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March 10, 2022 - RFK Jr. The Defender

14:22

Toxic Baby Food with Pedram Esfandiary

Pedram Esfandiary leads a group of attorneys who filed a lawsuit against several corporations alleging they knowingly sell baby food tainted with arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.

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	Hey, everybody.
	I want you to listen carefully to this podcast today and send the link to this podcast to anybody that you know who has a child that is affected by autism spectrum disorder.
	My guest today is Pedramus Fendiary, who is my colleague and friend.
	He was on the same team as I was, the leading counsel of In the Monsanto case, Pedram is an attorney for the firm.
	He specializes in toxic tort injuries, pharmaceutical drug liability, class actions, consumer fraud litigation, and police misconduct.
	He's also a professor of law at the People's College of Law in Los Angeles.
	And today we're going to be talking about baby food.
	Pedram and Edlin are the lead attorneys.
	They filed the first case in California and probably in the nation addressing the shocking story of the ubiquitous toxins in most of the most popular baby food products, including arsenic, cadmium, mercury,
	and other toxic heavy metals, which we know are associated with the onset and with diagnoses, increased risk of a diagnosis of autism as a veteran disorder.
	And ADHD. So if you know anybody who has children who have been diagnosed with these diseases, these injuries, send them the link to this.
	Because we now have, Obama now has over a thousand clients.
	This is historic litigation.
	This new mass tort litigation involves allegations against the major brand manufacturers of baby foods, including Nurture, Happy Valley Organics, Beech Nut, Hain, Plum Organics,
	Walmart Parents' Choice, Sprout Foods, and Gerber, who are knowingly selling baby food with dangerously high levels of toxic Thank you.
	and won the $2 billion verdict in Monsanto.
	He and other members of the Roundup trial team in the Piliad, Hardeman and Johnson cases, which I was also involved in, were also honored as elite trial lawyers and mass tort firm of the year finalists in 2020 by the National Law were also honored as elite trial lawyers and mass tort firm of the year finalists in 2020 by the National Law Journal, as well as the 2019
	So, Pedram, welcome to the podcast, and thank you for joining me, and thank you for all your extraordinary work on these issues.
	Tell us about the baby food cases.
	Thank you, Bobby, for having me on.
	It's a pleasure to be on with you guys.
	So these baby food cases, as you said, it's truly shocking.
	Last year, a Congressional Subcommittee report came out.
	Detailing that there was significantly elevated levels of toxic heavy metals.
	I mean we're talking potent neurotoxins that can cause brain damage in children at very low levels.
	They found these metals in leading baby food brands sold across the United States and across the world actually.
	They found that these companies that sold these products had repeatedly ignored both their own internal safety standards and that of the safety standards of regulators.
	There's a footnote to this, that unfortunately the FDA has not set any limits for the presence of heavy metals in baby food.
	They have some limits with orange juice, apple juice, and they have limits with heavy metals in adult drinking water, but not in baby foods, shockingly.
	So I think that's part of the problem that's driving this issue.
	We have no regulatory safeguards whatsoever.
	So these baby food manufacturers basically regulate themselves.
	And it turns out that in the interest of profits, they simply didn't care how much heavy metals was in the food as long as it's getting sold.
	And American children ate these foods.
	And we have high rates of autism all across the country in recent years.
	And I think that This is one of the main contributors to that epidemic of autism.
	It's heavy metals in the environment, and even more shockingly, in the very food that babies are eating.
	So we filed the first case of his kind, a personal injury case, on behalf of a young boy in Los Angeles.
	His name is Noah.
	He's eight years old.
	He has autism and ADHD. And from a very young age, from about four months old, all the way up until past the age of three even, he ate these baby foods.
	We're talking substantial amounts of them because really some of these foods don't pack that much nutrition in any given portion so kids end up eating repeated portions throughout the day and Noah was one of these children and he has been diagnosed with autism and it's incredibly debilitating for him and his family.
	So we filed this case in an LA state court.
	We're taking it to trial as soon as possible.
	Great thing about being in California state court Is that if you're under the age of 14, you have a statutory right to a trial within 120 days of asking for it and being granted by the court.
	So we're very excited about aggressively pushing this case to trial.
	We're in the discovery process right now, and the court is just gearing up to rule on the issue of whether there's enough science for the case to proceed to trial.
	And we just had that hearing with our experts.
	It went exceptionally well, so we're very excited.
	And one of the ironies of this case is that these particular products, many of them were labeled as organic and they were marketed specifically to parents by telling parents that this was safe for your child, that if you bought this, your child would be safe.
	That's right.
	That's the great irony of it.
	And unfortunately, people might think, well, why is that?
	I mean, is that the whole point of me buying organic so I can avoid stuff like heavy metals?
	Well, Unfortunately, there's numerous reasons for why organic foods are also implicated, primarily because less than, I think, 1% of U.S. farmland is actually organic.
	With the majority of the farmland being, you know, using synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, there's a great amount of cross-contamination going on.
	And where organic fields are used, you know, historically, where pesticides will be sprayed on those locations, the heavy metals in those pesticides Leaches onto water.
	For example, rice is grown in water in paddy fields.
	Arsenic is water-soluble.
	It stays in the water for years and years and years, such that even when you're using organic farming methods, the arsenic in the water left over from the non-organic days is still there, and it leaches onto the rice, ends up in baby food.
	And rice is a big, big, big ingredient in baby food.
	Rice cereal, rice puffs, rice snacks.
	You know, it's a huge commodity, and it's laced with arsenic.
