CR investigation found concerning heavy metals in some infant formula brands
WASHINGTON DC – Consumer Reports delivered over 27,000 petition signatures today to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr calling on him to make sure that the FDA has the staffing and resources it needs to ensure that all infant formula products are safe and free of contaminants that could endanger children’s health. CR submitted the petitions just weeks after it published an investigation finding that some infant formula products it tested contained potentially harmful levels of arsenic and lead.
One day after CR shared its test results with the FDA, Kennedy announced Operation Stork Speed, a new initiative to “enhance its efforts to ensure the ongoing quality, safety, nutritional adequacy, and resilience of the domestic infant formula supply.” However, the FDA’s initiative is being launched at the same time thousands of agency staff have been laid off.
“Recent staff layoffs at the FDA have been devastating and raise serious concerns about whether the agency has the resources it needs to protect young children from dangerous contaminants in food like lead and arsenic in infant formula,” said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports. “An FDA that lacks the staffing and resources it needs to ensure our food is safe puts all of us at risk, especially babies who are particularly vulnerable to toxic exposure. Thousands of concerned parents are urging Secretary Kennedy to provide the FDA with the staffing and resources it needs so they can have confidence that the infant formula they rely on is free of toxic chemicals that could endanger their baby’s health.”
CR’s food safety team tested 41 different powdered infant formulas, including well-established formulas like Enfamil and Similac, new startups, popular store brands, and imported formula brands to find out if they contained dangerous heavy metals and other contaminants.
While most brands were free of worrisome levels of contaminants, Consumer Reports found seven formulas with inorganic arsenic levels over CR’s risk level and two more very close to it. The highest levels of inorganic arsenic were found in Abbott Nutrition’s EleCara Hypoallergenic (19.7 ppb) and the second highest in Similac Alimentum (15.1 ppb), also made by Abbott. By comparison, the EPA limits inorganic arsenic in municipal drinking water to 10 ppb. Inorganic arsenic is the most toxic form of arsenic and is a known carcinogen for people of all ages. It can contaminate groundwater as well as soil and the food grown in it.
CR found lead at some level in 34 out of the 41 formulas tested, ranging from 1.2 ppb to 4.2 ppb, with the highest level found in Enfamil Nutramigen. None of the formulas tested had levels that exceeded the Maximum Allowable Dose level (MADL) set by California, a metric chosen by CR for its test to ensure child safety. However, 18 of the formulas had lead levels that made up to 50 to 100 percent of the MADL. Exposure to lead can have profound neurological effects on babies. Lead can contaminate food through the soil it is grown in or through water used for irrigation.
For more details, including the test results for all 41 infant formula brands tested by CR, see We Tested 41 Baby Formulas for Lead and Arsenic.
Media Contact: Michael McCauley, michael.mccauley@consumer.org