Overview
A congressional report entitled "Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury" issued on February 4, 2021, found that seven baby food manufacturers in the United States have sold baby food containing “dangerously high levels” of toxic heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic.
These toxic metals can harm the development of a baby’s brain, and may lead to neurodevelopmental problems in children such as autism and ADHD, as well as other health conditions.
Which Baby Food Brands Are Toxic?
The report found that many baby food products, including “Earth’s Best Organic®” brand products by Hain Celestial Group,“Sprout Organic Foods®” by Sprout Foods, Inc., and “Parent’s Choice®” by Walmart Inc., including others, are tainted with high levels of inorganic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.
The congressional report also found that Hain Celestial Group violated its own standards for lead and arsenic, by containing over 150% of its own upper limit for each in many of its Earth’s Best baby foods. Hain’s self-imposed limit for lead content in five of its ingredients is already forty times higher than the FDA’s guidance limit on lead in bottled water.
Neither Walmart nor Sprout Organic Foods cooperated with the subcommittee’s investigation. In response, the subcommittee wrote that it “is greatly concerned that their lack of cooperation might be obscuring the presence of even higher levels of toxic heavy metals in their baby food products than their competitors’ products.”
Walmart sells “Parent’s Choice” and “Parent’s Choice Organic” products for babies as young as four months. Sprout Organic Foods sells organic products for babies as young as six months.
Which Products Contain Toxic Heavy Metals?
Products found to have dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals include:
- Infant rice cereal
- Whole grain multi-grain cereal
- Puréed baby foods containing quinoa and lentil
- Puréed baby foods containing various vegetables and fruits
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