By Melissa Diane Smith
At-A-Glance
•Unlike industrial agriculture, regenerative agriculture improves the land rather than depletes it.
•Regenerative agriculture uses practices that regenerate and revitalize the soil and the environment.
•Regenerative agriculture sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to convert into soil organic matter, thereby mitigating climate change
•Regenerative agriculture increases levels of soil organic matter, which leads to multiple positive outcomes in food, nutrition, farming, the environment, and biodiversity.
•Soil health is the key principle of successful regenerative farming.
•The practices used to improve soil health can vary from farm to farm.
Imagine turning the Earth into a Garden of Eden where all life flourishes in diversity for the well-being of all. This vision can become a reality by embracing, fostering, adopting and expanding regenerative agriculture, which takes farming to a remarkably beneficial new level.
Industrial Agriculture Degrades Soil
Our current modern industrial agriculture system uses chemical fertilizers, pesticides, tilling, and other practices that deplete and degrade soil. Over time, living, fertile soil becomes dirt.
Because dirt is depleted in nutrients and important microorganisms, it doesn’t efficiently absorb and hold water. It floods easily, can’t withstand weather extremes such as drought, heavy rain and wind, and produces poor-quality food or no food at all.
Industrial agriculture is a degenerative form of agriculture. Picture the Dust Bowl in the U.S. Great Plains in the 1930s. This is happening in many places throughout the world on a much greater scale.
Regenerative Agriculture Improves Soil
By contrast, regenerative agriculture is a set of practices that works with nature, using photosynthesis to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to build organic matter—mostly composed of carbon—in the soil, which leads to multiple positive outcomes. These benefits include:
•Increased efficiency in the soil’s water-holding capacity, so less watering is needed;
•Better resilience to droughts, floods, wind, and other extreme weather events;
•Fewer diseases due to beneficial soil microorganisms controlling pathogens;
•Increases in the bioavailability of the nutrients that plants, animals, and humans need.
•Drawing down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (the main greenhouse gas) to mitigate climate change
Regenerative agriculture is about developing dynamic living systems, rather than a system that is reliant on non-living—and in many cases, toxic—inputs such as synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Soil Health the Key to Successful Regenerative Farming
Soil health is the key principle to successful regenerative farming. In Growing Life: Regenerating Farming and Ranching, the first in a series of books on regenerative agriculture, André Leu, the international director of Regeneration International, writes:
Soil health is defined by good levels of soil fertility, soil structure, aeration, water infiltration, and holding capacity, and by low levels of pests, weeds, and disease cycles.
For too long, soil has just been seen as chemical medium to feed nutrients to plants. However, it is time to understand that soil is a complex, living microbiome. It needs to be managed as a living system, not as a dead inert mixture of chemicals.
The Practices Used to Improve Soil Health Can Vary
There is no one-type-fits-all recipe for improving soil health. Farmers have to do their own observing, research, and innovation. Every farm is different due to its soils, microclimates, access to markets, and the individual preferences of farmers and ranchers, Leu says. This means that the practices used to improve soil health can vary from farm to farm. They can include:
•Composting
•Cover crops
•Crop rotations
•Holistic grazing
•Organic farming practices
•Permaculture
•Agrofestry
•Mobile animal shelters
•No-kill no-till and low-till
Why Regenerative Agriculture?
When soil health is improved, the soil not only stores more water, but it also takes excess carbon from the atmosphere, where it doesn’t belong, and through photosynthesis, puts it back in the soil where it does belong. Formerly barren land then transforms into fertile land filled with a diversity of vegetation—and healthy soil, which draws down carbon from the atmosphere, becomes a powerful tool for helping to cool the planet and counteract or mitigate extreme changes in climate caused by global warming.
According to soil scientists, there are many contributors to soil destruction, including erosion, desertification, and chemical pollution, which have led to a low-quality food supply characterized by a loss of important trace minerals that has adversely affected public health. However, within 50 years, we will literally no longer have enough arable topsoil to feed ourselves.
It’s vital that we go regenerative now. As the name implies, regenerative agriculture holds the key to regenerating our health, our farming system, and our planet. By working hand in hand with the miraculous power of nature, regenerative agriculture takes farming to the next level and to a higher stage, bringing the earth’s living processes, farmers’ knowledge and ecological sciences of living systems back to the heart of growing foods.
In so doing, it provides the superior path for farmers producing high-yielding, nutrient-dense foods while simultaneously improving, rather than degrading, the land, and ultimately leading to productive farms, healthy communities and economies, and a healthy environment. As food sovereignty advocate Dr. Vandana Shiva states:
Regenerative agriculture provides answers to the soil crisis, the food crisis, the climate crisis and the crisis of democracy.
Melissa Diane Smith is a respected author, health journalist, holistic nutritionist, and advocate for health-promoting real food.
