Like the flame retardants in your Gatorade, there's probably arsenic in your brewski. NPR relays a disquieting dispatch from Germany, where researchers discovered high levels of the poisonous chemical element in hundreds of beers, sometimes in quantities twice the amount considered safe for drinking water. Because of strict Reinheitsgebot purity laws—which state that German beers can only be made of water, hops and malt—researchers at the Technical University of Munich deduced that the arsenic addition must be coming from something else. They found their culprit in the filtration process, which uses a substance called diatomaceous earth to remove "unsightly" particles that would make the beer appear cloudy.
Diatomaceous earth—a natural product mined from the earth—is made up of the skeletons of ancient algae called diatoms that lived in the earth's oceans hundreds of thousands of years ago. Beer and wine producers have used the substance as a filtration system for centuries, but only when more refined detection techniques were employed did researchers discover the presence of arsenic. And while filtration systems employing DE do somewhat enhance the flavor of the alcohol, it's really just used to make your booze crystal clear. "It's really there for aesthetics," explains Oregan State University fermentation science professor Tom Shellhammer. "People in general will make positive quality associations with clearer beverages."
But it's not just your Pinot Grigio that employs diatomaceous earth. The substance can also be used as a natural insecticide and let's not forget how helpful it is in making dynamite! And for the all-natural, hippie folks who shun processed products, just throw some diatomaceous earth on your toothbrush for that clean—and potentially deadly!—feeling. Well, at least we'll have porcelain complexions to go along with our beer bellies and night blindness.
[NPR via Village Voice]
