A recent government report has confirmed that many brands of baby foods contain dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals including inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. They actually knew this several years ago, the most recent report was more like a confirmation. But this information has been out there.

Can you believe that the companies and our government were aware that toxic heavy metals were in baby food and did nothing?

Can you believe that companies and our government are aware that there are neurotoxic metals—including some of the SAME metals, i.e. mercury–in infant and children’s vaccines TODAY and they are STILL doing nothing?

Hello! Even low levels of exposure to these metals can cause serious and often irreversible damage to the brain in an adult, let alone an infant.

Right now they are talking about baby food and oral exposure, but why not talk about the exposures we get via the injections at birth, and then at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, 15 months, two years–Why are we NOT talking about vaccines?

And what about premature infants? Where is the research that these vaccines are safe for premature, low birth weight infants?

Toxic Metals In Baby Food

The report called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to set maximum levels of toxic heavy metals allowed in baby foods and require mandatory testing of the finished products. Because these things weren’t already done. 

Can you believe that? This highlights one of the major problems with insufficient government regulations: the reverse is expecting these companies and corporations to regulate themselves, to perform the proper studies, safety testing, etc. It just doesn’t happen. This is that example.

With the dangerous baby foods on store shelves for years and decades, we may have unreasonable expectations in a for-profit company to set its own ethical and safety standards.

Which Baby Food Companies Contain Metals?

The most recent report by the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy Committee on Oversight and Reform was a followup from a previous report in November 2019 where it was discovered that many companies had been selling baby food with high levels of the toxic metals:

• Nurture, Inc. (Nurture), which sells Happy Family Organics, including baby food products under the brand name HappyBABY
• Beech-Nut Nutrition Company (Beech-Nut)
• Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (Hain), which sells baby food products under the brandname Earth’s Best Organic
• Gerber
• Campbell Soup Company (Campbell), which sells baby food products under the brand name Plum Organics
• Walmart Inc. (Walmart), which sells baby food products through its private brand Parent’s Choice
• Sprout Foods, Inc. (Sprout Organic Foods)

Arsenic in Baby Food

• Nurture (HappyBABY) sold baby foods after tests showed they contained as much as 180 parts per billion (ppb) inorganic arsenic. Over 25% of the products Nurture tested before sale contained over 100 ppb inorganic arsenic. Nurture’s testing shows that the typical baby food product it sold contained 60 ppb inorganic arsenic.
• Hain (Earth’s Best Organic) sold finished baby food products containing as much as 129 ppb inorganic arsenic. Hain typically only tested its ingredients, not finished products. Documents show that Hain used ingredients testing as high as 309 ppb arsenic.
• Beech-Nut used ingredients after they tested as high as 913.4 ppb arsenic. Beech-Nut routinely used high-arsenic additives that tested over 300 ppb arsenic to address product characteristics such as “crumb softness.”
• Gerber used high-arsenic ingredients, using 67 batches of rice flour that had tested over 90 ppb inorganic arsenic.

Lead in Baby Food

• Nurture (HappyBABY) sold finished baby food products that tested as high as 641 ppb lead. Almost 20% of the finished baby food products that Nurture tested contained over 10 ppb lead.
• Beech-Nut used ingredients containing as much as 886.9 ppb lead. It usedmany ingredients with high lead content, including 483 that contained over 5 ppb lead, 89 that contained over 15 ppb lead, and 57 that contained over 20 ppb lead.
• Hain (Earth’s Best Organic) used ingredients containing as much as 352 ppb lead. Hain used many ingredients with high lead content, including88 that tested over 20 ppb lead and six that tested over 200 ppb lead.
• Gerber used ingredients that tested as high as 48 ppb lead; and used many ingredients containing over 20 ppb lead.

Cadmium in Baby Food

Mercury in Baby Food

What About Vaccines and Heavy Metals?

It’s no secret that vaccines contain some of these same heavy metals. There is a really sad irony where on the one hand we argue against toxic metals in infant food products, but argue for and justify toxic metals in routine infant injections–and injection is a much more internal exposure than ingestion.

