Truth time. I currently feel like the most terrible parent ever after reading an article on WGN today.

My youngest daughter is out of the baby food eating stage, (unless you consider fruit and veggie "squeezies" baby food), but it wasn't that long ago that she was eating a ton of Gerber baby food products, so this news literally made me sick to my stomach.

The Clean Label Project just finished a five month study on most of the most popular baby foods and brands on the market, and what they found is disturbing: two-thirds of these baby products tested positive for arsenic and other toxins.

Excuse me, what?!?!

According to the article from WGN the study "included samples from 500 infant formulas and baby food products from 60 brands".  It also says;

 

According to the Clean Label Project, the products were screened for 130 toxins including heavy metals, BPA, pesticides and other contaminants.

Researchers found arsenic in 65% of baby food products; cadmium in 58 percent of the products; and lead in 36 percent of the products.

Nearly 80 percent of infant formulas tested positive for arsenic, and 60 percent of products claiming to be BPA free tested positive for BPA.

You guys, I can't even. I know that arsenic exists naturally in some foods and soils, but I can't help but be alarmed over facts like that. Especially when the Clean Label Project says that popular baby brands Healthy Times, Organix, Gerber, Earth’s Best, and Parent’s Choice are the worst offenders. (a.k.a. all the brands my littles ate on a daily basis).

I will admit that I have always thought organic products were mostly a big hype with a big pricetag to match it, but now I feel bad.

Do you think these numbers are blown out of proportion? Can you please help  soothe my parental guilt?


 

Catch Lil Zim on ‘Q98.5 Mornings with Lil Zim & JB’ on Q98.5 from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook


 

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