	Unfortunately, the organic brand doesn't necessarily mean that your food is safe from heavy metals.
	Some of the manufacturing processes these companies use to make these foods are all the same, regardless of whether the food is organic or not.
	We think that some of the manufacturing processes, outdated equipment, leaching, cross-contamination, might also be involved here.
	But also, I should say, probably most importantly, even though these companies use organic products, They also add additional ingredients to some of these foods, such as ingredients that make the foods easier to chew and digest by a baby.
	And it turns out that some of these pre-mixed minerals and vitamins that are inserted are themselves laced with huge amounts of toxic heavy metals.
	So regardless of whether the food is organic or not, you're being exposed to them.
	And the other shocking thing about this case is that these companies knew they were poisoning the children.
	That's right.
	It's truly mind-numbing to just think about what this means for a second because the documents that these companies have already given to congressional investigators show that they knew about the issue years and years ago, but they just, for whatever reason, ignored it and kept selling the product.
	And didn't bring it to Congress's attention until 2021.
	I mean, they've been selling these products for years and generations.
	Or the attention of FDA or the other regulators.
	Or the attention of the FDA or any other regulators.
	And I think that to the extent that the FDA has known about this issue, I think, and we'll see the evidence is probably going to support this, we're looking at a case of regulatory capture where the agency is just so embedded with the business interest that it's just looked the other way.
	What else could explain this gross oversight by the FDA, even if they knew about it?
	In a case, it may be tried as early as this summer.
	It could be.
	I think that more realistically, we're looking at a trial date of end of 2022, start of 2023.
	We're trying to push for a 2022 trial date, but that remains to be seen.
	And it's important for people to understand that in this case, kind of uniquely, the statute of limitations is dramatically extended compared to most cases because the statute does not start running until the child reaches the age of 18.
	That's correct.
	That's correct.
	You know, one of the reasons we're in this fortunate position in this litigation is that exact reason.
	The statute of limitations is told in most states, I believe, definitely in California, Well, I think that the congressional staff that put together that report are certainly concerned about this.
	I know that some Senate Democrats Have proposed the Baby Food Safety Act or something to that effect, looking to put actual limits, right?
	Particularly since after the Healthy Babies Bright Futures report came out and is calling on Congress to pass meaningful legislation implementing maximum amounts of heavy metals permitted to be in baby foods.
	Who are the worst actors?
	Who are the worst villains in this group that you're litigating against?
	So I would say the seven manufacturers identified in the congressional report, so Walmart, Beech Nut, Heinz Celestial, Plum, Sprout, and Nurture.
	And these seven manufacturers really, I mean, their own internal documents that they gave to Congress show the magnitude of the problem.
	We're talking they had 1,000 parts per billion of arsenic in one of the ingredients, 100 parts per And just to put in context, one part per billion of lead has been shown to be incredibly damaging to a human brain.
	So you think about it, you have 10 parts per billion, 100 parts per billion.
	I mean, you're literally almost poisoning children at this point.
	One part per billion can impose measurable IQ loss in a child.
	That's correct.
	That's correct.
	One part per billion can have measurable IQ loss, and these foods contain as much as 10, 100 parts per billion.
	We have a lot of parents listening to the show bedroom who are concerned about their child's health.
	Is there any baby food that's safe?
	What should they be doing?
	Should they be making their own baby food?
	Absolutely.
	So there's numerous steps that parents can take.
	So not all baby food has this problem with heavy metals.
	There are actually baby foods that are safe for consumption and don't have this heavy metal issue.
	There is an organization, Healthy Babies Bright Futures, that actually put out a report before the congressional report came out.
	Identifying both the companies and the products that are problematic that have this heavy metal issue, as well as the ones that don't have this issue.
	You can also find additional information about which foods appear to be safe on our website, bombhandlinglaw.com.
	And I would also urge parents to absolutely, if you can have the time and means, make your own baby food.
	Putting the ingredients together yourself and buying organically, ideally, you know precisely what's going inside your child's body, and that's usually a more safer route.
	So, for people who are listening to this show who may have a child who suffers from autism or ADHD, what do you recommend they do?
	How do they reach you, Pedram?
	You can reach us through the website, bombheadlandlaw.com.
	You can give us a ring.
	Our phone number is on the website.
	We have an intake team that will ask you questions and probably send you a questionnaire or two to fill out some basic information.
	So yeah, we're easily accessible.
	We're easy to find.
	Padrom, tell us the telephone number.
	Sure.
	For folks who want to reach us, our phone number is 310-909-8212.
	And people can call you from any state in the country.
	That's right.
	We're accepting cases from all across the U.S. It doesn't matter what state you're in.
	You give us a call, and if your case meets our criteria, we're happy to accept it.
	And the best way to reform this kind of behavior in many cases is litigation.
	If these companies know that they can get away with anything they want with FDA, the one place where they face justice and are accountable for the cause that they've imposed on our children is in the courthouse.
	This is an important case.
	Call up Bob Edlin and make yourself part of it and get justice for your child.
	Thank you, Pedro.
	Thank you.
	Thank you, Bobby.
	Thank you for having me.
	Yeah, I mean, we need to do something about these companies.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	And I think that, you know, Bobby, you've been a historic fighter in this.
	It usually takes litigation to drive the change, you know, tobacco, pesticides, and now who would have thought of baby food?
	Our phone number is 310-909-8212, bombheadlandlaw.com.
	Thank you, Pedro.
	Thank you, Robbie.
	Thanks for having me on.

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