If you’re a wine-loving collegiette, chances are you’ve found a few affordable brands to support your vino habit over the past few years. Beloved, cheap brands like Charles Shaw (otherwise known as Trader Joe’s “Two-Buck Chucks”) and Franzia may contain nearly five times of the maximum amount of arsenic that the Environmental Protection Agency deems safe to consume, according to a CBS report.
Unfortunately, the less expensive the wine is, the more arsenic it is expected to contain, according to Kevin Hicks, the founder of a company in Denver called BeverageGrades, an “independent third party lab testing facility of wine, beer and spirits.” After Hicks tested 1,300 bottles of wine, he found that 25 percent of them had higher arsenic levels than the EPA allows in drinking water. However, since the EPA’s standards only apply to drinking water, it’s unknown how the level of arsenic in wine could actually affect consumers, since they drink significantly less wine than water.
A class action lawsuit accusing winemakers of promoting harmful products is now being filed in California, according to Cosmopolitan. Until more information is released, it’s probably smart to leave the boxed stuff behind and to stick to the wines that have been approved by BeverageGrades—hey, we’re ust investing in our health here!