Toxic Baby Food: What Parents Need to Know

Parents trust food manufacturers to produce convenient and nutritious food for their babies. These manufacturers have a legal responsibility to ensure their products are safe, and particularly for this extremely vulnerable part of the population. Unfortunately, recent reports suggest several of the country’s biggest baby food manufacturers may be neglecting their responsibility by knowingly selling products with alarming levels of toxic substances.

Baby Food Brands with Toxic Metals

In November of 2019, The House of Representatives’ Economic and Consumer Policy Subcommittee received reports of toxic substances in commercial baby food brands. In response, the Subcommittee asked seven of the country’s largest baby food manufacturers to provide internal documentation and test results related to these reports. 

The following companies complied with the Subcommittee’s request by providing their internal policies and test results:

• Nurture, Inc., the seller of Happy Family Organics and HappyBABY baby food products
• Beech-Nut Nutrition Company, the seller of Beech-Nut baby food products
• Hain Celestial Group, Inc., the seller of Earth’s Best Organic products
• Gerber, the seller of Gerber baby food products

Concerningly, the following companies refused to comply with the Subcommittee’s request altogether:

• Campbell Soup Company, the seller of Plum Organics baby food products
• Walmart, Inc., the seller of Parent’s Choice baby food products
• Sprout Foods, Inc., the seller of Sprout Organic Foods baby food products

These companies’ refusal to comply with the request has led to the Subcommittee’s suspicions of extremely high levels of toxic heavy metals in children’s food they sell.

Why Are These Brands Toxic?

Based on the documents provided by the baby food manufacturers that responded to the Subcommittee’s request, these brands are toxic because they contain significant levels of the following heavy metals:

• Arsenic – All four companies (Nurture, Beech-Nut, Hain, and Gerber) detected arsenic in their baby foods.
• Lead – All four companies detected lead in their baby foods.
• Cadmium – All four companies detected cadmium in their baby foods.
• Mercury – Nurture, Inc. was the only company that detected mercury in its baby foods. However, this is only because Gerber rarely tests for mercury, and Beech-Nut and Hain do not test for mercury at all.

The levels of toxic heavy metals detected in each company’s baby foods were many times greater than the maximum allowable levels for other food products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For example, the FDA has set the maximum allowable levels in bottled water at 10 ppb inorganic arsenic, 5 ppb lead, and 6 ppb cadmium. In comparison, the heavy metals found in Gerber were at levels as high as 90 ppb inorganic arsenic, 48 ppb lead, and 87 ppb cadmium.

Each company set policies for maximum allowable levels for these substances that were much higher than FDA standards for other foods. Reports reveal the companies still sold baby foods that exceeded the heavy metal limits of their own policies.

These shocking results also raise disturbing questions about the baby foods made by the companies that refused to respond (Campbell, Walmart, and Sprout). According to the Subcommittee’s report, current lawmakers are concerned the companies’ refusals to cooperate may be due to “even higher levels of toxic heavy metals.”

The Dangers of Toxic Heavy Metals to Kids

Even though toxic heavy metals are known to pose dangerous health risks, especially to children and infants, there is currently no federal standard regulating these substances in baby food. However, even low levels of exposure to toxic heavy metals can result in severe and sometimes permanent health effects in children, such as:

• Brain damage, reduced intelligence, and decreases in IQ
• Higher risk of antisocial and criminal behavior in adulthood
• Increased risk of brain tumors and traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Respiratory, gastrointestinal, and immunological effects
• Reduced postnatal growth and delayed puberty
• Increased risk of neurodevelopmental issues, such as autism and ADHD

How To Research Your Children’s Food and What to Look For

You can take the following proactive steps as you research and re-evaluate your child’s food:

• Reduce the amount of rice cereal you feed your child since many commercial rice products contain concerning levels of inorganic arsenic
• Limit the pre-packaged foods you give your child, as many contain rice flour
• Limit pre-packaged fruit juices, some of which may contain arsenic and lead
• Replace pre-packaged foods with whole foods with naturally low heavy metal contents, such as apples, avocados, bananas, grapes, eggs, and cheese

Contact a Toxic Baby Food Mass Tort Lawyer for Help Today

If you believe your child may have suffered developmental injuries or harm due to one of these brands, your family deserves justice and fair compensation. 

