Dr. Oz visited the TODAY show this morning and talked about recent studies that found alarming levels of arsenic in certain packaged organic foods and baby formula.__
"It's a big concern for me," Oz said. "I think it's another reason [why] we need to be very strict on how much arsenic we're going to allow in our food supply. This is especially important for kids, it's in infant formula that we're seeing this stuff, it's in juices that kids are taking."
Obviously the man knows what he is talking about. Just last year Oz commissioned a report on arsenic levels in fruit juices and found high levels in some brands of apple juice as well. This is terrifying news for most moms. Even if you breastfeed, chances are that you may be purchasing certain organic foods with the assumption that they are safer for you and your family.
What makes this all the more infuriating is that although there was evidence that the amount of arsenic found is some of the soy based formulas was nearly TWICE that of the acceptable levels in drinking water for grown adults, the brand was never revealed, making it impossible for parents to know if they may be feeding their children something poisonous. The best way to avoid arsenic contamination for now seems to be staying as far away as possible from organic foods sweetened with brown rice syrup.
I realize that there is no way that the FDA can keep up with every single new brand of food being made, but it seems to me like there should be some sort of special oversight for foods being made for babies. After all, children are incredibly vulnerable when they are infants and exposure to chemicals and toxins has been linked by some to everything from autism to childhood cancers. It just seems like the government can, and should, be doing more. At the very least, companies who create products that are contaminated should have to face stiff fines and penalties and be taken off of shelves until reformulated!
Watch Dr. Oz talk about the recent findings and how to build a better grocery list below:
Embedded content: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46410892
Do you feed your child organic formula? Did you know about the arsenic contamination?
