Why Is Pesticide Used As An Ingredient In Infant Formula?

Why Is Pesticide Used As An Ingredient In Infant Formula?







Sayer Ji, Contributor
Activist Post

Why is cupric sulfate -- a known herbicide, fungicide and
pesticide -- being used in infant formula? And why is it displayed
proudly on product labels as a presumably nutritious ingredient?

Used to kill fungus, aquatic plants and roots of plants, parasitic
infections in aquarium fish and snails, as well as algae and bacteria
such as Escherichia coli, cupric sulfate hardly sounds fit for human
consumption, much less for infants.

Indeed, infants are all too often looked at as "miniature adults" from
the perspective of toxicological risk assessments, rather than what they
are: disproportionately (if not exponentially) more susceptible to the
adverse effects of environmental exposures. Instead of reducing or
altogether eliminating avoidable infant chemical exposures (the
precautionary principle), the chemical industry-friendly focus is always
on determining "an acceptable level of harm" – as if there were such at
thing!

It boggles the imagination how cupric sulfate ended up in infant
formula, as well as scores of other consumer health products, such as
Centrum and One-A-Day vitamins?

After all, it is classified, according to the Dangerous Substance
Directive (one of the main European Union laws concerning chemical
safety), as "Harmful (Xn), Irritant (Xi) and Dangerous for the
environment (N)."

Moreover, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) requires that the warning signal "DANGER" appear on the labels of
all copper sulfate end-products containing 99% active ingredient in
crystalline form.


The Material Safety Data Sheet for Cupric Sulfate clearly states, in 'Section 3: Hazards Identification," that it has the following adverse health effects:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Potential Acute Health Effects: Hazardous in
case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of
ingestion, of inhalation. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Potential
Chronic Health Effects: CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. MUTAGENIC
EFFECTS: Mutagenic for mammalian somatic cells. TERATROGENIC EFFECTS:
Not available. DEVELOPMENT TOXICITY: Not available. The substance may be
toxic to kidneys, liver. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the
substance can produce target organs damage.</blockquote>In 'Section 7: Handling and Storage" the following precautions must be taken:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Do not ingest. Do not breathe dust. Wear
suitable protective clothing. In case of insufficient ventilation, wear
suitable respiratory equipment. If ingested, seek medical advice
immediately and show t he container or the label. Avoid contact with
skin and eyes. Keep away from incompatibles such as metals, alkalis.</blockquote>Cleary
we have a problem here. Cupric sulfate is used in most mass market
infant formulas. Even Similac's "sensitive" formula contains the
ingredient:


Could this be one reason why infant formula
has been linked to over 50 adverse health effects, both short and long
term, in infants given it in place of breast milk? The common
explanation/claim is that infant formula isn't intrinsically harmful,
rather, breast milk and breastfeeding
is just healthier. I believe this perspective in untenable, given the
problems with cupric sulfate, and dozens of other questionable
ingredients being used in these products, such as petroleum-derived and
chirally inverted dl-alpha tocopherol (synthetic vitamin E), zinc
sulfate, sodium selenate, manganese sulfate, etc.

For additional research on the inherent problems associated with the use
of chemicals in infant formula, take a look at our evaluation of
another Similac product.

Or, take a look at the "Organic" infant formula by Earth's Best:, which is surprisingly not that much better.

Source:-
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/12/why-is-pesticide-used-as-ingredient-in.html