Baby Formula Petition

Please join us in our immediate and unified action to hold our tax-supported regulators and policy-makers accountable.

Please demand baby formula be added to the Baby Food Safety Act. If this is not done now millions of babies will continue to be damaged by the levels of toxic metals currently found in baby formula.

Please also insist that this outrageous preemption below be removed from the Baby Food Safety Act.

If the act passes with this preemption, all previous food safety laws in any state will be nullified. The American public will also not be allowed to be informed about food testing and any contaminants in any food. 

Please cut and paste the letter below, add 1-3 sentences at the top to personalize it and increase the chances of it being read, and send it directly to your Senator and Representative today!

Find your Senator and Representatives’ emails and telephone numbers here.

Dear Senator___________ or Representative ___________,

I am writing to ask for your support in making baby food and formula safer for our babies. Will you support the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 and insist that baby formula is included? Please authorize the FDA with the ability to do their job and protect human health. Baby formula is often the ONLY food a baby consumes for the first six months of their lives and must be monitored for heavy metals. Our babies ARE our future and they are the most vulnerable. If swift action is not taken, babies from both sides of the aisle will continue to be severely impacted and their mental, physical, and reproductive health issues will affect the future of America.

Will you also please insist that the following preemption in the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 is removed?

"Preemption of State and local requirements regarding food ingredients and contaminants in food, including infant and toddler food

No State or political subdivision of a State may establish or continue in effect with respect to contaminants in food, including infant and toddler food, food pouches made with fruit or vegetable puree or juice, and juice, any requirement that is different from, or in addition to, or not identical with any requirement under this section, and relates to contaminant sampling and testing, contaminant limits, disclosure of contaminant test results, contaminant labeling, contaminant warnings, or any other matter related to contaminants in food."

This preemption disallows any previous state laws regarding contaminants in food and prevents the public from knowing this important information. It is similar to the Farm Bill preemption that disallows states from restricting or banning pesticides. A new bill, such as the one in Iowa, SF 2412, will stop farmers from suing chemical companies for health effects such as Parkinson’s disease, which has been closely linked to paraquat,rotenone and other agrochemicals. These bills and preemptions are extremely dangerous to public health. Americans must have the ability to be informed about the contaminants in any and all foods.  All of our loved ones and community members, from all political parties are affected.

Poison is not partisan.

GMOScience, The New MDS, and Moms Across America, a national educational nonprofit dedicated to empowering mothers and others to create healthy families and communities, today announces the results of testing for five toxic metals in 20 infant formula products. Samples included organic, non-organic, and plant-based as well as animal product formulas sold by four of the major infant formula producers in the United States and globally. Two samples of each product were tested, for a total of 40 samples.

Concerning findings include:

• 100% of the 40 samples tested contained toxic aluminum and lead.
• 80% of samples had lead levels higher than the EPA allowable levels for drinking water.
• At 41,000 ppb, aluminum levels in a goat's milk baby formula were 4000 - 40,000x higher than other metals in the formulas tested and exceeded the FDA's maximum safety level for aluminum in a preemie.
• The highest aluminum level detected was 200X higher than EWPA allowable levels in drinking water.
• 57% of the samples tested positive for arsenic, 55% for mercury, and 35% for cadmium.
• Levels of mercury in four samples measured above the limit allowed by the FDA in drinking water.
• Levels of cadmium in both samples of one formula were nearly twice the level allowed in drinking water.
• Six of the 20 formulas were positive for all five toxic metals in both samples.

The FDA concluded many years ago that babies and young children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of food contaminants because of their small bodies and rapid cellular growth. In 1962, the FDA launched the Total Diet Study, recently published in July 2002, analyzing 910 foods, including only four infant formulas. Two of the four formulas contained toxic metals, including uranium. In April 2021, the FDA announced its “Closer to Zero” plan, wherein it committed to proposing allowable levels of lead in various baby foods by April 2022, levels of inorganic arsenic by April 2024, and cadmium and mercury sometime after 2024. None of those deadlines, however, have been met, and all of them have been removed from the Closer to Zero website. To date, the only actionable limits the agency has set are for one toxic metal only (inorganic arsenic) in one type of baby food product (infant rice cereal).

The FDA cited findings of nearly 400 childhood lead poisoning cases in fall 2023 linked to recalled cinnamon applesauce pouches. A coalition of 20 Attorneys General led by New York’s Attorney General Letitia James issued a letter to the FDA on February 15 of this year to call on the federal agency to protect babies and young children in the United States from lead and other toxic metals in baby food. That letter followed an October 2021 petition and subsequent June 2022 petition, asking the FDA to issue specific guidance to the baby food industry to require testing of all finished food products for lead and other toxic metals. It has been over two years! Action must be taken now!

Moms Across America, GlyphosateFacts, and GMOScience presented the new baby formula test results and science from Stephanie Seneff and others in meetings with congressional representatives and the FDA in Washington, DC from April 29 to May 2. They were informed by Jim Jones, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the FDA, that the agency is waiting for Congress to pass legislation that would mandate testing for lead and other harmful chemicals in food. On May 9, US lawmakers introduced the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024, which, with Congressional approval, would allow the FDA to regulate and enforce limits on levels of heavy metals found in baby food and potentially formula.

Please support the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 and insist that baby formula be added to the bill so that the FDA may regulate and monitor levels of heavy metals in both baby food and baby formula and that the preemption is removed.

Thank you.

Signed with Gratitude,

Your constituent _______________

Thank you for taking action to protect our babies and our future!