Loaded with Heavy Metals, the Biden Administration has Quietly Pushed to Weaken Baby Formula Regulations
Updated
It’s a critical moment for the health of babies born in the United States. Along with recklessly recommending the contaminated and deadly experimental mRNA COVID-19 jabs to infants, the Biden administration has been quietly urging more than twenty countries to modify, delay, or reconsider their baby formula regulations intended to protect public health. Like its toxic relationship with vaccine manufacturers and Big Pharma, this pressure to undermine public health has often come after complaints from baby formula manufacturers like Abbott and Mead Johnson.
An investigation by ProPublica has revealed the far-reaching impact of the Biden administration’s actions that span the globe. For example, in the European Union, the Biden administration opposed efforts to reduce lead in baby formula. In Taiwan, Biden and his puppets sought to change labeling emphasizing the benefits of breastfeeding benefits, and in Columbia, the underhanded Biden group questioned attempts to limit microbiological contaminants in infant formula. The Biden administration’s blatant disregard for contaminants poisoning children is especially concerning because, as noted by ProPublica, these poisons are “the very problem that shut down a manufacturing plant in Michigan in 2022, leading to a widespread formula shortage.” Based on the assumption formula is healthy and not contaminated—which we now know is not the case—that event alone put roughly 2.7 million babies at risk for suboptimal feeding practices.
Over the last ten years, nations worldwide have aimed to limit the advertising of “toddler formula,” a powdered drink that often pushes false promises of improving children’s eyesight, brains, and immunity. However, the good ole U.S. of A., precisely the Obama and Biden regimes, have played dirty, covertly joining forces with those driven by power and greed. Indeed, as public health experts and advocates for children have backed the proposed restrictions on formula—rightly insisting that the marketing can mislead parents about its health benefits and even persuade some parents to choose formula over breastfeeding—the U.S. has been quietly working in tandem with formula manufacturers to fight restrictions on formula marketing in the very markets it claims to want to protect.
Despite public promises for a healthier approach, the Biden administration’s actions have often led countries to change or eliminate proposed regulations after U.S. objections. What makes all of the heinous disregard for infant health by the United States government even more mindboggling and disgusting is that a new study separate from ProPublica’s crucial investigation found that 80 percent of baby formulas tested had lead levels higher than the EPA allows in drinking water. In fact, not only does the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not monitor lead in baby formula, it does not regulate our food for heavy metals at all.
In a recent episode of The HighWire, we covered the appalling reality of the health of the nation’s infant formula. Consumer advocates Zen Honeycutt, founding Director of Moms Across America, and pediatrician Michelle Perro, MD (who, along with Dr. Stephanie Seneff, have started “The New MDS: Mothers, Doctors, and Scientists“), joined the show to discuss the shocking results of their groundbreaking study after testing for five toxic metals in 20 infant formula products. Samples included organic, non-organic, plant-based, and animal product formulas sold by twenty brands in the United States and globally. Two samples of each product were tested for a total of 40 samples, a statistically significant number. Heavy metals were found in every single sample.
Indeed, despite the Biden administration’s “Closer to Zero” initiative launched by the FDA in 2021 to mitigate toxins, none of the infant formulas tested were free of the toxic metals lead, aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. Unbelievably, now in its third year, the FDA’s Closer to Zero has established no noteworthy regulatory limits on these metals, leaving babies entirely helpless to exposure to toxicants that are known to pose severe health risks, including cancer, development delays, kidney damage, and neurocognitive difficulties. This is unacceptable.
To further put into perspective the disregard for our children’s health, here’s a shocking fact: the number one ingredient in most formulas is high fructose corn syrup, which often makes up 50% of the formula and is known to contain mercury. We know that 85 to 95 percent of the corn grown in the United States is genetically modified (GMO), meaning it is contaminated with poisons and heavy metals from the start because the pesticide is often built right into the seed. Either that or it is modified to be herbicide-tolerant to contaminants like glyphosate. Beyond that, many chemicals used to extract the corn syrup, including hexane, are extremely dangerous. Noting how fast food and school lunch testing led them to test baby formula, Honeycutt remarked:
“It’s a very toxic process. We’re extremely concerned about the use of corn syrup solids, GMO corn syrup solids, and many others [like] GMO soy and baby formula. As Dr. Perro mentioned, when we did the fast food and school lunch testing, both were 100% positive for heavy metals. And we tested over 40 samples of all of them as well as the baby formula. The results were really disturbing and 100% positive for heavy metals.”
Following its damaging report, Moms Across America announced on May 18 that it was ‘thrilled’ about the potential for a new bill to make baby food and potentially baby formula safer. With about 83 percent of moms now breastfeeding, the need for a non-toxic alternative, if necessary, is crucial. The group’s optimism about the FDA’s statements regarding regulating heavy metals in baby formula is encouraging and the devastating toxins poisoning our children demand that regulatory changes are required.
Another glimmer of hope? A June 13, 2024, article in Food Safety shined an additional spotlight on the toxic situation, reiterating that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported that before and during the baby formula crisis in 2022, the FDA had inadequate policies and procedures or lacked policies and procedures to identify risks to infant formula and respond effectively through its complaint, inspection, and recall processes. Will these steps, seemingly in the right direction, lead to positive and lasting changes that restore trust and health to baby formula? Given what we’ve lived through the past four years, it’s doubtful. Especially when, behind the scenes, the Biden administration intentionally undermines any progress.