Link Between Toxic Baby Food and Autism, ADHD Will Be Evaluated by MDL Judge in December 2025

Series of hearings will be held by the Court to weigh the strength of science showing that heavy metals in baby food cause autism or ADHD in children.

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all toxic baby food lawsuits intends to hold a five day hearing in early December 2025, to determine whether there is sufficient general causation evidence to establish a link between heavy metals that contaminated baby food products and autism, ADHD or other developmental problems among children.

Dozens of families throughout the U.S. are currently pursuing lawsuits against Gerber, Nurture, Beech-Nut and manufacturers of other popular baby food brands, which have been found to contain high levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury, alleging that children developed life-long disabilities after consuming the toxic metals.

The litigation emerged after a U.S. Congressional report was released in April 2021, finding widespread baby food metal contamination. The report found that many popular products contained 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.

Even though health experts and regulators have been calling for manufacturers to entirely remove the contaminants from their products, subsequent testing has found that toxic heavy metals in baby food remain a pervasive problem, with a report published last year finding that popular brands sold by Gerber, Plum Organics, Sprout, Walmart and others still have potentially dangerous levels.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout the federal court system, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) established a toxic baby food lawsuit MDL in April 2024, centralizing claims before U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in the Northern District of California for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Last week, Judge Corley held a case management conference with lawyers involved in the litigation on December 12, to review the schedule for conducting general causation expert discovery, which will evaluate the link between toxic metals in the baby food and autism, ADHD or other developmental problems claimed in the lawsuits.

Toxic Baby Food General Causation

On November 8, the court issued a Pretrial Order (PDF) indicating that expert discovery will commence in April 2025, and directing the parties to submit proposed deadlines leading up to a five-day hearing on the issue of General Causation that will begin on December 8, 2025.

At those hearings late next year, Judge Corley is expected to evaluate whether expert witnesses proposed by each side on the issue of general causation are offering opinions that are sufficiently sound and grounded in established science, to allow the evidence to be presented to a jury at trial.

In a joint statement (PDF) submitted on December 10, plaintiffs indicated that they will only be able to make the required expert disclosures by April 2025 if all manufacturers involved in the litigation substantially complete general causation discovery by January 15, 2025, pointing to a number of issues with the production to date.

“If significant general causation discovery is still outstanding by January 15, 2025 – which, based on recent meet and confers with Defendants seems to be an almost surety – then requiring expert disclosure from Plaintiffs by April 2025 is not feasible or fair, especially when those disclosures will form the basis of a summary judgment challenge by Defendants,” according to the plaintiffs’ position statement.

According to minutes (PDF) issued by Judge Corley following the status conference on December 12, the Court will issue a Pretrial Order in the coming days outlining the deadlines that will be imposed on the parties.

The next case management conference in the toxic baby food lawsuits is currently set for January 23, 2025, and the parties have been directed to submit an updated statement at least two days beforehand.

After general causation issues are resolved, if the Court determines that plaintiffs have sufficient evidence establishing that toxic metals in the baby food can cause autism or ADHD, it is expected that Judge Corley will schedule a series of “bellwether” trials in the MDL, to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the claims.

In addition to the federal litigation, there are also a number of toxic baby food lawsuits pending in California state court, where it is expected that the first trial may begin sometime in 2025. While the outcome of that trial will not have any binding impact on other claims, it will be closely watched as any jury payout awarded may influence how much the manufacturers need to pay in autism or ADHD settlements to resolve the litigation.