Your family may be consuming high levels of toxic mercury on a regular basis. A 2009 study conducted by The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and published in Environmental Health found that approximately 40 percent of foods made with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) contain the heavy metal.
Exposure to mercury can cause damage to the nervous system and brain and is especially dangerous to children and pregnant women. Exposure in the womb can cause developmental disorders, learning disabilities, attention deficits, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, blindness, and deafness.
What is HFCS?
Since the 1980s, food manufacturers have been using HFCS - a corn derivative - as a sweetener in place of sugar. It's found in all sorts of foods, including salad dressings, ketchup, sauces, sodas, breads, cereals, cakes, candies, and other processed foods.
Not all HFCS contains mercury. An antiquated manufacturing process that uses mercury-grade caustic soda to separate the sugar from the corn kernel is still used by a large number of food manufacturers and is responsible for the contamination. Simply updating the manner in which the HFCS is made can eliminate the toxic threat entirely.
The Washington Post reports that the average American consumes approximately 12 tablespoons of HFCS each day, and teens ingest almost twice that amount, or 22 tablespoons. Since nine out of 20 products with HFCS tested positive for mercury, the IATP is asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enact regulations that would protect consumers from mercury in processed foods.
Foods that tested highest in mercury levels (as measured in parts per trillion) include Quaker Oatmeal on the Go (350 ppt), Heinz's Jack Daniels Barbecue Sauce (300 ppt), Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (257 ppt), Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce (200 ppt), and Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars (180 ppt). For a list of the 55 food products that were found by the IATP to be positive for mercury, visit the Iowa Sierra Club page.
Further Reading
Mercury exposure, nutritional deficiencies and metabolic disruptions may affect learning in children
Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar
The Washington Post
Eating Well: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Mercury
