DerHeinzW t1_j3sfozz wrote on January 10, 2023 at 7:33 PM

Reply to comment by Jfish033 in We’re the investigative team at Bloomberg Law and wrote a story on toxics metals in baby food. AMA! by bloomberglaw

So what are the safe levels, and are they exceeded here or not? I’m aware that there may be trace amount of heavy metals in even (or especially) the most natural food, but I’m also aware that some circumstances in manufacturing lead to levels that are decidedly over that.

Jfish033 t1_j3tapvd wrote on January 10, 2023 at 10:39 PM

This article did exactly what they wanted. It got you scared for no reason. Your safe. Your kid will have less lead exposure then you did and be just as dumb.

trippiler t1_j3slius wrote on January 10, 2023 at 8:08 PM

Well according to the article, a safe level of inorganic arsenic is 100ppb according to the FDA and zero of the baby foods they tested exceeded that.

I'd also like to point out that heavy metals are natural, and whether a food product is allowed to be sold as 'natural' has no bearing on the amount of heavy metals present.

DerHeinzW t1_j3smfbf wrote on January 10, 2023 at 8:13 PM

> Well according to the article, a safe level of inorganic arsenic is 100ppb according to the FDA and zero of the baby foods they tested exceeded that.

Thank you, finally something substantial to start going by. Now two questions: Is what the FDA says consensus among the scientific community, and what about e.g. lead and cadmium?

> I'd also like to point out that heavy metals are natural, and whether a food product is allowed to be sold as 'natural' has no bearing on the amount of heavy metals present.

I understand, and I don‘t care. Whether it is considered „natural“ or not, whether it comes from soil or from anywhere else, has no bearing on the development of a brain. The only thing I care about is whether the levels are safe or not. However it got to that level: If it’s safe, good. If not, then it’s bad, and measures have to be taken.

trippiler t1_j3sp90b wrote on January 10, 2023 at 8:30 PM

You can check what levels are allowed for various foods in Europe here which tend to be on the conservative side.

At the moment, research does not seem to be strong. For example, according to the quoted source:

> We systematically reviewed relevant studies published through December 30, 2018 and identified 14 studies on iAs and 37 studies on Pb exposure and their respective associations with ASD. Among them, 8 (53.3%) and 19 (51.3%) studies reported a positive association for iAs and Pb, respectively, and none reported a sole inverse association.

Even though the article says there is "consistent evidence supporting a link between early exposure to the heavy metal and a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder".