Girl Scout cookies may contain heavy metals. Why is our food like this?The recent discovery of heavy metals and the herbicide glyphosate in Girl Scout cookies has raised concerns about the safety of food products in American households. A proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Girl Scouts, citing a study that found four out of five heavy metals tested for were present in all cookie samples, and most samples contained all five: aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury.
The Girl Scouts have defended their cookies as safe to eat, stating that their products are manufactured according to current safety standards. They claim that any contaminants found in the cookies come from environmental exposure, as their bakers do not add any contaminants.
This incident is not an isolated one, as many food products have been found to contain contaminants in recent years. Baby food, spices, and chocolate have all been tested and found to contain heavy metals like lead. Additionally, there have been product recalls due to listeria, salmonella, and E. coli contamination. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also banned Red Dye No. 3 from food and drinks due to concerns about its potential link to cancer and behavioral issues in children.
Jerold Mande, an adjunct professor of nutrition at Harvard’s School of Public Health and a former senior policy official at the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food safety programs, notes that Americans are rightfully concerned about the safety of their food. However, he also points out that it is not surprising that Girl Scout cookies contain some amount of contaminants, as most processed foods would likely test positive for at least one toxin or another if tested sensitively enough.
The key question, according to Mande, is how much contamination is too much. He notes that even foods that fall below the required threshold for contaminants might still contribute to health issues plaguing Americans, due to a lack of research by government scientists on the topic. Mande emphasizes that consumers are rightly concerned, but there is little that individuals can do to protect themselves from contaminants in their food, short of growing all their own food.
The issue of food safety is complex and multifaceted, involving not only the presence of contaminants but also the levels at which they are considered safe. As Mande notes, the question of how much contamination is too much is a critical one, and it is a question that requires further research and attention from government scientists and policymakers.
