Ross: The unsettling truth about those innocent little baby food jars
Feb 5, 2021, 6:00 AM | Updated: 10:15 am

Jars of baby food sit at Qualcomm Stadium in 2007 in San Diego, California. Evacuated residents used Qualcomm Stadium as a shelter during wildfires. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
(Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
This story seemed to stop people in mid-sentence 鈥 the Congressional report about the levels of toxic metals detected in baby food:
“When compared to government limits for bottled water, the results were up to 91 times the arsenic level, up to 177 times the lead level, and up to 69 times the cadmium level,” said Anna Werner.
We have a granddaughter just starting on solid food, so I read through the report and here鈥檚 the really unsettling part: the SOURCE of these toxic metals.
It isn鈥檛 just the additives 鈥 it鈥檚 the raw food itself. Tainted before it even got to the factory.
The Congressional report didn鈥檛 explain why, 鈥 but Consumer Reports did 鈥 way back in 2018 鈥 when they studied this exact problem. I realize that we鈥檙e talking parts per billion, and that arsenic and lead occur naturally, but when the numbers spike, it鈥檚 likely soil contamination.
Residue from mining and smelting, and leaded fuel, and pesticides.
Which means it鈥檚 not just in the baby food. It鈥檚 in the grownup food too.
And this latest report says the FDA back in 2019 saw confidential documents show that companies know this.
And did nothing.
Which tells me this is a job for the internet.
Now that 鈥淨鈥 has gone missing, perhaps our conspiracy-hunters might track down who鈥檚 responsible for what ends up in those little jars instead of who鈥檚 been firing the space laser at California. Space Force can handle that.
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