Washington: The presence of arsenic in the soil in parts of eastern India and Bangladesh has adversely affected rice production, as also the health of people who eat the contaminated rice.

Scientists now claim to have a solution to the problem: genetically engineered rice plants that resist intake of the toxin.

Already more than 300,000 people in West Bengal and Bangladesh have developed cancer by drinking contaminated water and eating contaminated rice, said Om Parkash of the University of Massachusetts, who has genetically engineered rice plants that block arsenic intake.

"By increasing the activity of certain genes, we can create strains of rice highly resistant to arsenic and other toxic metals," said Parkash, a plant, soil and insect scientist.

"Rice plants modified in this way accumulate several-fold less arsenic in their above-ground tissues, and produce six to seven times more biomass, making the rice safer to eat and more productive."

This could help alleviate the current worldwide rice shortage, added Prakash.