I realize that this thread is old, but I would like to add a page from the Consumer Reports website about the arsenic-in-rice issue. It's from December 2011.
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http://news.consumerreports.org/safety/2011/12/new-study-focuses-on-arsenic-in-rice.html
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Yes, the arsenic is in the RICE. And yes, it is possible that the water feeding the rice (or whatever crop such as apples) can be contaminated, but that seems less improbably because our waters are tested and treated. This may be true in developing countries.  The bulk of the source seems to be in the soil from heavy pesticide use back in the day when cotton was grown in that soil, before rice or apple trees were planted.
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Therefore, I am wondering if we buy organic rice from farmers who have been practicing organic methods as long as possible would be a safer rice to eat in the U.S. Older the farm, the better. For example, Lundberg family seems to have been an organic farm from the beginning, but I don't know if starting a business in 1937 was early enough. Considering the fact that the scientists created GMO rice that would grow better in pesticide-laden field, the time frame for Lundberg rice might be okay. And, they are grown in CA, not in the midwest.
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The link one of the posters included was a Telegraph (UK) article said that Basmati rice from India and rice from Egypt are the safest. If we want to eat rice, that is another option.