Contact a toxic baby food mass tort lawyer at Michael J. Gopin, PLLC in El Paso to learn more about your options in a free initial consultation.

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93.1 KISS FM – Ask A Lawyer, Part 18

Announcer: You’re listening to Mike and Tricia on 93.1 KISS FM.

Tricia: Okay, just because this is a story that we’ve been following all morning the situation at UTEP, the campus remains on lockdown. Because if a suicidal person who is in the area armed, on drugs, EPPD has not put out any information about this yet. On, all the social media for UTEP, they’re still on lockdown. They said that as soon as they give the all-clear on either your minor alert or their social media’s, then it will be okay to move about the campus.

If you’re on campus to shelter in place, there was an alert that was sent out that said the classes were gonna start at 9:00. That is no longer in effect, don’t go to UTEP until you get the all-clear. Over at EPISD, they do still have some schools on lockdown. You can go to kisselpaso.com. All of those schools are listed on our Facebook page rather. All of those schools are listed. So, as of right now, we’re still, everybody’s kind of on lockdown in this area.

Mike: As far as the high schools, middle schools, those on lockdown, with EPISD, they don’t suggest that the parents go pick their kids up, right, because they’re locked in.

Tricia: They’re locked in. Nobody’s getting in. And right now it’s already 9:00 so the kids are all in school. They’re not gonna be let outside. They’re not gonna be let off campus until the all-clear is given.

Mike: Okay. Michael Gopin “Ask a Lawyer.” You have your legal questions, he has your legal answers.

Tricia: Okay. So, the last question in the mornings from Chase, he said, “I served my country for more than 15 years and now I’m on 90% disability. I recently saw your commercial for the 3M defective earplugs and would like to file a claim. But, would this affect my disability payments from the military?”

Mr. Gopin: Chase, you’re in luck. It will not affect your disability payments at all. You’re not going to be even bringing a case against the military. You’re gonna be bringing a case against the manufacturer of the earplugs, 3M. So you don’t have to worry about any change at all to your disability payments. We’d be more than happy to talk to you about what happened to you, and get your 3M case going. But, if you had significant hearing loss, which sounds like you had, we can certainly help. And time is of the essence to get those cases going so I would suggest that you give us a call and we can try to get this taken care of for you.

It’s a long process, but that’s what you need to do. And don’t worry, no worries with the disability payments.

Mike: How long does somebody, you know, who fits the threshold to be a part of this lawsuit? How long do they have until? You said time is running out.

Mr. Gopin: Yeah. I mean, we don’t have a set deadline yet, but it may be coming pretty soon. When the class action cases… typically they’ll have an end date where you have to file before a certain time. We don’t know what that is at this second in time, but we anticipate probably sometime in 2022.

Tricia: Okay.

Mike: Okay, all right. So, on December 16, that is also a Thursday, Michael Gopin will be back for “Ask a Lawyer.” If there is a legal question that you would like us to put in front of him, go to kisselpaso.com. At the top of the page, where it says Must Read, click on Ask Michael Gopin and can submit your legal question there. Michael, thank you again for showing up this morning.

Mr. Gopin: Thank you so much for having me on this.

Mike: And we’ll see you in a month.

Mr. Gopin: Okay, sounds great.

Announcer: When Mike and Tricia start your day, today’s best mix helps you through it. KSII El Paso, a Townsquare Media station.

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93.1 KISS FM – Ask A Lawyer, Part 18

Automated voice: You’re listening to Mike & Tricia on 93.1 Kiss FM.

Mike: I gotta tell you, I am just as confused with the math for Yasmin’s “Ask A Lawyer” question as well. So perhaps Michael Gopin, “Ask A Lawyer” can kind of, like, flesh this out for us. There’s math involved.

