New Report Highlights Unacceptable Lead Levels in Baby Food, Booker Introduces Legislation to Force FDA to Take Action

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is introducing legislation to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action to strengthen federal lead limits for baby food and fruit juice as the Environmental Defense Fund releases a new report finding that a decade’s worth of FDA data showed detectable levels of lead present in 20 percent of baby food samples.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no safe level of lead exposure for children. Lead exposure can seriously harm children’s health and cause damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and development, learning and behavioral problems, and hearing and speech problems.
“Lead is dangerous for anyone, but particularly for children. Kids can suffer a lifetime of health and developmental problems if exposed to lead, which is why we must do everything possible to eliminate this health threat,” Booker said. “It’s unacceptable that lead is so prevalent in the food we give our children, and this bill will force the FDA to act quickly to strengthen lead limits for baby food, fruit juice, and other foods commonly consumed by children.”
Booker’s bill, the Limiting Lead Exposure & Advancing Detection (LEAD) in Children’s Foods Act, would:
• Strengthen lead limits for food, including baby foods.
• Strengthen lead limits for fruit juice.
• Require the FDA to establish the new health-based limits within one year.
• Require the FDA to report to Congress on lead exposure in baby foods, fruit juices, and other foods often consumed by infants and children.
EDF’s full report is available at the following link: www.edf.org/lead-in-food
Sen. Booker has introduced a number of initiatives to reduce children’s exposure to lead. Earlier this month, Booker introduced the Get the Lead Out of Schools Act toestablish a grant program to help local schools replace outdated water infrastructure and ensure that schools are periodically tested and consistently monitored for lead. In April 2016 Sen. Booker introduced the Transparent Environment in School Testing (TEST) for Lead Act, legislation that would require states to help schools test for lead if those states receive federal funding for safe water programs. In March 2016, Sens. Booker and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) urged Senate appropriators to include robust federal funding in the FY17 budget for two key water infrastructure programs that provide low-cost financing to states and cities for a wide range of water infrastructure development projects.
In Dec., the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2016 (WRDA) which incorporated many of the proposals included in The True LEADership Act of 2016, originally cosponsored by Sens. Booker and Menendez. Among these are a new grant program to reduce lead in drinking water, mandatory reporting of elevated lead levels, funding for lead testing in school and child care facilities’ drinking water, and a requirement to use American iron and steel in drinking water infrastructure projects.