Study: 80% of Baby Formulas, Foods Test Positive for Arsenic, Lead, and Other Chemicals

A new study released by the Clean Label Project has found that some alarming chemicals are in a wide variety of baby formulas and other baby products on the market.

The Clean Label Project released its findings for the “Infant Formula and Baby Food Project” where they studied 500 infant formulas and baby food products from 60 brands.

“Products were screened for over 130 toxins, including heavy metals, BPA, pesticides, and other contaminants with links to cancer and other health conditions in both humans and animals,” according to the CLP.

CLP used a third-party analytical chemistry laboratory to test for “industrial and environmental contaminants and nutritional superiority elements like antioxidant activity.”

The alarming results showed that 80 percent of baby formulas tested positive for arsenic and other chemicals. Overall, of all the baby food products tested, 65 percent contained arsenic, 36 percent lead, 58 percent cadmium, and 10 percent contained acrylamides.

The CLP study also found that 60 percent of products claiming to be “BPA Free” tested positive for BPA.

While these numbers may be alarming, a Food and Drug Administration spokesman said consumers should understand that most of these chemicals are naturally occurring and cannot be simply removed from foods.

“It is important for consumers to understand that some contaminants, such as heavy metals like lead or arsenic, are in the environment and cannot simply be removed from food,” the FDA’s Peter Cassell told USA Today.

It’s unclear how much of the chemicals found in the CLP study could be considered natural compared with how much is added during production.

According to Fortune, some of the worst rated were such top brands as Gerber, Enfamil, and Plum Organics.

Do these findings alarm you? Or do you think there’s nothing companies can do about these naturally occuring heavy metals in their foods? SHARE these findings so other parents can review this study, too.

Watch the video above and take a look at CLP’s full fact sheet below. For more information, visit CLP’s website here.