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On 19 March 2015, several articles about a class-action lawsuit filed in California Superior Court claiming that dozens of brands of (primarily inexpensive) wines produced in that state contain dangerously high levels of poisonous inorganic arsenic were published on the Internet. This claim spread quickly online, although some of its details were somewhat obscured in its rapid transmission via social media. CBS in San Francisco published an article on the topic that provided some additional details behind the story. According to that article and others, the class action lawsuit was initiated by Kevin Hicks of BeverageGrades, a private company offering lab testing, quality assurance and certification of alcoholic beverages for suppliers, restaurants, retailers and ultimately, the end consumer. The CBS article summarized Hicks' claims, noting an inverse relationship between the cost of wines and the levels of arsenic they contained and the lack of an explanation to account for that phenomenon: Immediately some skeptics (including winemakers affected by the news) pointed out that whether or not Hicks' claims had merit, his company stood to gain financially should consumers develop an interest in lab testing of alcohol. And, in fact, BeverageGrades sent out a press release timed to the announcement of the lawsuit that offered services to provide retailers reassurance from arsenic in wine. Critics also dismissed as mere scare-mongering that Hicks used safety standards established for drinking water and applied them to wine, noting that consumers imbibe far more water than they do wine: CBS This Morning cast additional doubt on the urgency of the arsenic in wine scare by testing four of the wines named in the lawsuit. In those tests, the levels of arsenic in wine found did not match those reported in BeverageGrades' testing: In response to news of the lawsuit, California wines trade group The Wine Institute released a statement noting that while the United States indeed had no established acceptable levels of arsenic in wine, California wines were routinely tested by other countries (including the EU) and deemed to be below those countries' established limits: Wine Spectator contacted some of the wine brands named in the lawsuit, many of whom stated that Hicks had made no effort to contact them before filing the class action, although he did send out a press release to some wine vendors offering his company's testing services to them:
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