Why are there dangerous levels of arsenic and lead in American baby food? | Adrienne Matei

An investigation found that popular baby food products are tainted with dangerous levels of chemicals. Yet not enough is being done about it

No parent would intentionally feed their baby arsenic. Yet a disturbing number of parents may be unknowingly doing just that.

An investigation by the US Congress earlier this year found that commercial baby foods sold under the brands Gerber, Beech-Nut, Earth's Best Organic, and HappyBABY are tainted with up to 91 times more inorganic arsenic, 117 times more lead, and 69 times more cadmium than the Food and Drug Administration's maximum allowable levels in bottled water. (The current FDA standard recommends inorganic arsenic in baby food not exceed 100 parts per billion - ten times its recommended limit for bottled water - and the standard is not legally binding.) Of the four, only HappyBABY's parent company, Nurture, routinely tested its products for mercury - which it found.