Government and private testing reveal dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals in baby food manufactured by several popular brands such as Gerber, Beech-Nut, Happy Baby, and Plum Organics.
In a study conducted by Healthy Babies Bright Futures, 95% of the 168 baby foods tested contained toxic heavy metals including mercury, cadmium, and lead. In most cases, these heavy metals were found to exceed the FDA’s “safe” limits for individual exposure.
Good Metals vs. Bad Metals
First, the good metals. You need a certain amount of metal in your diet. Metals such as calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, potassium, sodium, and zinc all have daily intake requirements.
There are metals that are known to be harmful to people and exposure to them should be limited or avoided. Those metals include aluminum, antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, lead, mercury, silver, strontium, nickel, thallium, uranium, and vanadium.
Who monitors metals in our food supply?
The FDA monitors, tests, and sets standards for metals in foods and animal feed. The FDA also monitors cosmetics as it is another potential source of exposure to harmful metals.
What is the problem with metals in baby food?
Toxic metals in baby food can cause damage to the developing brain. Recent testing by government regulators and private individuals reveals shockingly high levels of cadmium, lead, and arsenic in baby foods manufactured by several popular brands: Gerber, Beech-Nut Naturals, and Earth’s Best Organic.
Exposing an infant’s developing brain to toxic baby food can lead to serious and irreversible damage.
Heavy Metal Can Damage a Developing Brain
Exposure to toxic levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury levels:
- damage children’s brain
- damage children’s ability to think
- permanently decrease IQ
- cause behavioral problems
- cause Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- cause autism spectrum disorder (autism)
Health Babies Bright Futures Study
In a study conducted by the non-profit group Healthy Babies Bright Futures, 94% of the 168 baby foods tested contained lead; 75% contained cadmium; 73% contained arsenic; 32% contained mercury. You can read the study here.
What are the dangers of Arsenic?
Arsenic is a toxic metal that can be found in many different foods and water because it was used as a pesticide and in animal feed. Arsenic has been linked to causing bladder, lung, and skin cancers as well as permanent IQ loss and dementia.
What are the dangers of Cadmium?
Cadmium is a naturally occurring metal that can also be introduced through industrial activities. It is often used to produce batteries and pigments, and, as a result, it may also contaminate food items. Cadmium exposure can cause damage to the kidneys, reproductive system, lungs, bones, immune system, and cancer.
What are the dangers of Lead?
Lead is a toxic metal that was once used in industrial activities including in paint, gasoline, and pesticides. It can cause serious health problems. Exposure to lead can affect the entire body, and infants are especially vulnerable because their bodies are still developing. Babies who ingest large amounts of lead may experience developmental delays and learning disabilities, as well as kidney and brain damage.
What are the dangers of Mercury?
Mercury is a dangerous metal that is released from coal-fired power plants and mining operations. Mercury can cause symptoms such as memory loss, impaired vision, heart problems, and even death.
Baby Foods That Contained Toxic Metals
According to the Healthy Baby Bright Futures study, the following brands were found to contain toxic chemicals:
- Beech-Nut
- BioKinetics
- Earth’s Best
- Enfamil
- Gerber
- Happy Baby
- Healthy Times
- NuturMe
- Parent’s Choice (Walmart)
- Similac
The companies state that their foods are safe, however.
U.S. House Committee Investigation into Toxic Metals in Baby Food
On Feb. 4, 2021, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform issued a report on four major baby food manufacturers’ testing policies, test results, and the companies’ responses to the results.
Four companies submitted information to the congressional committee for analysis: Nurture, Inc. (HappyBABY), Beech-Nut Nutrition Company, Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (Earth’s Best Organic), and Gerber. The companies’ testers found high levels of arsenic, cadmium and lead in foods made by all four respondents. Testers also detected mercury in Nurture, Inc.’s HappyBABY products. (Nurture, Inc. was the only company to test for mercury.)
The committee found that companies routinely tested their own products, but they did not follow FDA guidelines to also test foods from other manufacturers.
The committee also called into question the accuracy of company-testing results. Companies relied on pre-approved test labs and made limited use of independent labs, which may have led to inaccurate results.
In response, all four major companies issued statements promoting the safety of their products, promising increased transparency in testing protocols, and vowing to work with the FDA to improve overall standards for food safety.
Baby Food & Baby Food Ingredients Tested
- puffs
- rice cakes
- cereals
- teethers
- yogis
- jarred foods
- formulas
- flours
- fruits
- vegetables
- spices
- extracts
- vitamin pre-mixes
- vitamin mixes
- powders
- purees
- oats
- seeds
- pastes
- juice concentrates
Toxic Metals Baby Food Lawyers
Both government and private testing have detected dangerous levels of toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in nearly all baby foods. If your child developed bladder, kidney, or skin cancer or toxic levels of metal in the blood, Sadaka Law can help.
Contact us today and tell us your story.