Tricia: There’s math involved. And neither you nor I are any good at math. Okay. So Yasmin writes that she was recently in an accident. The police report says that it was the other party at fault. But when she was talking to the insurance agent, they said that Yasmin is 20% at fault for the accident. And she says, “I’m not sure why. If the police report says the other party is at fault, then how can I be 20% liable for this accident? I’m not sure if this makes any sense.”

Mr. Gopin: Well, Jasmine, it happens all the time actually. In Texas, they have what they call comparative negligence, which means in any given accident, one party could be 100% at fault, they could be 99% at fault, they can be 80% at fault, they can be 50% at fault, or any number in between.

So what the insurance adjuster is trying to do is they’re really trying to save money, but what they’re trying to do is blame you partially for this accident. In other words, maybe you were going too fast. Maybe you could have avoided the accident by turning right. Maybe there was something else involved.

Mike: So what they’re doing is they’re reading the police report, and they’re coming up with this on their own. It’s not like the police wrote it in there.

Mr. Gopin: Right. No. The police didn’t write it in there. And the police rarely do that anyway, but…

Mike: Yeah. They just write down the facts of the accident. And then the insurance adjuster is looking into these…you know, the facts, and they’re going, “Oh, well, she could have gone slower,” or blah, blah, blah.

Mr. Gopin:  Exactly. “She could have turned left. She could’ve turned right. She could have braked harder,” you know, all these kinds of things. And I don’t know the facts of this particular accident, but it happens all the time. I mean, I’ve seen cases where it’s a stop sign case, and someone runs a stop sign, and, “Well, you could have avoided it. You could have seen the car coming.”

Mike: You could’ve seen the car coming.

Mr. Gopin:  And, you know, what happens in that case, is either you argue, and you try to get that number down to zero or less, or you can file a lawsuit, and have a jury decide that number because when you go to court, the jury will determine the same thing that the insurance adjuster is trying to determine right now. They’re gonna say, “Okay, was the plaintiff at fault? Was the defendant at fault? And if they were, what percentage?” So it adds up to 100%, but it could be anything in between, between 100/0, 80/20, or whatever it turns out to be.

Mike: Is this a situation where you are better off with a lawyer representing you? Or is it a situation where you’re better off just saying, “Okay, fine.”

Mr. Gopin:  Well, it depends on the facts of this accident, and it depends on how much the damage to the car is. I mean, let’s just say it’s $30,000 of the damage, 20% is $6,000 so it’s a lot of money. If it’s $300, and it’s 20%, it’s $60 so it’s probably not worth it. So it just depends on the exact facts of how much damage we’re talking about here. And if there was an injury also, because this 20% goes to the injury claim also. So it’ll reduce your injury claim by 20%. So it may be, definitely, a case for a lawyer depending on the facts.

Mike: Okay. All right.

Tricia: Mostly, if you go to a lawyer with this kind of thing, and you do the math for them, you’re gonna tell them, “Look, you know what? This is not worth your time and effort,” because it’s not worth your time and effort as a lawyer.

Mr. Gopin: Well, it depends. I mean, you know, also it depends on how much money we’re talking about.

Tricia: No. Yeah, that’s what I mean. But, like, if it was a $600 case you’d probably tell them, “Look, there’s no point here.”

Mike: Yeah. They’re better off eating the 20%.

Tricia: Right. Exactly.

Mr. Gopin:  Because going to courts can cost them more money than the 20% anyway.

Tricia: Yeah. And way more than the $600.

Mike: Sure, Sure.

Tricia: So, yeah.

Automated Voice: It’s Michael Gopin, “Ask A Lawyer” on “Mike & Tricia Mornings.”

Tricia: Iram [SP] says, “Can I file a case against my employer? I was injured on the job and they’re refusing to pay my medical bills. They did help me when the incident first happened, but now my medical bills are starting to pile up from the accident, and they don’t wanna help me with any of it anymore.”

