Lawsuit Alleges Baby Food Sold By Gerber, Beech-Nut, Nurture and Other Manufacturers Caused Autism Among Three Children of One Family
An Arizona mother has filed a lawsuit against several major baby food manufacturer, saying that high levels of toxic metals recently found in their products caused her three children to each develop autism.
Valencia Gibson filed the complaint (PDF) on March 17, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, on behalf of herself and her three minor children, who are only identified by their initials; AG, HG, and XG.
According to the lawsuit, Gibson fed her children baby food products manufactured by Gerber Products Company; Nurture, Inc.; Beech-Nut Nutrition Company; Plum, PBC; Hain Celestial group, Inc., and Sprout Foods Inc, which were all identified in a recent Congressional report as manufacturers of baby foods found to contain high levels of toxic metal, including arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury, which may increase the risk of children developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
BABY FOOD LAWSUITS
Toxic baby food sold by Gerber, Beech-Nut and other manufacturers contain dangerous levels of heavy metals, which may be the cause of autism and severe ADHD for children.
Learn More See If You Qualify For Compensation“Plaintiffs AG, HG, and XG are three small siblings who live with debilitating Autism Spectrum Disorder because they consumed poisonous Baby Foods manufactured and sold by these Defendants,” Gibson’s lawsuit states. “This case seeks to hold the Defendant Baby Food Manufacturers accountable for their reprehensible conduct and ensure they are punished for permanently affecting Plaintiffs’ ability to live a fulfilling life.”
Gibson’s claim joins a growing number of toxic baby food lawsuits filed in recent weeks, 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.
Findings from the U.S. Congressional report indicated some baby foods contain 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.
In addition to individual lawsuits alleging the baby food caused autism, a number of class action complaints have been filed throughout the federal court system seeking damages on behalf of all consumers who purchased the tainted products. The complaints all raise common allegations, indicating that the baby food was falsely advertised as safe for children, while containing harmful levels lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury.
Given common questions of fact and law raised in lawsuits pending throughout the federal court system, a group of plaintiffs filed a motion to centralize the baby food lawsuits earlier this month, asking the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to centralize the cases before one judge in the Eastern District of New York, where the majority of cases are currently pending.
Such consolidation is common in complex product liability litigation, where a large number of product liability lawsuits have been filed over similar injuries caused by the same products. Centralizing the cases before one judge is intended to reduce duplicative discovery into common issues in the cases, avoid conflicting pretrial rulings from different courts and serve the convenience of common witnesses, parties and the judicial system.
The FDA and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have long maintained 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. More oversight is needed to help protect infants from serious health side effect sand long-term health damage, the congressional report concluded.
16 Comments
KateDecember 23, 2022 at 7:15 am
I have a 3 yr old, who was born fine, no complications nothing. At first I breast fed/also used infamil formula. 2 weeks or maybe month later I did use wic milk, she had the gerber formula & also parents choice, gerber baby food. When she was around 2-3 months she was saying momma dada. Months down the line I notice she was just grunting I didn’t hear anymore mama or dada. She also started walking[Show More]I have a 3 yr old, who was born fine, no complications nothing. At first I breast fed/also used infamil formula. 2 weeks or maybe month later I did use wic milk, she had the gerber formula & also parents choice, gerber baby food. When she was around 2-3 months she was saying momma dada. Months down the line I notice she was just grunting I didn’t hear anymore mama or dada. She also started walking late, wasn’t talking or interacting with her peers,not playing with toys.
MargieOctober 14, 2022 at 8:15 pm
My grandson will be 4 in December I always use to feed him gerber baby food also his mother because We heard it was the best and safer baby food, We always knew my grandson was slow in speech at the age of 2 now at the age of 4 he is definitely slow in speech he use to go to a speech therapist for the summer recommended by his doctor and teacher but had to stop because public school had started[Show More]My grandson will be 4 in December I always use to feed him gerber baby food also his mother because We heard it was the best and safer baby food, We always knew my grandson was slow in speech at the age of 2 now at the age of 4 he is definitely slow in speech he use to go to a speech therapist for the summer recommended by his doctor and teacher but had to stop because public school had started do I have a case
VirginiaJuly 30, 2022 at 12:11 pm
My son was born in 2012 he's 9 years old and has been having a few characteristics of autism he did have a lot of issues and a newborn age a digesting the Gerber milk and changing lots of different formulas
BarbaralynMay 25, 2022 at 5:16 pm
My granddaughter was diagnosed with autism at four years old. Now she is sixteen and has autism. She’s non-verbal and has severe behavioral issues, and I’m being told that I cannot file a lawsuit because she is sixteen? She will always be autistic, she will always need speech therapy and behavior therapy now. How is this possible that she’s omitted from this lawsuit? We are now finding out that t[Show More]My granddaughter was diagnosed with autism at four years old. Now she is sixteen and has autism. She’s non-verbal and has severe behavioral issues, and I’m being told that I cannot file a lawsuit because she is sixteen? She will always be autistic, she will always need speech therapy and behavior therapy now. How is this possible that she’s omitted from this lawsuit? We are now finding out that the baby food caused these developmental delays. Everyone with autism deserves a chance to fight these corporations that made them this way.
