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Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

consumerreports.org

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Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#41

Post by doitLP »

refurb wrote: post #37
doitLP wrote: post #28

I hate this. I’m up to my eyeballs trying to keep my newborn away from all the toxic shit that’s in every part of his life, BP* in plastics, flame retardants in clothes and mattresses and rugs, heavy metals in baby food and now in herbs, micro plastics in food, radioactivity and mercury in farmland around coal fired power plants, etc etc etc. The negative externalities on dangerous chemicals is so very high; what am…

The kids have always been exposed to this stuff, it's unavoidable. Focus on the big wins and don't worry about the small stuff - law of diminishing returns. Eliminating ppb of lead isn't going to move the needle versus getting your kid immunized. You'll drive yourself crazy otherwise.

Thanks. I generally agree but the definition ‘small stuff’ is in relation to how harmful it is. I cook a lot at home and I use a lot of spices — including the brands that tested high for heavy metals. Lead is not safe in any amount particularly for babies. The hard thing to know is what things I should and shouldn’t be paying attention to.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#43

Post by giantg2 »

doitLP wrote: post #28

I hate this. I’m up to my eyeballs trying to keep my newborn away from all the toxic shit that’s in every part of his life, BP* in plastics, flame retardants in clothes and mattresses and rugs, heavy metals in baby food and now in herbs, micro plastics in food, radioactivity and mercury in farmland around coal fired power plants, etc etc etc. The negative externalities on dangerous chemicals is so very high; what am…

Honestly, don't worry about this. We use plenty of spices and my kid's lead level was extremely low (undetectable if I remember right). They will test your kid at some point too. This, and other potential sources, are only a problem if the test shows there's a problem.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#44

Post by _dark_matter_ »

doitLP wrote: post #41
refurb wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The kids have always been exposed to this stuff, it's unavoidable. Focus on the big wins and don't worry about the small stuff - law of diminishing returns. Eliminating ppb of lead isn't going to move the needle versus getting your kid immunized. You'll drive yourself crazy otherwise.

Thanks. I generally agree but the definition ‘small stuff’ is in relation to how harmful it is. I cook a lot at home and I use a lot of spices — including the brands that tested high for heavy metals. Lead is not safe in any amount particularly for babies. The hard thing to know is what things I should and shouldn’t be paying attention to.

We lived in a house with lead for a few years. I had my kids tested every six months. I even made sure I understood which type of test they were conducting. My thought was that this is a long term problem; if levels start rising, then we would take immediate action. Kind of a pull vs. push model.

It worked, we never saw elevated lead levels. Way easier than worrying about every little thing and monitoring them at all times.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#46

Post by _dark_matter_ »

dsizzle wrote: post #8
jobe_br wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty easy to grow your own, from seed even, but most plant nurseries will have these in their herb section.

It's not clear where the heavy metals are coming from. One possibility mentioned in the article is the soil itself. I wonder if even potting soil is tested for heavy metals? If heavy metals get through whatever food testing is done by the FDA, McCormick, etc., I don't have great confidence that soil testing is any better. That said, I would think growing your own is safer.

I wonder if hydroponically grown herbs would lack them. Could be a business opportunity, if people care enough (or the government steps in to regulate).

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#47

Post by jffry »

throwaway984393 wrote: post #5
postpawl wrote: post #2

All the thymes and oreganos? Wow

The good news is both of them are easy to grow indoors or outdoors, and they're perennial. Perennial herbs include rosemary, lavender, marjoram, tarragon, sage, mint, parsely, lemon balm, chives, sorrel, yarrow, chicory, savory, bay laurel, lovage, hyssop, anise, chamomile, bergamot, alfalfa, clover... the list goes on. You can use them fresh, or make your own dried herbs. On top of that, variants of thyme work as a…

A tangential word of warning for anybody feeling inspired to DIY some fresh herbs: mint spreads very aggressively. If you want to plant some, put it in a pot on a patio or pavement to stop it from getting into the ground.

If you do not, in a few years you'll have mint growing absolutely everywhere.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#49

Post by trevyn »

doitLP wrote: post #28

I hate this. I’m up to my eyeballs trying to keep my newborn away from all the toxic shit that’s in every part of his life, BP* in plastics, flame retardants in clothes and mattresses and rugs, heavy metals in baby food and now in herbs, micro plastics in food, radioactivity and mercury in farmland around coal fired power plants, etc etc etc. The negative externalities on dangerous chemicals is so very high; what am…

> what am I supposed to do

Not have any more kids, and discourage others from having kids as well, because you know that they will come to harm.

Re: Herbs and Spices Might Contain Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead

#50

Post by quadrifoliate »

doitLP wrote: post #28

I hate this. I’m up to my eyeballs trying to keep my newborn away from all the toxic shit that’s in every part of his life, BP* in plastics, flame retardants in clothes and mattresses and rugs, heavy metals in baby food and now in herbs, micro plastics in food, radioactivity and mercury in farmland around coal fired power plants, etc etc etc. The negative externalities on dangerous chemicals is so very high; what am…

> ...what am I supposed to do, test my fucking pepper?

I think a large part of the USA keeps electing politicians whose philosophy seems to be absolutely that – you "get the choice" to test your pepper or not, and market forces will eventually drive out the bad pepper companies.

This can be backed up by the fact that one of the past administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency was a thinly veiled oil and gas lobbyist [1], and the other one was a former coal lobbyist who relaxed standards on mercury [2].

So, thinking through the options, a few suggestions that look at solving the problem from all sides possible:

- From the data available to you, avoid the spices that are more likely to have high levels of heavy metals – thyme and oregano in particular seem to have higher levels for some reason

- Raise awareness of this report to trigger the capitalism response. If the companies are embarrassed enough on social and regular media, they will be motivated to control their heavy metal levels when it has an effect on sales.

- Keep electing politicians that are less likely to roll back environmental regulation. This is going to take a long time to have a systemic effect though. Voting in local elections is especially important, people often ignore those.

- Maybe, test your pepper? Food heavy metal tests seem to be commercially available [3]. Groups of concerned parents could pool in for a test of common spices.

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[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/22/scott-pr...

[2] https://apnews.com/article/health-ap-top-news-virus-outbreak...

[3] https://www.agqlabs.us.com/food/heavy-metals-food-testing/

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