Gerber Baby Food Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over High Levels of Toxic Heavy Metals

Two mothers have filed a class action lawsuit against Gerber, alleging that dangerously high levels of toxic heavy metals in Gerber baby food placed their children, and countless other babies throughout the United States, at an increased risk of suffering long term neurological and developmental injuries.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Hannah Dempsey and Kathleen Hood in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on September 23, accusing Gerber of concealing the fact that their products contained arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury, which are toxic and harmful to infants.

According to the lawsuit, Dempsey and Hood both purchased several lines of Gerber’s baby food products, including Gerber Natural Banana, Gerber Natural Sweet Potato, Gerber Natural Apples, Gerber Natural Carrots, Probiotic Banana Oatmeal and others from their local Walmart grocery stores.

The mothers claim they based their decision on which baby food to feed their infants on Gerber’s marketing claims and product labeling, which depicting the products as “organic” and safe for suitable consumption by babies, without any warning the products contained metals that can disrupt the neurological and developmental growth, potentially leading to the onset of autism and attention deficient disorder (ADHD).

The Gerger baby food lawsuit seeks class action status, alleging the companies placed children at risk in order to maximize profits, and indicates that if parents had known about the presence of heavy metals in the baby food, they would not have purchased the products, or would have paid far less than the premium prices at which they were sold.

Dempsey and Hood’s claim joins a growing number of individual and class action baby food lawsuits filed over the last several months, following a House Oversight Committee report released on February 4, which highlighted internal documents and testing data for baby food products manufactured by Gerber (d/b/a Nestlé Nutrition), Beech-Nut Nutrition, Plum and others.

The U.S. Congressional report found that some baby foods contain high levels of toxic metals, with more than 91 times the maximum level of arsenic allowed in bottled water; 177 times the allowable levels of lead, 69 times the limits on cadmium, and five times the levels of allowable mercury.

Earlier this year in March, an Arizona mother of three minor children, Valencia Gibson, filed a baby food lawsuit lawsuit against Gerber Products Company; Nurture, Inc.; Beech-Nut Nutrition Company; Plum, PBC; Hain Celestial group, Inc., and Sprout Foods Inc, saying that high levels of toxic metals recently found in their products caused her three children to each develop autism.

In April, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a press release announcing a probe into Gerber, Beech-Nut, Hain (Earth’s Best Organic), and Nurture (HappyBABY); sending letters to each of the baby food manufacturers asking for additional information about levels of arsenic found in their products, as well as advertising and promotional techniques.

Although the manufacturers claim their products are safe and appropriately labeled, the FDA and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have long maintained that exposing infants and children to toxic heavy metals can cause a permanent decrease in IQ, an increased risk of future criminal and antisocial behavior, and untreatable and frequently permanent brain damage.

Heavy metal exposure to infants is a serious concern. Lead exposure at any level is extremely unsafe for children. Prior studies have linked heavy metal exposure to behavioral impairments, brain damage, damage to the nervous system, seizures, growth impairments, and even death.