganic arsenic in rice is bio-accessible. Fortunately, a good portion is so accessible that it can be washed away. This presentation will show that washing rice prior to cooking is a simple way of making this staple food safer to eat.