WEBVTT - CLASSIC: Contaminants in Baby Food 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.120 All right, This would is for the baby conspiracy realist 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 in the crowd. Welcome to planet Earth. Hope it still 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.760 has that new car smell. Hope you're at a honeymoon period. 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.520 Sorry about all the terrible stuff that happened before you 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:17.720 were bored, but we hope you like baby food. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.880 Oh man, you know it's there's certain flavors of baby 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.320 food that I think are yummy even to grown kidding. 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:26.680 I just always liked the problem, you know, when there 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:28.360 was like a kind of a porridge kind of thing. 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:29.880 I enjoyed even that when I was a kid. 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.479 Gogurt is baby food marketed to adults. 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.040 Gogurt slaps and things like cream of wheat. But you know, 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:40.159 we've talked often on the pod about a time before 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:46.200 you know, very rigorous standards regarding packaging and then some 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:50.640 of the you know, aspirin poisoning, you know, epidemics and 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:56.400 various instances of product tampering. Who is more vulnerable in 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.560 that regard than you know, the humans, the tiny humans 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:00.840 that can see baby. 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:05.280 Food and the adult parents that are attempting to get 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.840 whatever the healthiest thing is they can afford for their child, right, 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:10.920 And those are two different things the thing they can 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.400 afford and the healthiest thing, and you try and find 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:17.759 the medium the median in there somewhere. Guys. There, this 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.360 is twenty twenty one when we talked about this. I'm 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.920 looking at a CBS News article from March of this year, 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:28.480 twenty twenty six, saying some baby formula brands contain lead, arsenic, 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.160 and other heavy metals according to consumer reports. It's not 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:34.520 like this is something that's gone away that we covered 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:35.240 back then, you. 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:40.880 Know, yeah, because we found that numerous baby food products, 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.240 especially in the United States, contain ingredients that are not 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:47.880 only bad for the kiddos, but are things that you 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:52.800 will not see on the label, stuff like mercury, lead, arsenic, 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:56.040 et cetera, et cetera at all. So in twenty twenty one, 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.120 we asked how long has this been occurring, what did 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.960 the manufactures know exactly, and when did they learn that? 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:04.680 Is there a conspiracy afoot? 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:06.840 Yeah, guys, I know I led with this idea of 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.440 tampering with baby food. We're talking about stuff not even 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.120 requiring tampering. We're talking about stuff that ends up in 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:18.640 there unbeknownst to the consumer from the companies themselves, who 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:20.800 are supposed to be you know, legitimate and looking after 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.720 their end consumer, which would be in this case, babies. 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.919 But there have been examples of folks purposefully contaminating baby 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:28.440 food as well. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.680 But that's not exactly the throw of this episode. 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.280 Do you guys remember if this one covers baby formula 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.200 as well or this is just like the jar baby 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.280 food kind of stuff. I just can't remember if we 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.240 because I know, baby formula is a whole other bag 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.160 of badgers. Hopefully we talked about a little bit in 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:49.760 this one, but remember when we looked back at that, guys, 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:51.240 I can't remember we've done a full episode. 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:52.080 Oh, baby formula. 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.800 It has always been a bit controversial, I mean there, 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:57.839 you know. I mean, obviously a lot of mothers, new 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:01.040 mothers would prefer to be able to breast but because 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:05.279 there are sometimes extenuating circumstances that make that difficult or impossible, 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.840 I know that typically formula is considered, you know, the 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.040 second choice, and there are reasons for that, not necessarily contamination, 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:15.600 but even just how it can affect the health of 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:17.919 a growing child versus breastfeeding. 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:23.200 And we do indeed talk about infant formula in this episode, 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.080 and as as we had pointed out here, folks, there 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:32.160 is a hard and disturbing argument that the situation hasn't 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:36.480 changed or hasn't improved that much over these past five years. 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.440 Well and look up Abbott Labs. That's happening right now 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.280 with bacterial contamination in baby formula. It's crazy. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:51.640 And let's roll the tape. 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:53.400 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.800 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.840 learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.040 production of iHeartRadio. 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.720 Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt. 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.120 Our compatriot Noel is on adventures, but will be returning. 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.039 They called me Ben. We're joined as always with our 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:28.200 super producer. All mission control decands, most importantly, you are you, 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.839 You are here, and that makes this stuff they don't 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:34.400 want you to know. Now, Matt, I don't. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:35.160 Often say this. 