GrandmaApril 25, 2022 at 7:23 pm
I’m a first time granny so I watched my grandbaby like a hawk everything was so beautiful to me abt her. She was so talkative saying her little goo goo’s and ga ga ‘s and then I started to see a decline a significant decrease of language. And I noticed that around the time of her transitioning from baby milk to first step baby foods , by the second step of baby foods Da Da was all she would say (w[Show More]I’m a first time granny so I watched my grandbaby like a hawk everything was so beautiful to me abt her. She was so talkative saying her little goo goo’s and ga ga ‘s and then I started to see a decline a significant decrease of language. And I noticed that around the time of her transitioning from baby milk to first step baby foods , by the second step of baby foods Da Da was all she would say (well over 1 yrs old) no words were coming out. Not even mama or baba and that was quite strange to me. My daughter would buy the baby food by the cases through her community WIC program coupon book in which only fruits were acceptable to buy not the meal jars which I thought was strange So we would purchase the meal jars ourselves. So now fast forwarding my grand baby is 2 years old and she has some communication delays, and cognitive delays and is non verbal she just moans and grunts have never said no no! Or stop, mine, Ma, baba hardly even say dada now just so sad to witness their little struggles. So we signed our little one up for services to be evaluated for Autism. The babies are born so perfect and pure and we enjoy everything abt them we watch them closely lest we miss something then as we start to notice things that are not quite right we seek help only then for them to get diagnosed with this and that at such a early age of 12& 24 months old is just mind boggling to me. It’s always a root to a problem and we must find the root. So yes I believe something is definitely going on with all these babies having developmental problems and perhaps using these products could be the culprit.
BrigitteApril 14, 2022 at 2:14 pm
My Granddaughter is 9 years old. She has Severe Autism, ADHD and is Non Verbal. I feed her baby food from 3 manufactures listed. I would also like to know who is handling the law suit .
TainaMarch 20, 2022 at 11:35 pm
My son was given beechnut baby cereal and baby food
AmerikaMarch 14, 2022 at 9:35 pm
My son is 3 years old we fed him beechnut baby foods and othe wic approved baby foods and he has been diagnosed with ASD.
Jalessa and DavidFebruary 12, 2022 at 2:13 am
My son is 2 years old. I believe my son was affected from the baby food. He has been evaluated twice. He’s is speech, occupational and physical therapy
DinaFebruary 9, 2022 at 2:08 pm
I have a 14 yo boy & 12 yo girl BOTH WITH AUTISM. I fed them Gerber baby food, and I am wondering if that contributed to their Autism. My son regressed at 18 months old and stopped talking. My daughter was diagnosed at age 2 because all she did was repeat things. A geneticist said they have a gene for it, BUT my question is even though they do have a gene for autism, did this baby food make them w[Show More]I have a 14 yo boy & 12 yo girl BOTH WITH AUTISM. I fed them Gerber baby food, and I am wondering if that contributed to their Autism. My son regressed at 18 months old and stopped talking. My daughter was diagnosed at age 2 because all she did was repeat things. A geneticist said they have a gene for it, BUT my question is even though they do have a gene for autism, did this baby food make them worse?
ChristyFebruary 5, 2022 at 3:37 pm
I have twin daughters who was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3 almost 4. They will be 7 this year and they have alot of hurdles everyday.
RonnieJanuary 29, 2022 at 8:11 pm
My grandson is 7. Got diagnosed with autism at the age of 3. He ate Gerber foods all the time.
JaneDecember 5, 2021 at 1:51 pm
My son is 3 amd has now been diagnosed with autism. He ate these foods while younger. There was no concerns until he got closer to three where it started to show more, but now looking back on it there might have been signs earlier.
JamiDecember 2, 2021 at 2:05 am
I'd like to know who is handling the class action lawsuit for the baby food.
KeechelleNovember 22, 2021 at 11:38 am
My daughter is 8 years old. She has been diagnosed with autism 5years ago. I definitely fed her baby food manufactured by Gerber and Beachnut. I would like my case to be looked into. My child has many challenges to face every day of her life due to her diagnosis.
MichelleNovember 7, 2021 at 2:12 pm
My son is almost 2 years old and currently being diagnosed with Autism. He was on target and meeting his milestones at age appropriate levels until I started feeding him these brands of baby foods! He literally just quit eating like it was a bad habit or something. I'm very curious and going to see if his Dr will do a panel for these poisoning things they mentioned.