Congressional Subcommittee Issues Controversial Report on Baby Food; FDA Issues Response

In a report issued by the Congressional Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy earlier this February titled Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury, the committee’s primary finding was

"1. According to internal company documents and test results obtained by the Subcommittee, commercial baby foods are tainted with significant levels of toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. Exposure to toxic heavy metals causes permanent decreases in IQ, diminished future economic productivity, and increased risk of future criminal and antisocial behavior in children. Toxic heavy metals endanger infant neurological development and long-term brain function."

The report goes on to discuss the various heavy metals and the concentrations found.  Some baby food manufacturers participated in the hearings, but for those that did not, they were admonished in the report.

We know those people involved in making baby food understand the importance of what they do.  Would they knowingly do something harmful just to make product?  I just can’t think that.  We have worked with many of these companies and their employees over the years.  These people are far from evil.

I am not a toxicologist.  But when I read through this , I question how valid the presented results and conclusions are, what are the actual risks to consumers, especially in comparison to other alternatives such as parents making their own baby food, and what can we do as parents and food processors to remedy this.

In the past, we have looked to the scientific community to provide answers to these questions.  The FDA issued a response that basically said that they take these issues seriously and are working on it.

"The FDA takes exposure to toxic elements in the food supply extremely seriously, especially when it comes to protecting the health and safety of the youngest and most vulnerable in the population. Toxic elements, such as arsenic and lead, are present in the environment and may enter the food supply through soil, water or air. Because these elements occur in the environment, currently they cannot be completely avoided in the fruits, vegetables, or grains that are the basis for baby foods, juices, and infant cereals made by companies or by consumers who make their own foods. They also cannot be completely avoided by using organic farming practices. Our goal is to reduce exposure to toxic elements in foods to the greatest extent feasible and to further advance progress in this area through more research and enhanced collaboration among stakeholders."

But what other statements have been issued by the scientific community?  Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)?  Consumer Brands Association?  There is a Baby Food Council which is partnership of baby food companies with Cornell University and the Environmental Defense Fund....yeah, not sure we'll see anything from that group.

An article in Food Navigator (which is copyrighted and cannot be copied and added here) did provide the responses by food companies such as Hain Celestial and Happy Family Organics which stated the report was “inaccurately characterized” and there were “many inaccuracies, select date usage and tone bias in the report”.  Surprising?  Perhaps not in the politized culture.

Václav Havel, the famous Czech writer and author of the Power and Powerless, an anti-communist manifesto that urged living in truth, stated this "There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them. Besides, to distrust words, and indict them for the horrors that might slumber unobtrusively within them --isn't this, after all, the true vocation of the intellectual.”