Mr. Gopin:  Okay. Well, good question. The question, first of all, is whether they have workers’ comp insurance or not? If they have workers’ comp insurance, you just have to file a workers’ comp claim. The employer is not involved, and you go through the worker’s comp commission to make your claim.

In this case, I’m thinking that there’s probably not workers’ comp, by the way, she wrote the question, so what they call that is called a nonsubscriber type of case, okay? Nonsubscriber means you’re not subscribing to the workers’ comp care here. In that case, the employer is not automatically liable for your damages. You have to prove that they were negligent, that they did something wrong.

But it’s different than the car accident case we just talked about. In this case, as long as you can prove they’re at least 1% negligent, you could have been 99% negligent, then their employer is responsible. So you just have to show that they did something wrong even if it was very minor that caused the accident. And then they’re gonna be responsible for the bills.

You’d have to go to court perhaps and file a lawsuit. There’s many lawyers that do these type of cases. The issue then, again, is also how big your employer is, and if they’re going to be judgment proof because many employers are also judgment proof these days, and there’s usually no insurance involved in these types of cases.

Tricia: Okay. Wait a minute. Not every employer has workmans’ comp insurance? They don’t have to have it?

Mr. Gopin: That’s not required. So there’s many companies that do not have workers’ comp, they’re go bear, they call it, and they just take care of the risk themselves.

Tricia: Hey, we’re a family show, don’t say things like that.

Mike: It’s a legal term.

Tricia: Okay. All right. Okay.

Mr. Gopin: No insurance.

Mike: This is “Ask A Lawyer.” He only talks legalese.

Tricia: I made him blush. Look at the poor guy, he’s you dying. He’s like, “Oh, god.”

Mr. Gopin: Oh, god.

Tricia: And Arturo says, “I recently had a hernia mesh repaired for the third time. And I don’t think this one’s gonna work either. Can you tell me more about the hernia mesh cases? Do I have a possible claim against my doctor for medical malpractice? What should I do next?”

Mr. Gopin: Well, this is a case that you, definitely, will need a lawyer. There’s hernia mesh cases going around that, it’s not against the doctor, it’s against the manufacturer of the mesh. It was defective and it’s causing injuries to people, and causing to have revisions, and surgery, and pain, and all sorts of complications, and problems. So I would advise you to give us a call, we can help you with this.

The requirements are, basically, you need to have a revision. You need to have the hernia mesh surgery, have all these problems and issues, and then get it fixed, in order to have a case that typically lawyers will accept. And the hernia mesh surgery had to have been done after 2008. That’s when the defective hernia mesh material started to be used. So those are the minor requirements.

And these cases take a long time. It’s a big class-action case. There’s thousands and thousands and thousands throughout the country, and, you know, it’s really painful. And I feel really bad for you that you’ve had all these problems with it and it may not resolve your problem. I hope it does, the third one. But you definitely have a case and it’s not against the doctor. It’ll be against the hernia mesh manufacturer.

Mike: Okay. We’ll be right back. And when we come back, we have one last question for Michael Gopin, “Ask A Lawyer” and it has to do with defective earplugs. So if you have served, and you’re having some issues, then stick around, and let’s get to the bottom of that one. Next, on “Mike & Tricia Mornings.”

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93.1 KISS FM – Ask A Lawyer, Part 17

Announcer: You’re listening to Mike and Tricia, on 93.1 KISS FM.

Tricia: Okay. So, we’re going to go ahead and talk to Michael Gopin in just a minute, but first, I’m gonna bring you up to date on the situation that’s happening over at UTEP. El Paso police said around 7:00 this morning that there was a suicidal person on drugs who was armed, heading towards the UTEP area. So, around 7:00, UTEP put out a Miner Alert. That’s what the students signed up for. And they were told to shelter in place. They were also told about 45 minutes ago that classes were gonna start at 9:00. Now, that has been…that, don’t listen to that anymore.

Mike: That doesn’t pertain anymore.