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.240 Because I don't want to be alarmist, but today's episode 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:44.520 is something that everyone needs to pay close attention to. 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:49.599 This is an ongoing situation. This is a serious situation, 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.440 and it's one, frankly, that we could use your help with. 0:04:53.760 --> 0:05:00.440 We meaning not just Matt and Paul and myself but everyone, 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:04.600 especially parents with young children. Let's start with something wholesome. 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:09.880 You will be glad we did, I can assure you so, Matt, 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.400 you remember the Gerber Baby. 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.720 I do remember the Gerber Baby. I've recently seen the 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.840 Gerber baby as of several years ago, when I was 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.400 taking their products and putting them into my son. 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:26.840 Yes. Yeah, the Gerber Baby is probably one of the 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:32.600 most famous babies in modern history, and like the Marlborough 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:37.000 Man of old, the Gerber Baby is actually several different 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:41.800 babies since nineteen twenty eight or so, the companies used 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:46.320 this adorable face of this tyke to sell their products 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:51.200 to parents around the US and the world. The interesting fact, 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.320 for a long time, the identity of the actual baby 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.720 was a secret until the late seventies, but as the 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.719 years went on, the company began holding these wildly popular 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.920 contests to choose the next Gerber Baby. So there are 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:12.240 probably people in the crowd today who were contestants in that, 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.679 you know, without their consent, of course, was their parents 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.800 or people who have said, hey, my baby's cute. Maybe 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.719 my baby is Gerber Baby cute. In some ways, it's 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.400 like this American tradition now, and it's probably going to 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.839 stand the test of time, But not for the reason 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.400 you might think it's going to stand the test of time, 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:35.039 because nowadays Gerber is a subsidiary of another much much 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:36.800 larger company. 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:42.080 Yeah, one that we've talked about before. For us, it 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.640 was in the context of water, which they're very much 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.680 known for, and there's also a lot of water in 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.039 Gerber products, But that doesn't mean that why we're talking 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:56.960 about them. The company you'll remember is Nestley, known. 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.520 For their chocolate, the activities they engage in to get 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:04.480 that chocolate from a bean state to your local grocery store. 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:09.080 Known of course for bottled water, and their extensive work 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.600 in that regard. We've covered these, as Matt said in 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:18.240 previous episodes, but did you know, conspiracy realists that Nesley 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.200 is also this country's largest purveyor of babyfood, just the 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:26.000 umbrella term baby food. That's where our story begins. It's 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.640 a story that we have all been characters in. Whether 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.600 our part in the story started when we were four 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:36.560 to six months of age, when babies typically begin eating 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.280 solid food, or whether our story starts later in life 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:46.040 when we were parents, babysitters, elder siblings, or guardians. This 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.640 industry at some point in some way affects every single 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:54.560 person on the planet. So let's talk about it. Let's 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.679 dive in. Here are the facts. 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:01.280 Baby food, Yeah, baby food. A lot of times the 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.960 first food is milk from your mother. If you're a mammal, 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:07.960 that's generally how the story goes. But for a myriad 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.760 of reasons, that's not always in the cards for everyone. 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:15.720 So there are things like baby products, baby formula, baby food, 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:19.040 and like Ben said, around four to six months, that 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.680 food starts to change. And my goodness, we were all 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:26.880 babies and we all need food, and it is a 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.800 difficult thing to make baby food for your own child 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:35.200 on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. So that and that 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.240 means there's a lot of baby food, and it means 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.480 that it's a large market essentially, lots of people trying 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:43.720 to buy different baby food, which means it's a huge 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:48.520 competitive industry, lots of companies trying to buy for that 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:53.000 market share. And retail sales in the baby food segment 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:57.960 were about seventy one point four billion US dollars in 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:03.120 twenty eighteen. Wow, And it's expected that in three years 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.560 that number seventy one point four billion dollars will jump 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:13.960 to ninety eight point nine billion dollars, and that jump 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.400 is a whole bunch of reasons, everything from inflation to 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.680 the number of people actually eating the baby food. There's 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:22.760 a bunch of stuff that goes into that projection. But 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:24.280 it is going to grow, and. 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.480 We're getting some of these from STATISTICA. So those numbers 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:35.040 you just heard are us. But this projection, this projection 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.839 has a lot of different factors that can come into play. 