Relax, and continue to enjoy an occasional glass of wine, or two, scientists are saying as they take a closer look at the results of a British study that claims potentially hazardous levels of heavy metal ions could be contaminating many commercial table wines (see the earlier posting below).
The Wine Spectator, in a comprehensive follow-up to initial news reports of the research, quotes one authority as saying the study targets the wrong contaminants, and that drinking water often contains more metals than wines. That would be George Soleas, vice president of quality assurance for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which routinely tests the wines it sells in the Canadian province for heavy metals and other contaminants.
"I'm not trying to minimize the fact that contaminants get into wine, but they are targeting the wrong contaminants. Most people will drink two glass of wine a night, but eight glasses of water per day, and if they take a multivitamin tablet they get two milligrams of manganese on top of that, so how is the metal obtained from wine going to kill anyone?,"
says Soleas, who has degrees in clinical biochemistry and enology.
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