Tricia: No. Because UTEP, about 10 minutes ago, put out an alert that said, “Until you get the all-clear, don’t go to the campus.” Okay. So…

Mike: Okay. All right. And if you’re already there, you shelter in place.

Tricia: You shelter in place. And just stay where you are. That’s the best thing to do. So, until you get the all-clear either on your Miner Alert, on UTEP social media, their website, don’t go to campus. And if you’re on campus, stay where you are.

Mike: Now, have we received any word about those schools that are in the area of the UTEP campus?

Tricia: We have. The official El Paso Independent School District Facebook page has a post that says, “Students at El Paso High, Wiggs, Armendariz, CCTE, which is the Center for Career and Technology Education, the YWA, Mesita, Mesita ECDC, and Lamar are sheltering in place, that you cannot get in. The kids, if they’re gonna get dropped off, they’re gonna be immediately ushered into the school, and then that’s where they’re gonna stay for the time being. So, we don’t know where that person is. El Paso Police have not updated any of their socials or sent out any further details about this, but we’re keeping a really close eye on this because it’s scary. Okay?

Mike: Yeah.

Tricia: So, the best thing for you to do is shelter in place in this particular area. And it kind of is encompassing a huge portion of not only the UTEP area, but the Kern Place area up to Mesita, and all the schools that I just told you about. If you have any questions, you can always give us a call here at 880-9393. We’ll let you know everything that we…

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. And we’re also updating the KISS El Paso Facebook with the latest information that we get. Okay. So, Michael Gopin, Ask A Lawyer. Sorry for such a downer intro, man.

Mr. Gopin: I tell you, well, let’s just hope everything goes safe over by UTEP.

Mike: Yeah, same, same. So, you have questions, legal questions, Mr. Gopin has answers.

Tricia: Okay. The first one we’ve got is Bob. He says, “My friend recently told me that you can own, possess, or possibly even buy a firearm even if you have a felony if it’s been 10 years since you completed your probation or parole. Is that correct in the state of Texas?”

Mr. Gopin: Well, it’s sort of correct. The way the law is written in Texas is that five years after you completed your probation for a felony, you can possess a gun in your home only, okay? Not outside of your home, only in your home. The federal law is 10 years, so it conflicts with state law. But in your home, you should be good to have a…possess your gun in your home. If you take it outside your home, you can be convicted of another felony.

Mike: Okay. So, when things like this happen, so, the Fed does override the state in this case?

Mr. Gopin: The Fed does override the state. Typically, in Texas, they don’t challenge that. If you have in your home and it’s been five-plus years, typically, they won’t press charges against you, but they could, and the federal rule would trump. So, it’s something to be aware of. But felony, only in your home.

Mike: All right. Okay.

Tricia: Okay. Okay. Derrick says a few months ago, he was involved in an automobile accident, and a girl completely sideswiped him with her truck. So, nothing happened to her truck, but his car suffered damage to the driver’s side, and the cop showed up, determined that it was completely her fault. She gave her insurance information, but it turns out wasn’t her truck. It was her parents’ truck. And she’s an excluded driver.

Mike: Oh, wow.

Tricia: Yeah. So, they were not able to cover him for damages with their insurance company because she’s an excluded driver. So, he says, “What’s the next step to try to recover money for the $3,500 in damages to the right side of my vehicle?”

Mr. Gopin: Well, that’s a very unfortunate situation, but the insurance company will not be responsible, because there’s an excluded driver here, so you’re gonna be out of luck on that avenue. We’ve talked a lot on this show about uninsured motorist coverage and collision coverage. So, those are the types of coverages that I hope that you have. If you have collision or uninsured motorist property damage, those are the type of coverages that will protect you in this case. If you don’t, and you don’t have insurance, or you didn’t have those particular coverages, your chances of recovery are much slimmer. You could always file a case in small claims court against this person who hit you, but collecting is another huge problem that you’re gonna have. So, you…

Mike: Sure. Yeah. They might rule in your favor, but if the person doesn’t have any money…

Mr. Gopin: Right. You’re gonna get a piece of paper that says, “You win,” and then you’re…that’s what you can have on your wall, but they’re not gonna actually pay.