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:41.000 I love that you pointed that out, Matt. We're not 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:45.520 just talking about projected berths. We're also talking about parts 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.680 of the world where people have rising income. So people 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:53.080 who are traditionally having to make baby food at home 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.680 can maybe now spend a little bit more of that 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.880 extra income at the grocery store buying these products in 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.400 In twenty nineteen, China officially became the largest single market 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:08.280 for baby food. India comes in second place. The US 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:13.959 ranks sixth one. Incredibly depressing US baby food fact I 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.559 found because as you know, I'm not conventionally reading about 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:21.839 baby food. Baby food, dude, it is one of the 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:29.079 most frequently shoplifted items in the entirety of the US. 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:29.720 That is a. 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:35.319 Statement that is true and has an anthology of heartbreaking 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.280 stories behind it. You know, it reminds me of that 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:42.840 old short story that's so often attributed unprovably to Hemingway 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.520 for sale baby shoes never worn. 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.160 Oh yeah, anyway, you got it right, And it's not 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.640 always shoplifting. Many times it's oh wow, this kid grew 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.680 a lot faster than we expected. My son went, I 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.240 think he had. He's had two pairs of shoes now 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.760 that we bought for him. He tried them on, wore 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:03.480 them for about a week, and then it was over 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.199 and he couldn't wear them anymore. And that's just how 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.280 it goes. But yeah, you're right. There are a lot 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.880 of reasons why, through circumstance, you may have to turn 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.800 to getting food for your baby, or you know something 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.000 that you need for your baby and you just can't 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.240 afford it. It's terrible. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:20.960 Yeah. 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:27.280 Necessity is one of the greatest motivators for the breaking 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:31.480 of social norms, right or the breaking of laws. So 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.359 let's look at the players in the baby food industry 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:38.320 right now. If you look at baby food in general, 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:43.200 and you include infant formula, which can replace the mother's 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.600 milk that you have mentioned Matt. You'll see that this 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:51.840 market is largely dominated by three outfits. Nessley, a group 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:56.400 called Breckett Benkiser also known as Mead Johnson, and another 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.559 one that I wasn't too familiar with. I don't know 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.600 if you had heard of the Matt Dnone, Danone. 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:07.240 No, I know Danon, I don't know da n n E. 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.880 Not sure about them. But yeah, together those three firms 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:15.079 control forty five percent of the global market share when 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.400 it comes to this stuff. That's that's a lot of 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:18.680 control for three companies. 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.920 Oh also fact check fact check Live, which we usually 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.440 don't have to do. It's a French company. It's pronounced 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:32.040 oh so so sorry about that for anybody who is 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:36.840 going to hear the conspiracy we're unraveling, and their primary 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.520 objection would be the mispronunciation. There if that's what we 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:43.120 got in front of that, Yeah, think about that. They 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:46.920 control almost half of the global market share. There are 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:48.959 other players in the game, of course, but these are 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:55.600 the titans of this industry. Ingredients regulations, all right, let's 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.520 say it. Baby food I just always assumed was not 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:04.120 considered particularly appetizing to many adults or many kids for 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:09.079 that matter. I was somewhat incorrect in that assumption. I 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:15.599 found that there there's a a whole wealth of literature 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:20.240 of recipes that use baby food as ingredients for adults, 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:21.400 and there's some adults. 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:22.000 Like baby food. 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.520 Either way, it's not going to hurt you if you 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.760 eat it as an adult. It does play this vital 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.440 role in childhood development. Like you were saying, Matt, and 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.520 I remember you know, when your son was even younger, 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.560 you were like, this kid is growing so fast. I'm like, oh, 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.240 that's wholesome and heartwarm, mean, and you're like, no, dude, 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.360 I have to buy clothes and stuff. 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:51.280 Yeah, it's like right right now, he's out of clothes 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.480 essentially because he's outgrown them over the past couple of months. 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.920 And my goodness it is. It's not cheap, you guys. 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.920 Thank goodness for places. Oh I'm in a blank on 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:01.280 the name. 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:01.480 Now. 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:03.440 Kid to kid I think is what it's called. Places 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.360 like that where it's hand me down clothes that because 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.640 all these parents, everyone, you are probably in the same 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.559 situation out there where you just you need to get 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:14.240 rid of these clothes. You need to get new clothes. 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:17.200 You can trade them. Kid to kid not sponsored by them, 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.400 but they're great. It is so true, and this baby 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.920 food is highly important, as you said, for the for 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.880 the nutrition of these children. And I'm gonna have to 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.600 point out some of the newer baby foods, at least 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.960 newer to me since I become a parent, are actually 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:37.600 pretty good. It's essentially like a fruit and vegetable smoothie, 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.640 but it's more of a puree than a you know, 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:44.880 a juice or something. And it's actually pretty tasty because 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:48.600 it's just you know, you're getting actual strawberries in there. 