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Arsenic in your California wine? Lab sayes yes.

  A class action lawsuit says many California wineries produced and sold wine with high levels of arsenic.

  The suit was filed earlier this week in a California Superior Court saying that 28 wineries knowingly violated California law by producing wine contaminated with arsenic and failed to inform consumers about the potential dangers.

Testing on the wines was done at BeverageGrades in Denver Colorado. The lab tested over 1,300 different types of wine and found over 80 showed dangerous levels of inorganic arsenic. With two additional labs confirming the results.

  According to the lawsuit, some wines contained arsenic levels that exceeded the safe daily intake limit by 500%.

 The majority of the wines listed in the lawsuit are lower cost white or blush varieties, including Moscato, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc. Some brands named in the lawsuit are Franzia, Sutter Home, Wine Cube, Cupcake and Beringer.

  A dollar amount of damages is not in the lawsuit. But the lawsuit seeks "injunctive relief, civic penalties, disgorgement and damages."

The Wine Institute, an association of 1,000 California wineries is not taking this lightly as a they have said this is misleading. 



"Arsenic is prevalent in the natural environment in air, soil and water, and in food," the statement said. "There is no research that shows that the amounts found in wine pose a health risk to consumers."

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