The agency estimated that the new limits — which are voluntary for food manufacturers — could reduce lead exposure from processed baby foods by 20% to 30%.
Ok, everybody is justifiably freaked out that these limits are 1) new, 2) voluntary, and 3) not zero. But don’t worry, there’s a simple explanation that is so much worse than you think it is.
Lead is everywhere. It occurs naturally, but also due to decades of leaded gasoline and leaded water pipes, we still have toxic levels of lead in the air, soil, and groundwater in many food-producing regions. And because the EPA has been underfunded and impeded by capitalists at every opportunity, the lack of monitoring or enforcement has permitted corporations to dump lead in their wastewater. It’s very easy to dissolve lead in water, and has a nonzero cost to remove, so of course they don’t when nobody is looking. And that’s just the food we grow in the USA. Imported produce might come from a country with even fewer restrictions on lead contamination.
All this means that we cannot predict how much lead is in the crops we produce and eat. Fruits don’t tend to accumulate lead, but root vegetables, leafy greens, and grains can all be silently toxic. It can come from the soil, the water, or the air. So food manufacturers were given a pass on lead, because they cannot predict or prevent how much lead is in the raw ingredients they buy, and it would be too expensive to test all the food we eat.
This is a good first step to create limits on baby food, since infants are the most affected by lead toxicity and it’s easy enough to test batches of pureed ingredients. It would be better to create actual regulations with enforcement, and fund the agencies responsible for both. But this is a small step in the right direction.
Ok, everybody is justifiably freaked out that these limits are 1) new, 2) voluntary, and 3) not zero. But don’t worry, there’s a simple explanation that is so much worse than you think it is.
Lead is everywhere. It occurs naturally, but also due to decades of leaded gasoline and leaded water pipes, we still have toxic levels of lead in the air, soil, and groundwater in many food-producing regions. And because the EPA has been underfunded and impeded by capitalists at every opportunity, the lack of monitoring or enforcement has permitted corporations to dump lead in their wastewater. It’s very easy to dissolve lead in water, and has a nonzero cost to remove, so of course they don’t when nobody is looking. And that’s just the food we grow in the USA. Imported produce might come from a country with even fewer restrictions on lead contamination.
All this means that we cannot predict how much lead is in the crops we produce and eat. Fruits don’t tend to accumulate lead, but root vegetables, leafy greens, and grains can all be silently toxic. It can come from the soil, the water, or the air. So food manufacturers were given a pass on lead, because they cannot predict or prevent how much lead is in the raw ingredients they buy, and it would be too expensive to test all the food we eat.
This is a good first step to create limits on baby food, since infants are the most affected by lead toxicity and it’s easy enough to test batches of pureed ingredients. It would be better to create actual regulations with enforcement, and fund the agencies responsible for both. But this is a small step in the right direction.