Arsenic found in baby food, scary new study shows

[n2doc]

A scary new study found that many popular baby foods test positive for arsenic, including a whopping 80% of infant formulas.

That’s a pretty terrifying fact to wrap your mind around if you’re a new mom or dad and you’ve just been up all night trying to take care of your bundle of joy. Now, in between middle-of-the-night diaper changes and breast-feeding issues, you also have to worry about the poisons that may be hiding in your baby’s food. So sit down, get some coffee and take a deep breath.

The Clean Label Project, a nonprofit group that works for clarity in labeling, tested a wide array of baby food, formulas and toddler products, as USA Today noted. The study looked at best-selling formulas and baby food using Nielson data. The group, which did not publish findings in a peer-reviewed journal, also looked at emerging national brands. On the whole, about 530 baby food products were tested and researchers found 65% of products tested positive for arsenic. Plus, that wasn’t the only contaminant. They also found lead (36%), cadmium (58%), and acrylamide (%10).

The bad news is that all of these chemicals pose potential dangers to babies with their developing brains and bodies. Jennifer Lowry, pediatrician and toxicologist at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., who is not affiliated with the research, told USA Today that these chemicals may impact fine motor skills and cognition.



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http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/25/arsenic-found-in-baby-food-scary-new-study-shows/

[Irish_Dem]

1. We live in a toxic soup. It is most evident in our children and older folks.

All kinds of behavior and learning disorders in children, and increase in elderly dementia.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Baby food companies don't test their own products to determine toxicity?

What is wrong with them?

[MontanaMama]

3. JFC.

This is horrifying...and just another reason that homemade baby food is the only way to go...I remember my in-laws rolling their eyes at me when I decided to make our own baby food when my kiddo was born. I honestly did it because we were broke at the time and baby food was very expensive and full of salt and sugar. However, as I researched what babies need, it became clear that it was not only economical but the best way to get a child to actually like a variety of foods. It was SO easy. I used a small bullet style grinder and would freshly grind a little bit of whatever we were eating and my son readily ate everything - no exceptions. I was fortunate to have an in-home daycare provider who was happy to provide homemade baby food for my child and the other baby she cared for. To this day, the only thing my son won't eat is a button mushroom and a cooked bell pepper.

[TexasProgresive]

4. Could the source of the arsenic be rice.

Arsenic, rice and your baby's diet By Sandee LaMotte, CNN Updated 3:46 PM ET, Tue April 26, 2016
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/25/health/arsenic-rice-cereal-baby/index.html
snip:

(CNN)Ask any mom or dad to name their baby's first food. The likely answer? Rice cereal. What's a common go-to "healthy" snack for toddlers and kiddos? Rice cakes.

Yet a growing amount of scientific evidence is pointing to an alarming connection between inorganic arsenic in brown and white rice and harm to children's immune systems and intellectual development.

Concentrations of arsenic were twice as high in the urine of infants who ate white or brown rice than those who ate no rice, according to research published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics. Arsenic levels were highest in babies who ate rice cereal, often given several times a day to introduce babies to solids.

In April, the FDA proposed a limit of 100 parts per billion of inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal. That proposal is still in the public comment phase. The European Food Safety Authority has already moved to limit inorganic arsenic in rice products to that level.

[FBaggins]

5. My guess is that it's more likely coming from the same source

Arsenic is a common contaminant in groundwater... so it's bound to come from a natural source in both cases.

[TexasProgresive]

6. It's just that rice is very efficient at taking up arsenic.