Toxic Baby Food

Important information:

 

  • Congressional Report
  • What You Should Know
  • Autism and ADHD Related To Baby Foods
  • Toxic Elements
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Baby Food exposure

Childhood exposure to heavy metals can cause damage to neurological development

Baby food products were produced for infants and children as young as four months old that contained toxic heavy metals. Children are vulnerable to damaging neurological effects from heavy metals, including:

 

According to both the Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization, heavy metals are dangerous to health. Even low level exposure to heavy metals in baby food can cause serious and often irreversible damage to the brain development of infants. This can also lead to negative effects on long-term brain function.

 

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What is happenning with the baby food?

Investigation by the U.S. House into Baby Food Reveals Toxic Metals

Lawyers from Scranton Law Firm represent hundreds of children suffering from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder after being exposed to dangerously high levels of heavy metals in baby food products.

 

  • Gerber
  • Earth’s Best Organic (Hain Celestial Group)
  • Beech-Nut (Beech-Nut Nutrition Company)
  • HappyBABY (Nurture, Inc.)
  • Plum Organics (Campbell Soup Company)
  • Parent’s Choice (Walmart private brand)
  • Sprout Organic Foods (Sprout Foods, Inc.)

Our attorneys filed the first baby food lawsuit in California and possibly the nation against several baby food companies alleging they knowingly sell products tainted with arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. We represent parents, who allege their seven-year-old son, suffers from neurodevelopmental disorders after consuming substantial quantities of baby foods from the following baby food manufacturers:

 

baby-food-brand-logos-home

Scranton Law Firm is in active litigation against the baby food companies listed above and intends to go to trial in 2023. To see if your child qualifies for a baby food lawsuit, fill out our confidential case evaluation form or call our legal team at (800) 400-8742 to schedule an appointment with a lawyer who can answer all your questions.

Join the Baby Food Heavy Metals Lawsuit – Justice for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

In 2021, a U.S. Congressional Subcommittee reported that numerous popular baby food products, including infant rice cereal, teething biscuits, purees, rice cakes, and others, contain “dangerously high levels” of arsenic, mercury, lead, and cadmium. Shockingly, Happy Family Organics, Gerber, Hain Celestial (Earth’s Best Organic), Beech-Nut, Plum Organics, Walmart (Parent’s Choice), and Sprout Organic Food knowingly sold tainted baby food to unsuspecting parents, according to the report.

Numerous studies have linked toxic heavy metal exposure to behavioral impairments. The link is especially pronounced among babies and young children, whose brains are still developing. Even at low levels, exposure to heavy metals can cause severe and irreversible damage to neurological development in children. As one recent study observed:

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What is it exactly

What Are Heavy Metals?

In 2021, a U.S. Congressional Subcommittee reported that numerous popular baby food products, including infant rice cereal, teething biscuits, purees, rice cakes, and others, contain “dangerously high levels” of arsenic, mercury, lead, and cadmium. Shockingly, Happy Family Organics, Gerber, Hain Celestial (Earth’s Best Organic), Beech-Nut, Plum Organics, Walmart (Parent’s Choice), and Sprout Organic Food knowingly sold tainted baby food to unsuspecting parents, according to the report.

 

Heavy Metals Side Effects

Arsenic: Linked to bladder and lung cancer; damage to the central nervous system, brain development, and cognitive development; immunological effects; IQ deficit (specifically verbal, performance and memory); ASD; decrease in global motor, gross motor, and fine motor.

Cadmium: Linked to decreases in IQ; development of ASD and ADHD.

Lead: Linked to behavioral problems; ASD; decreased cognitive performance; delayed puberty; reduced postnatal growth; damage to central nervous system and brain development; adverse effect on academic achievement; with lower reading and math scores; significant association with ADHD.

Mercury: Linked to adverse subsequent neuro-development; ASD; poorer estimated IQ; positively associated with autistic behaviors among preschool children.

 

Heavy Metals Side Effects

Public health agencies and medical professional organizations agree that exposure to toxic heavy metals is particularly dangerous for young children:

Heavy metals pose a “major public health concern” for children. –World Health Organization (WHO)

Heavy metals “may build up in biological systems and become a significant health hazard.” Noticeable consequences of exposure could be delayed for years. –Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Arsenic is number one among environmental substances that pose the most significant potential threat to human health, followed by lead (second), mercury (third), and cadmium (seventh). –Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

No level of exposure to these heavy metals has been shown to be safe in children. –American Academy of Pediatrics

 

Findings

The U.S. House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy has issued multiple shocking reports on heavy metals in baby food. In February of 2021, the Subcommittee’s report ‘Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury’ detailed staggering levels of toxic metals in baby foods.

According to the February 2021 report, Nurture (Happy Family Organics and HappyBABY), Beech-Nut, Hain Celestial Group (Earth’s Best Organic), Plum Organics, Walmart (Parent’s Choice), Sprout Foods, and Gerber knowingly sell baby foods containing as much as 180 parts per billion (ppb) inorganic arsenic, 6441 ppb lead, 10 ppb mercury, and manufacture their products using ingredients containing as much as 913.4 ppb arsenic, 886.9 ppb lead, and 344.55 ppb cadmium, far eclipsing domestic and international regulatory standards.

To put this in perspective, here are the maximum allowable limits that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury are:

The FDA allows a maximum level of 5 parts per billion (ppb) lead in bottled water.

The government report found 177 times more than the acceptable level of lead in baby food products.

The FDA allows a maximum level of 10 ppb arsenic in bottled water.

The government report found 91 times more than the acceptable level of arsenic in baby food products.

The FDA allows a maximum level of 5 ppb cadmium in bottled water.

The government report found 69 times more than the acceptable level of cadmium in baby food products.

The EPA allows a maximum of 2 ppb mercury in drinking water.

The government report found 5 times more than the acceptable level of mercury in baby food products.

 

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