How do we Protect our Children from Lead and other Heavy Metals in Food?
- NOTE: This event is over, but please see below for resources discussed
What: Twitter Spaces Discussion
Topic: How do we Protect our Children from Lead and other Heavy Metals in Food?
Date: Tuesday March 1, 2022
Time: 11am to 12 noon EST
Where: This Twitter Spaces live audio discussion will be hosted on the official Twitter channel of Pure Earth. Visit @pureearthnow or click here to link to the event.
Join experts from Pure Earth, NYU, Consumer Reports, Clean Label Project, Center for Global Development, and Global Alliance on Health and Pollution as they share insights, discuss solutions, and answer your questions. Learn about how pollution travels through the global supply chain, how toxins in food affect children, what brands and regulators should do, and what you can do to protect your family.
Pollution is reaching kitchens all over the world through the global food supply chain. The Consumer Reports study, “Your Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead,” released in Nov. 2021, was just the latest to raise the issue of toxic heavy metals like lead and mercury being detected in foods in U.S. grocery stores. Earlier in Feb. 2021, a public outcry followed the release of a U.S. Congressional report which revealed widespread contamination of baby foods with dangerous levels of lead, mercury, and other toxic heavy metals. Pure Earth and other experts met with U.S. regulators last year to discuss policy solutions, but little progress has been made in Congress. This discussion will focus on what we can do to accelerate action to protect the food chain, and what consumers can do to protect their families.
This event precedes our International Women’s Day event on March 8, in which we will be honoring former EPA Administrator Carol Browner and two other powerful advocates dedicated to protecting our shared environment, public health, and future generations.
Moderator:
Dr. Jack Caravanos
Clinical Professor of Environmental Public Health Sciences,
School of Global Public Health, NYU
Panelists include:
Andrew McCartor
Vice President, Strategy and Partnerships, Pure Earth
James E. Rogers Ph.D.
Director of Food Safety Research and Testing, Consumer Reports
Jackie Bowen
Executive Director, Clean Label Project
Rachel Silverman
Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development
Rachael Kupka
Executive Director, Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP)
RESOURCES
Pure Earth
Report: Pollution Knows No Borders
• See how industrial pollution migrates from farm to global table
• Find out how much food we import from countries with high pollution levels
• What can you do to protect your family?
Fact sheet: Pollution has no place in the kitchen
Pollution Blog: Advising US Regulators on Toxic Baby Food, Pushing Action To Protect Food Supply
Clean Label Project
• Best and worst baby products
• Lead: It’s Impact on Health and the Environment, Coming Clean Project Podcast
Consumer Reports
• Your Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead
• Baby Food and Heavy Metals: What Parents Should Do Now
• Arsenic and Lead Are in Your Fruit Juice: What You Need to Know
• New Report Underscores the Risks of Lead in Water, Especially to Bottle-Fed Babies
Center for Global Development
• There’s lead in your turmeric – The Weeds podcast – Vox’s Matthew Yglesias talks to Rachel Silverman from the Center for Global Development about the global perspective and lead poisoning as the next big global health issue to focus on.
Global Alliance on Health and Pollution