Mercury In Vaccines

Thimerosal is a mercury-containing organic compound that has been a common ingredient in vaccines for many decades. The compound is approximately 50% mercury by weight.  

In 2001, vaccine manufacturers stopped adding thimerosal to some vaccines given to small children out of a concern that the compound might cause brain injury. But pediatric vaccines that contained thimerosal were not recalled, and were allowed to be used until supplies were used. Even still, there are several vaccines on the market licensed for infants and or pregnant women that contain mercury today.

A vaccine containing 0.01% thimerosal as a preservative contains 50 micrograms of thimerosal per 0.5 mL dose or approximately 25 micrograms of mercury per 0.5 mL dose. To put this in perspective, 0.01%  is 1 part in 10,000. 

EPA and FDA have set a limit of 2 parts inorganic mercury per billion (ppb) parts of water in drinking water. Inorganic mercury is less toxic than organic mercury, which is the kind in vaccines. Organic mercury is a mercury attached to a carbon. Once inside the body, whether it methylmercury, ethylmercury, mercury is still neurotoxic.

• Afluria multi-dose influenza vaccine, approved for persons 6 months of age and older contains thimerosal, added as a preservative; each 0.5 mL dose contains 24.5 mcg of mercury and each 0.25 mL dose contains 12.25 mcg of mercury.
• Fluzone Quadrivalent multi-dose influenza vaccine, approved for persons 6 months of age and older contains thimerosal, added as a preservative. The 5 mL multi-dose vial presentation contains thimerosal, a mercury derivative, added as a preservative. Each 0.5 mL dose from the multi-dose vial contains 25 mcg mercury. Each 0.25 mL dose from the multi-dose vial contains 12.5 mcg mercury.
• Fluvirin influenza virus vaccine approved for persons 4 years and older contains thimerosal. The 0.5 mL prefilled syringe presentation is formulated without preservative. However, thimerosal, a mercury derivative used during manufacturing, is removed by subsequent purification steps to a trace amount (≤ 1 mcg mercury per 0.5 mL dose). The 5 mL multidose vial formulation contains thimerosal, a mercury derivative, added as a preservative. Each 0.5 mL dose from the multidose vial contains 25 mcg mercury.

Aluminum In Vaccines

While aluminum is not considered a heavy metal, it is a metal that is neurotoxic. It’s also an ingredient in many vaccines. In vaccines, aluminum functions as an adjuvant, which is something to irritate and cause damage to elicit an immune response. The whole reason it’s in the vaccine is because its poisonous to cells and tissue.

Aluminum in vaccines may come in the forms of: amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate (AAHS), aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, potassium aluminum sulfate (Alum).

Pneumococcal vaccine

0.125 milligram per dose (mg/dose)

Diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine

< 0.33 to < 0.625 mg/dose

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine

0.225 mg/dose

Hepatitis A vaccine (Hep A)

0.225 to 0.25 mg/dose (pediatrics)

0.45 to 0.5 mg/dose (adults)

Hepatitis B vaccine (Hep B)

0.225 to 0.5 mg/dose (pediatrics)

0.5 mg/dose (adults)

Hep A/Hep B vaccine

0.45 mg/dose

DTaP/inactivated polio/Hep B vaccine

< 0.85 mg/dose

DTaP/inactivated polio/Hib vaccine

0.33 mg/dose

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine

0.5 mg/dose

Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccine

0.25 mg/dose

Meningococcal B vaccine

0.25 – 0.52 mg/dose

Td vaccine

< 0.53 – 1.5 mg/dose

Tdap vaccine

0.33 – 0.39 mg/dose

Click here to see the vaccine inserts for all CDC recommended vaccines.

The FDA and CDC maintain that there is no evidence that thimerosal or aluminum in childhood vaccines is harmful, however, absence of evidence does not really mean anything, now does it?

See my studies section for evidence of harm.