EXPOSÉ: Somaliland’s Daily Poison — Is a Contaminated Rice Supply Driving Our Cancer Surge?

WARYATV INVESTIGATION | HARGEISA — For years, rice has been the quiet ruler of the Somali kitchen: cheap, filling, familiar. But as cancer cases rise at an alarming pace and Somaliland families drain their savings traveling to India for treatment, a devastating question now hangs over the dinner table: Is our national staple slowly poisoning us?

A respected medical expert, Dr. Cabdirisaaq Cartan, has broken ranks with the silence in the health sector, urging the public to stop eating rice immediately—a warning he links directly to the country’s cancer spike and to widespread consumption of expired, poorly stored imports.

His message is blunt, and the science backing it is even harsher.

The Hidden Carcinogen Sitting in Every Somaliland Kitchen

Rice is uniquely efficient at absorbing arsenic, a toxic heavy metal classified globally as a Group 1 carcinogen. Because rice is grown in flooded conditions, it pulls arsenic out of the soil far more aggressively than other grains.

Across the world, more than 3.5 billion people depend on rice. But the danger becomes acute when it is eaten three times a day, every day — exactly the pattern in Somali households.

Long-term arsenic exposure is linked to higher rates of lung, bladder, and skin cancers, and a growing body of research shows impacts on heart disease, pregnancy outcomes, and child development.

Somaliland’s situation is even more alarming. We are not consuming small, occasional bowls of rice — we are consuming mountains of it, often from unknown suppliers, from warehouses with questionable storage conditions, and sometimes past the expiration date.

The Basmati Myth

Most rice imported into Somaliland markets — Basmati from South Asia — carries lower arsenic levels, but not safe levels. The largest long-term studies, including the California Teachers Study, found:

• A measurable increase in breast and bladder cancer risk linked to regular rice consumption.

• Scientists warned that populations like Somalis, who eat rice as a staple rather than a side dish, face significantly higher lifetime risk.

Even “low arsenic” rice becomes dangerous when eaten in the volumes common across Somaliland.

A National Silence — and a Public Paying the Price

Despite the warnings from Dr. Cartan, the Ministry of Health has issued no investigation, no data, no response. Berbera port continues to receive rice shipments with no mandatory arsenic testing, no transparent quality controls, and no public reporting.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Somaliland families go bankrupt each year seeking cancer care in India — the human cost of a crisis no one in government has bothered to confront.

Dr. Cartan also raised a painful truth: Somaliland’s media rarely investigates this kind of public health threat. Photo-ops with politicians dominate airtime, while potentially contaminated food continues entering the national market.

What Families Must Do — Starting Today

This is not fearmongering. It is a public safety alert.

Until the government enforces stricter controls, Somalilanders must protect themselves:

1. Reduce daily rice intake.
Replace it with millet (misago), corn, oats, barley, sorghum, or quinoa.

2. Wash and cook properly.
Rinse thoroughly, then cook rice in 6:1 water and drain the excess — a method proven to remove much of the arsenic.

3. Protect children and pregnant women.
They are most vulnerable to arsenic exposure. Their rice consumption should be strictly limited.

A National Health Emergency We Can No Longer Ignore

Cancer is destroying Somaliland households. The financial burden is crushing families. The silence from leadership is indefensible.

Dr. Cartan’s warning is not an attack on culture — it is a call for survival.
Somaliland must demand transparency, enforce food safety standards, and confront the deadly possibility that the very meal we trust most may be the one hurting us.