Mike: Couldn’t you lien?

Mr. Gopin: No, no. No lien.

Mike: You can’t put liens on… Like, if you win a small claims court, you can’t put a lien on any…

Mr. Gopin: You’ll have a judgment. And the judgments typically last for 10 years, and you have to renew them. And if the person, at some point, has a property that’s not exempt, and in Texas, your house is exempt, your car is exempt, there are certain furniture that’s exempt, if they have assets outside of those things, like another property of something, then you could maybe collect on that.

Mike: Or if they get a better job and make more money?

Mr. Gopin: Well, you can’t take their…you can’t garnish wages in Texas.

Tricia: Oh, man.

Mike: Oh, wow.

Mr. Gopin: So…

Tricia: Yeah. And that’s another reason why a lot of times, lawyers will tell you, “Yeah, look, you’re gonna have to take care of this yourself,” because there’s so many rules about what they can and can’t do legally, yeah.

Mr. Gopin: I mean, a lot of people are what they call judgment-proof, which means you can get a judgment, but it’s not gonna do you any good. You’re not gonna be able to collect.

Mike: Why am I such a law-abiding citizen then?

Mr. Gopin: I tell you, to protect yourself, but…

Mike: My gosh, it just seems like…

Mr. Gopin: We’re very proud of you that you are.

Tricia: I know, right?

Mike: Well, thank you.

Tricia: But it also kinda…

Mike: That means a lot.

Mr. Gopin: That’s right.

Tricia: It also kinda makes you never wanna go out again. Because you’re like, “Oh, great. This guy’s got $3,500 worth of damage to his car and he is just out of luck.”

Mike: Yeah. I may have to rethink my $25 a month insurance.

Mr. Gopin: Protect yourself. Get that coverage, guys.

Tricia: Right. Exactly.

Mike: Before they wreck yourself.

Tricia: Jason says, “Hello, Mr. Gopin. I have a question regarding the COVID vaccine. My employer is really pressuring me to get it and is now almost forcing me to do so. Can my employer make me get the COVID vaccine even if I don’t want it?”

Mr. Gopin: Well, that’s a legal question that we probably don’t have a real answer for yet. Yesterday, the Court of Appeals overturned Biden’s COVID mandate vaccine rule, so we’re kind of in limbo here. So, Abbott says one thing, there is no mandate. Biden says there is a mandate. The problem is that in Texas, it’s an at-will state, which means that your employer can basically fire you for any reason they want to except for certain exceptions to that. The COVID vaccine is not one of them at this point. So, it may come down to you want your job or the vaccine, and you’ll have to find a job somewhere else. It could end up being that way. It’s not completely known at this point in time, but my hunch is that, at some point, if they don’t want…if they’re gonna make the rule, that’s gonna be the rule, and you can either choose to get the vaccine or find another job. So, we’ll find out exactly what happens in the future, but that’s probably my guess.

Tricia: And the worst part about it is that there are so many court cases flying all over the place.

Mr. Gopin: They’re all over the place. And employers who have had the vaccine mandates basically have won the early trials on that. So, it looks like they can make their own rules, and if they do it fairly and across the board…

Mike: At this point, it looks like it’s a choice that you’re gonna have to make, like getting the vaccine or not, wearing face masks or not.

Mr. Gopin: Look at the NBA. I mean, we have a famous player in New York for the Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie Irving, who isn’t getting the vaccine, and he’s not playing.

Mike: Yeah. He’s choosing to sit it out or he’s choosing to take the punishment, whatever that may be…

Mr. Gopin: [crosstalk 00:08:56] that’s right [crosstalk 00:08:57]

Mike: …paycheck or no paycheck.

Mr. Gopin: Exactly.

Tricia: And like you said, it’s the across-the-board thing that’s gonna get you every time. If everybody has to do it, then you’re gonna have to also.

Mike: All right. Ask a Lawyer, Michael Gopin, we’ll be right back with more of your legal questions

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