Heavy Metal Contamination in Baby Food is the Latest Failure by Federal Regulators to Protect Families
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2021
CONTACT:
Michael Green, michael@ceh.org, 510.740.9390
Aimee Dewing, aimee@ceh.org
Federal Regulators Fail Families: CEH Calls for Greater Oversight of Baby Food and All Consumer Products
OAKLAND, CA – During a hearing yesterday, a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform announced that it found that ingredients in many baby foods are contaminated with heavy metals like arsenic, lead and cadmium. Congressional investigators reviewed data from four of the seven companies they questioned, with retail giants Walmart, Campbells and Sprout Organic Foods failing to disclose important testing information. They didn’t even respond to a request from the US House of Representatives about how much lead was in the baby food that they sell to parents. Through testing loopholes and lax regulation, multi-billion dollar companies are not being held accountable by our government and withhold information about whether their products potentially threaten the health of our most vulnerable, infants whose small bodies are more threatened by exposure to toxic chemicals.
In response to the investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, CEH issued the following statement:
There is no clearer example of industry’s playbook than “secret” presentations to regulators meant to cover up dangerous chemicals in the products they make for babies. This is just the latest example of industry consistently obscuring the science on toxic chemicals and playing politics with regulators at the expense of vulnerable populations. The Center for Environmental Health has and will continue to test products, including the food we give to our children, so that we can empower consumers with the truth. While we embrace the House Committee’s investigation as proof that more must be done to protect public health from exposure to dangerous chemicals, we believe that it will take the leadership of this new administration to transform a failed regulatory system with the urgency it deserves. We commit to holding lawmakers and companies accountable for a safer, healthier future.