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.320 It's not so bad. At least it doesn't taste immediately 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:54.760 so bad. 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:59.120 Yeah, there we go. I mean, kids, human kids grow 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:03.200 at a break deck and need a steady supply of 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:07.520 nutritious food. This is not a hot take. The multiple 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.520 a multitude of studies show that a lack of proper nutrition, 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.280 even in one specific area or another, can have these 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:20.160 damaging permanent effects on people throughout the rest of their lives. 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.560 Malnutrition is a great example, like if you look at 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:29.240 certain generations of people born in South Korea and people 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:34.160 born in the DPRK, you'll notice that there is an observable, 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:41.320 statistically consistent difference in height because residents of the DPRK 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.240 the vast majority for a time where lavery under food 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:48.240 and security. So everybody knows this is true. Everybody knows. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.240 This is not the part that's a hot take. These 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:53.800 are just the facts, folks. In the US, there's an 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.120 outfit called the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.880 They're responsible for the regulation of infant formula, specifically amit, 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.000 a number of other things. So we have people with 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.760 eyes on this, and even the most extreme opponents of 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.280 big government in the audience, even the most extreme of 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:16.960 libertarians can see the value inherent in having some sort 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.960 of authority keeping eye on food manufacturers here. So this 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:25.320 should be the opposite of a hot button or controversial issue. 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.720 Right, Yeah, of course, why would there be any problems here? 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.080 I mean, right, there is a problem, and it's a 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:36.640 problem that's been around for a while, and we're going 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.240 to tell you exactly what it is and how bad 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:41.800 it is. Right after a word from our sponsor. 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.040 Here's where it gets crazy. 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.000 So contamination baby food. 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:55.120 It's a real thing. 0:16:55.560 --> 0:17:01.720 It's not some alarmist opinion whatever. There was a landmark 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:06.479 congressional study just released earlier this month. As Matt and 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:11.800 I record this on February fourth, twenty twenty one, Congress 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:17.200 found that despite the existence of some regulations, literal tons 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:22.080 and tons and tons of baby food products are contaminated 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.520 such that you probably want to think twice before you 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.959 give them to your children. This wasn't an isolated incident, folks. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:34.880 This was not like Company A, some factory for Company 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.800 A had a bad day, or got some crap carrots 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.520 and used them anyway, or some apple cherry puree. I 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.280 don't even know if that's a thing, Matt. But instead 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:50.160 this study, they found that a wealth of baby food 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:58.760 products are contaminated with something called toxic heavy metals inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium, 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.040 and mercury in particular. 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:06.200 And these aren't the only toxic heavy metals that historically 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:10.679 have been found in foods, especially in baby foods, but 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.040 these four are the ones that are focused on in 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:20.240 this congressional study, and the four metals they're bad, you guys. 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.719 All four are considered by the WHO to be the 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.199 top in the top ten chemicals of concern when it 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:33.919 comes to children, infants, and younger younger children. All of 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.440 them have been linked to things like cancer, chronic diseases. 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:42.399 Of all sorts, neurotoxic effects, learning disabilities, all kinds of 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:47.800 things and their detrimental effects are way worse for developing brains, 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:52.239 for young brains as compared to adults, and you know, 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:59.200 grown grown folk such as us. It's I am again 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:00.960 in this episode. We're going to make a little bit 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.440 light of some of this in order to get through it. 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:07.600 But this is very, very serious, and we're gonna take 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:08.200 it seriously. 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.720 Yeah, I mean consider, I know, as soon as a 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.520 lot of us heard that the L word, as soon 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:16.840 as a lot of us heard led and babyfood, were 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:23.560 thinking of the longitudinal studies linking crime to early lead 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.600 exposure right often through pipes, I mean, water systems and 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:31.080 so on. But yeah, it gets worse, It gets much 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:37.240 much worse. According to Representative Rajah Krishna Morti, who is 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.560 the chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:45.719 the congressional investigation that the subcommittee conducted quote revealed that 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:51.760 manufacturers knowingly sell, not sold knowingly sell tainted baby food 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:56.639 to unsuspecting parents in spite of internal company test results 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:01.280 showing high levels of these toxic metals without any warning 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:06.439 labels right, which from a pure profit motive makes sense. 