Baby Food Makers Knowingly Sell Products With High Levels of Toxic Metals
A Congressional investigation found that many leading baby food brands contain high levels of inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury at levels far in excess of those considered by regulators to be safe.
Internal company documents reveal that top baby food makers knowingly sell baby food containing toxic heavy metals including inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury at levels that exceed federal safety limits by hundreds of times, according to Congressional investigators who released their report on Feb. 4.
All of these heavy metals are linked to cancer, chronic disease and neurotoxic effects, with devastating harms to developing baby’s brains. According to the report’s summary:
“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the World Health Organization have declared them dangerous to human health, particularly to babies and children, who are most vulnerable to their neurotoxic effects. Even low levels of exposure can cause serious and often irreversible damage to brain development.”
Internal testing by Gerber, Beech-Nut Nutrition Company, Nurture, Inc., which sells Happy Baby products, and Hain Celestial Group, Inc., which sells Earth’s Best Organic baby food, showed levels of heavy metals far above limits set for bottled water by the FDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Baby food ingredients in certain products contained up to 91 times the arsenic level, up to 177 times for lead, 69 times for cadmium, and 5 times the mercury levels allowed in bottled water. The companies still approved those products for sale.
Hain Celestial baby food which claims to be organic had similar levels of toxic metals, blamed the FDA saying the agency approved its manufacturing and testing practices.
According to CNN, Arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury are in the World Health Organization’s top 10 chemicals of concern for infants and children.
Linda McCauley, dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, who studies environmental health effects, told the New York Times, “No level of exposure to these metals has been shown to be safe in vulnerable infants.”
The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy and Committee on Oversight and Reform, which conducted the investigation, requested the companies voluntarily submit the internal testing documents.
Three other baby food companies refused to cooperate with the committee’s investigation: Sprout Organic Foods; Walmart, which sells Parent’s Choice baby food; and Campbell Soup Company, which sells the Plum Organics baby food.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), chair of the House Subcommittee on Consumer Policy, said he was greatly concerned that their lack of cooperation suggested that the companies might be hiding the presence of even higher levels of toxic heavy metals in their baby food products than their competitors’ products. He said the FDA leaves manufacturers free to test only raw ingredients, or, for the vast majority of baby foods, to conduct no testing at all.
Krishnamoothi told CNN the spreadsheets provided by manufacturers are “shocking” because they show evidence that some baby foods contain hundreds of parts per billion of dangerous metals. “Yet we know that in a lot of cases, we should not have anything more than single digit parts per billion of any of these metals in any of our foods,” he said.
Krishnamoorthi said that he was pessimistic that the FDA had the stomach to stand up to industry corruption. He said, “I’m being realistic. We need legislation to force the FDA to develop standards and to compel the companies to comply.”
According to CBS News, The FDA has been made aware of the report and is reviewing its findings.
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About Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – His reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stems from a litany of successful legal actions. Mr. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” for his success helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The group’s achievement helped spawn 300 Waterkeeper organizations across the globe.
Mr. Kennedy serves as Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and President of Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a Clinical Professor and Supervising Attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Litigation Clinic and is of counsel to Morgan & Morgan, a nationwide personal injury practice. He is co-host of Ring of Fire on Air America Radio. Earlier in his career he served as Assistant District Attorney in New York City.
He has worked on environmental issues across the Americas and has assisted several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in successfully negotiating treaties protecting traditional homelands. He is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City’s water supply. The New York City watershed agreement, which he negotiated on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers, is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development.
Mr. Kennedy is also a devout proponent for vaccine rights, the right to chose, informed consent, and the publication and public awareness of information needed by parents to make informed decisions for their much more vulnerable children. A large portion of his related works can be found on the Children’s Health Defense website
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Read more articles by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
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The above article (Baby Food Makers Knowingly Sell Products With High Levels of Toxic Metals) originated on The Defender and is here by ‘contribution’ with attribution to the articles author Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and childrenshealthdefense.org/defender.
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