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Health department warns lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium in baby food can cause lasting harm; suggests AGO enforce compliance
Summary
Deputy Commissioner Julia Rell and State Toxicologist Andrea Kirk told the committee lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium can impair development in infants and toddlers; the department suggested the Attorney General’s Office may be a more appropriate enforcement entity than the health department.
Julia Rell, deputy commissioner at the Vermont Department of Health, and Andrea Kirk, the state toxicologist, told the committee that lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium found in baby food can harm infants and young children and that combined exposures can have synergistic effects.
“There is no safe level of lead in the body,” Rell said, describing lead’s ability even at low levels to impair development, damage brain and nervous system function, and affect learning and behavior. The pair told the committee…
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