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.840 You're a parent, you're going to you have to buy 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:13.119 some kind of baby food. You pick up two items 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:15.840 next to each other on the shelf. You'll flip them around, 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:18.320 look at the ingredients, and one of them has a 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:22.040 warning that says may contain lead. Which one are you 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:22.640 going to go for? 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.840 You know, yeah, or you know may contain lead, arsenic, cadmium, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:30.760 and other terrible things like mercury. Yeah, you're not gonna 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:34.439 buy that. And there we're gonna we're gonna break this 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.439 stuff down even further in their reasons why there are 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.800 no labels on there, and there are also reasons why 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.639 that the testing that is done by these companies is flawed. Uh, 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.080 But for now, what it does mean is that the 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:49.360 manufacturers of a lot of these baby foods were aware 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:52.560 that these substances were in their products, and they still 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.720 let let them get purchased, and they still manufactured them, 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.840 and they just kept going because that they knew that 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:05.159 there were potential dangers. And it doesn't mean that these 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:07.919 at least right now. If you're a parent listening to 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.240 this and you probably just fed your child something from 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:15.520 beech Nut or Gerber or whoever it was, it doesn't 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.240 mean your baby is immediately in peril because of this. 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.760 It doesn't mean your child is at risk right now, 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:23.560 in this moment because you've fed them one thing of 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.600 baby food. But it does mean feeding them over time 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.840 could be a real risk. And the companies that sold 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:31.680 it to you knew. 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.600 Nikes and kept doing it, not just in the US, 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:40.200 but around the world. They're explicitly aware of the potential 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:46.359 dangers here. So according to a guy named doctor Leonardo Tressande, 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:50.480 who is a professor of pediatrics at the NYU Grossman 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:53.880 School of Medicine also the director of the Center for 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:58.879 the Investigation of Environmental Hazards over at NYU. According to 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:03.000 this doctor, critics have been raising concerns about the possibility 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.840 of this contamination for years. This is not breaking news 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:10.440 to the public. I mean it definitely wasn't breaking news 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:14.160 to the companies. In twenty seventeen, there was a nonprofit 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:19.199 organization still around called Clean Label Project, and they release 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:23.159 findings from a study they had commissioned that showed the 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:25.640 same thing we're talking about today. I think they focused 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:30.080 specifically on arsenic lead and mercury and their findings and 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:33.600 they found these again in the leading brand, brand name 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:37.200 products for infant formula and baby food. And then there 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:40.960 was another study that came out just last year. Wait, nope, 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:43.920 two years ago, now twenty twenty one. This came out 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:44.879 in twenty nineteen. 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:48.560 Yes, yeah, study from Healthy Babies Bright Futures came out 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:52.080 in October of twenty nineteen. They took it a step 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:54.479 further from the twenty seventeen study. They looked at one 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:57.199 hundred and sixty eight baby foods. They were looking for 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:01.959 the same stuff Arsenic led Mercury Academium, and they found 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.760 some terrible things. And right now, if you go online 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:08.920 and search I think how I found it was toxic 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:13.359 baby food twenty nineteen, that's a good way to find it. 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.360 Or just look up that organization, Healthy Baby's Bright Futures, 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:19.640 you can find what we're about to tell you. They 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.760 found ninety five percent of all of these foods that 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:26.080 they tested contained at least one of the heavy metals, 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:29.400 and one in four of the baby foods contained all four. 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:32.760 So a quarter of that one hundred and sixty eight 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:36.160 different types of baby food contained all four heavy metals. 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:36.640 Yeah. 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:42.920 Yeah, and amid these metals, lead was the worst offender. 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:47.280 So we know a lot about how lead can affect 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:52.159 developing human minds. Ninety four percent of the baby foods 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:56.560 tested contained some degree of lead. Cadmium, and arsenic followed. 0:23:57.000 --> 0:24:01.480 They were in about three quarters around three quarters of 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:04.080 all the baby food tested. And you always thinking that 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:10.080 maybe there's a way for manufacturers to spin things that 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:12.280 contain I don't think you could get away with this 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:14.560 with lead, too many people know about it. 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:15.639 But what if you. 0:24:15.720 --> 0:24:20.280 Change the label to now with ten percent more cadmium. 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:25.760 Cadmium sounds just enough like calcium that people would be fooled. 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:30.760 If you used a selective font, you can probably get 0:24:30.800 --> 0:24:31.360 away with it. 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:36.480 Yeah, make it papylous, make it something classy. Right, So, 0:24:37.600 --> 0:24:41.760 mercury was the least common of these. Mercury was in 0:24:42.119 --> 0:24:45.160 less than a little less than one third of the 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:49.800 food tested, so comparatively, I guess that's not so bad. 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:51.359