Ever since the results of the congressional report on the presence of cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury in baby food were made public in the winter of 2021, parents of infants and toddlers have been outraged by the sheer negligence of manufacturers. Following a 2019 unsettling study led by the non-profit organization Healthy Babies Bright Futures, which found 95% of the baby food on the market to contain at least one heavy metal, the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy decided to conduct a more comprehensive investigation.
Accordingly, seven major baby food companies were asked to participate in the investigation, but only four agreed: Beech-Nut Nutrition Company, Gerber, Hain Celestial Group, and Nurture. Upon examining their internal documents, the subcommittee found tremendous issues regarding heavy metals in both the ingredients used to manufacture the baby food and the finished products. For instance, Hain used ingredients containing over 300 parts per billion (ppb) arsenic when the safe limit is just 10 ppb. Furthermore, some of the ingredients used by Beech-Nut were found to have as much as 886 ppb lead when the safe limit is only 5 ppb.
The FDA’s Closer to Zero Plan Is Dangerously Slow to Act and Ultimately Inefficient
The FDA has no safe limits for heavy metals in baby food, except for arsenic in infant rice cereal. Still, according to multiple health agencies, the maximum allowable limit is 100 ppb, which poses quite a danger to children’s health, as it is too high. There are no regulations for baby food for the three other heavy metals of concern, which gives companies leverage to skip testing for toxic agents and thereby save money, as having a sample tested costs between $50 and $100. However, every manufacturer is responsible for testing for heavy metals in the products periodically they will put on the market.
Several months after the results of the congressional report were released, the FDA came up with the Closer to Zero plan, a strategy meant to minimize the content of heavy metals in baby food. Nevertheless, the agency’s action was harshly criticized, as the Closer to Zero plan is unnecessarily complex and lengthy. According to the FDA, only in the spring of 2024 or even later will the agency enforce safe limits for cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury in baby food. Understandably, both parents and authorities have expressed their frustration about the Closer to Zero plan, demanding that the FDA takes more aggressive measures.
The action plan itself has been broken down into four steps, two of which are unnecessary and pointless since countless international health agencies have already established the maximum level of heavy metals in baby food. By the third step, we’re getting closer to something that could prove to be helpful, namely the feasibility and achievability of the action levels. Through this step, the FDA wants to ensure proper resourcing habits for baby food manufacturers, which would mean keeping heavy metals within the safe limit in their products by sourcing crops where the soil has low levels of heavy metals. Finally, the FDA would finalize the actions level during the fourth step, which again seems like a watered-down step that can be completed before their third step. Overall, the Close to Zero Plan comes with severe shortcomings, including but not limited to failing to consider the mounting effect of toxic metals on the children’s neurodevelopment when establishing limits, not finalizing their action plan sooner, and of course to define vague expressions such as “as low as possible” and “children’s food.”
The Baby Food Safety Act Could Potentially Solve the Food Contamination Crisis
In October 2021, a coalition of 24 Attorneys General petitioned the agency to prioritize setting safe limits for heavy metals in baby food. While they found the initiative of the FDA laudable, they believed it was ineffective and too slow for the severity of the situation. Consequently, the coalition of Attorneys General urged the agency to take more rapid measures. To solve the issue of heavy metals in baby food, maximum limits for each heavy metal of concern need to be established and subsequently enforced.
The last step to minimize exposure to heavy metals from baby food in children would be ensuring that all infant and toddler food manufacturers adhere to these limits and regularly test both their ingredients and their finished products for toxic metals. Until the FDA carries out the Closer to Zero plan, the Baby Food Safety Act of 2021 might become effective.
It is a bill proposed by Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi that would immediately set maximum limits for heavy metals in baby food: 10 ppb for arsenic, 5 ppb for cadmium, 5 ppb for lead, and 2 ppb for mercury. “My Subcommittee’s investigation has pulled back the curtain on the baby foods industry, and each revelation has been more damning than the last,” said Chairman Raja Krishnamoorthi. “Companies not only under-report the high levels of toxic content in their baby food but also knowingly keep toxic products on the market,” he added.
If this bill were to enter law, parents would no longer have to worry about harmful substances in their children’s food that could lead to autism, lower IQ, cognitive damage, and learning disabilities.
About the Author
As Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Sharp has been part of the legal team of Environmental Litigation Group, PC, for over 20 years. The law firm, whose primary practice area is toxic exposure, is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Some of the responsibilities of Jonathan Sharp are client relations, financial analysis, the collection and distribution of all funds, case evaluation, and management of firm assets.