Baby foods from several of the country’s biggest manufacturers are “contaminated” with toxic substances heavy metals, according to a worrying new government report.
The report, released Thursday morning, says that baby foods have “significant levels” of substances, including lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. Metals can be especially dangerous for the brain development of babies and young children.
Parents often say that they look for the healthiest and safest foods for their babies. But as Connecticut’s mother Carrie Kerner found out, it’s hard to look for something that you may not even be aware of.
“I just looked for the ingredients,” Kerner told CBS News investigative correspondent Anna Werner. “If there were preservatives, sweeteners or sugars added, I wouldn’t buy it, so I basically just wanted to stay organic.”
Kerner had his first child, Chloe, a year ago. Since then, she said she has been paying close attention to what is in Chloe’s food.
But one thing that Kerner and her husband Bryan, who is a doctor, never cared about was whether the baby’s food contained toxic metals.
She said the revelation was “very worrying for a new mother”.
“This is the smallest thing a mother wants to think about. You are already concerned about her suffocation – with what goes on in these foods,” said Kerner.
Still, a new investigation by the Congressional subcommittee found major concerns about the presence of metals in baby food. The report says that “baby food is contaminated with dangerous levels” of “toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury”.
The researchers say that the brain development of babies and young children is “especially vulnerable” to toxic chemicals, which can cause “permanent brain damage”. The worrisome risks include decreasing IQ, problems at school and even criminal behavior later in life.
Illinois Democratic MP Raja Krishnamoorthi told CBS News that removing heavy metals from baby food is critical.
“I don’t know a mother or father who wants neurotoxins in their baby’s food,” he said.
The investigators asked seven baby food manufacturers in the United States to provide internal documents and test results.
Of the four who did, all showed the presence of lead, arsenic and cadmium in their own test results – at levels that the report says “eclipse” from the maximum levels defined for other products.
Compared to the levels allowed by the FDA in bottled water, the report says, the results were “up to 91 times the level of arsenic”, “up to 69 times the level of cadmium” and “up to 177 times the level of lead”.
CBS News asked these companies for comments and everyone who responded said they were committed to security.
All companies that responded also said they meet government standards, developed their own internal quality and test standards, or both. Several said they are part of the Baby Food Council, a group formed with the goal of voluntarily reducing heavy metals in baby foods.
The problem is not new, however – Consumer Reports ran its own tests of 50 nationally distributed baby foods in 2018, finding that “each product had measurable levels of at least one” of three heavy metals and 68% “had worrying levels of at least one heavy metal.”
James Dickerson of Consumer Reports says there is little reason to be alarmed as these heavy metals occur naturally.
“This is the real big problem. You want to minimize the risk, you cannot eliminate it entirely, but you can minimize it. And there are steps we can take,” said Dickerson.
He tells parents to limit rice and sweet potato products, which tend to absorb more pollutants due to the way they are grown. Dickerson also recommends avoiding snacks like cookies and crackers, which in the Consumer Reports investigation had higher levels of heavy metals and varied their children’s diets.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi believes that voluntary entry efforts are not enough. He plans to introduce legislation to intensify FDA oversight.
“So now we need the FDA to step in and do what I think the American people believe is their job,” he said. “What it is to make sure that the food your babies eat is safe.”
For concerned parents who wonder if they should throw out baby food – experts say no, there is no need to panic if the products are in the pantry and if the key is moderation.
When asked about an answer, the FDA said it has been working on reducing exposure to toxic elements in food, but recognizes that there is more work to be done.
According to Healthy Babies Bright Futures, a group dedicated to “measurably reducing the greatest sources of exposure for babies to toxic chemicals”, almost nine out of ten baby foods tested had no mandatory federal safety limit for these metals heavy.
The FDA took note of the report released today by the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, the US House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee and is reviewing its findings.