Which concentrations of heavy metals are dangerous in baby food?

Since babies are growing and developing, it would be ideal for their food to be free of heavy metals. However, this is impossible, as some ingredients, such as rice and sweet potatoes, absorb concerning levels of heavy metals from the water and soil.

There are four heavy metals whose presence in baby food should worry parents

Dangerous heavy metal concentrations

While some heavy metals, such as iron and zinc, are beneficial to our health, as they promote the good and proper functioning of our bodies, others are not.

The primary heavy metals that are dangerous even in small concentrations are cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury. Shortly after the Industrial Revolution, in 1860, the chemist Justus von Leibig developed the first commercial baby food, which was a formula containing wheat flour, cow's milk, malt flour, and potassium bicarbonate.

Nevertheless, with the advance of technology, the baby food we find on the market today is very different, as most of it contains ingredients that are very prone to absorbing concerning levels of heavy metals from the earth and water, as well as from pesticides and insecticides. These ingredients refer to rice, sweet potatoes, carrots, and lentil, to name a few. The dangerous concentrations in baby food for each heavy metal, expressed in parts per billion (ppb), are the following:

  • arsenic: between 40 - 75 ppb
  • lead: between 7 - 17 ppb
  • cadmium: between 10 - 25 ppb
  • mercury: between 1 - 3 ppb

As a parent, you will naturally want to avoid the brands of baby food that were found to contain hazardous levels of heavy metals, and you can do so by reading the list of the specific products on this page. These baby food products, manufactured by multiple renowned companies, have a concentration of heavy metals that greatly exceeds the safe limit, which is why you may want to avoid them.

Our attorneys will help you file your toxic baby food claim if your child has autism

Since 1990, the endeavors of our law firm have been dedicated to helping people recover the financial compensation they deserved for the negative impact toxic agents had on their health.

If you fed your baby toxic food and they later developed a disorder on the autism spectrum, you are most likely eligible to file a claim with the responsible companies. We are here to ease the legal process for you, as we are aware that parents with children who have autism need a lot of time for caretaking. Therefore, all you have to do is contact our legal team, explain your situation in detail, and send us the medical records of your child as evidence.

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