Krishnamoorthi, Duckworth, Klobuchar, And Cárdenas Urge The FDA to Act Swiftly to Reduce High Levels of Toxic Heavy Metals in Baby Foods

WASHINGTON — After the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft guidance to reduce levels of lead in baby food earlier this week, today U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) and U.S. Representative Tony Cárdenas (D-CA-29) are once again urging FDA to take quick and significant action to reduce high levels of toxic heavy metals—including lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium—in baby food and help ensure that the baby food we provide our nation's infants and young children is safe and healthy. While this draft guidance is welcome progress, it was announced much later than expected according to FDA's own "Closer to Zero" initiative, the FDA's plan to reduce high levels of toxic heavy metals in baby food, which stated that this draft guidance would be issued in April of last year. The lawmakers' letter follows up on their June 2022 letter to FDA urging for better industry oversight and regulation of baby food.

In their letter to the agency, the lawmakers wrote: "While we believe issuing this draft guidance is an important step forward, more must be done to ensure the safety of foods consumed by babies and young children. Despite the establishment of the Closer to Zero initiative and FDA's additional actions to regulate the presence of toxic heavy metals in baby foods, it appears that unacceptable levels of toxic heavy metals persist in these foods.

In conclusion, the lawmakers requested FDA fully and expeditiously carry out its Closer to Zero initiative, which set timelines for regulating toxic heavy metals in baby foods. They wrote: "It is deeply concerning that high levels of toxic heavy metals remain in our Nation's manufactured baby foods. Given the severity of the potential dangers posed by this, we urge FDA to expeditiously finalize guidance documents for industry on proposed action levels for lead in foods consumed by babies and children under the age of two.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi led the Congressional investigation that revealeddangerous levels of toxic heavy metals in baby food during his tenure as Chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy before with Senator Duckworth, Senator Klobuchar, and Congressman Cárdenas to introduce the Baby Food Safety Act in March of 2021 to dramatically reduce toxic heavy metals in baby food, educate parents about the risks, and invest in cutting edge farming technology to reduce any economic barriers to making baby food safe for consumption. The legislation's most notable provisions included:

• Setting maximum levels of inorganic arsenic (10 ppb, 15 ppb for cereal), lead (5 ppb, 10 ppb for cereal), cadmium (5 ppb, 10 ppb for cereal), and mercury (2 ppb) allowed in baby food that manufacturers would have to meet within one year.
• Requiring those levels to be lowered further within two years through FDA guidance, and again after three years through regulation.
• Requiring manufacturers to test their final products – not just ingredients – for toxic heavy metals (ingredient testing significantly underestimates toxic heavy metal levels).
• Requiring manufacturers to post the results of their product testing online twice per year.
• Establishing a public awareness campaign through the CDC to highlight the risks posed by toxic heavy metals in baby food.
• Authorizing $50 million for research on agricultural methods of reducing toxic heavy metals in crops

A full copy of today's letter is available here.