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Comment on Baby Foods Are Tainted with Dangerous Levels of Heavy Metals [pdf]

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I didn't read the entire report, so I may have missed it, but where is this stuff coming from? It seems to say that the final product has higher counts than the raw ingredients, that's a result of... concentrating all the stuff I guess?

"Voluntary phase-out of toxic ingredients—Manufacturers should voluntarily find substitutes for ingredients that are high in toxic heavy metals, or phase out products that have high amounts of ingredients that frequently test high in toxic heavy metals, such as rice;"

I didn't read the entire report, so I may have missed it, but where is this stuff coming from?

Various places. One of the culprits, arsenic in rice, is a problem that was exacerbated by the use of arsenic-containing pesticides in fields where cotton was previously grown. It also simply appears to be a plant that picks up a lot of heavy metals.

Some rice brands are publishing the results of their testing for arsenic: https://www.lundberg.com/faq/product

It's an interesting FAQ with some other factoids, too... apparently their quinoa doesn't have a detectable amount of arsenic. Brown rice syrup has the same concentration of arsenic as the rice it is made from. And so on.

My guess is the soil and fertilizer. But it may be fertilizer from the past too.

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