Action Items
Regulatory Oversight
Enhanced Regulations:
- The FDA and other regulatory bodies must establish stricter guidelines and permissible limits for toxic metals in infant formula. This action has been already put into our place since our meeting with the FDA prior to the release of our data reported in this blog by Moms Across America.
Regular Testing:
- Mandatory, routine testing for heavy metals in all infant formula products should be enforced to ensure compliance with safety standards.
Transparent Reporting:
- Companies should be required to disclose test results publicly, promoting transparency and accountability.
Proactive Measures by Companies
Sourcing and Production Controls:
- Infant formula manufacturers must implement rigorous controls over their raw materials and production processes to minimize contamination.
Regular Audits:
- Frequent internal and third-party audits should be conducted to ensure adherence to safety protocols and identify potential sources of contamination.
Research and Development:
- Investment in research to develop technologies and methods for removing or reducing heavy metal content in infant formulas.
Remediation Solutions
Advanced Filtration Systems:
- Implementing advanced filtration technologies during production to remove toxic metals.
Ingredient Substitution:
- Identifying and using alternative, less contaminated sources of raw materials.
Chelating Agents:
- Exploring the use of safe chelating agents that can bind to metals, making them less bioavailable and reducing their toxic effects.
What the Data Means to Moms
For mothers and caregivers, these findings can be alarming. However, it is essential to understand the implications and take informed steps to ensure the safety of their infants. Breastfeeding remains the best option for infant nutrition, when possible, as it naturally minimizes exposure to contaminants.
Recommendations Based on Data
Prioritize Breastfeeding:
- Whenever possible, opt for breastfeeding to provide the safest and most natural nutrition for your baby.
Choose Carefully:
- When breastfeeding is not an option, select infant formulas that have been independently tested and verified for low levels of toxic metals.
- Maximize moms’ diet utilizing organic regenerative whole foods, including an array of fermented foods, filtered water, and nutritional supplements, such as prenatal vitamins and probiotics.
Stay Informed:
- Keep abreast of the latest research and reports on infant formula safety to make informed decisions.
Advocate for Change:
- Support initiatives and petitions calling for stricter regulations and safer infant formula products. (See the end of this article for a petition/call-to-action.)
Sample Considerations
The recommendations based on our findings proved challenging since all formulas tested positive for aluminum and lead. Other difficult considerations were based on the fact that not all metals are equally toxic and it is unclear whether having more metals at lower amounts was more toxic than fewer metals with higher amounts. The literature did not prove helpful in this regard.
Hence, the best attempts were made to offer advice for concerned parents based on this one study of toxic metals without other concomitant toxicants studied. A scorecard was designed, rating the formulas from 1 – 3, with 1 being the best based on 5 toxic metals studied and without consideration of other factors. The formulas were chosen for lowest levels of lead, mercury and cadmium. Lower levels of aluminum were considered since they all tested positive. There were no ideal formulations, and the recommendations were based on the 20 tested. There were differences in the two samples of the same formula which may not be statistically significant.
Overall formula recommendations:1
- Similac Sensitive infant formula
- Kirkland ProCare Non-GMO infant formula – NOTE: My top choice factoring in other contaminants/pesticides
- PurAmino hypoallergenic powder infant formula (For babies with digestive issues requiring predigested formulas)
Formula recommendations:2
- Gerber Good Start Gentle Pro
- Earth’s Best Organic Sensitivity Formula
Formula recommendations:3
- Enfamil Sensitive Infant Formula
- Similac Total Comfort Infant Formula
- Up & Up Gentle Premium Powder Infant Formula
- Up & Up Non-GMO Hypoallergenic Powder Infant Formula
- Enfamil Plant-Based Soy Powder Infant Formula
Our Petition:
Please cut and paste this letter, add 1-3 sentences at the top to personalize it and increase the chances of it being read, and send it directly to your Senator and Representative today!
Find your Senator and Representatives’ emails and telephone numbers here.
Dear Senator_____ or Representative _______,
I am writing to ask for your support in making baby food and formula safer for our babies. Will you support the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 and insist that baby formula is included? Please authorize the FDA with the ability to do their job and protect human health. Baby formula is often the ONLY food a baby consumes for the first six months of their lives and must be monitored for heavy metals. Our babies ARE our future and they are the most vulnerable. If swift action is not taken, babies from both sides of the aisle will continue to be severely impacted and their mental, physical, and reproductive health issues will affect the future of America.
GMOScience and The New MDS, Moms Across America, a national educational nonprofit dedicated to empowering mothers and others to create healthy families and communities, today announces the results of testing for five toxic metals in 20 infant formula products. Samples included organic as well as non-organic and plant-based as well as animal product formulas sold by four of the major producers of infant formula in the United States and across the globe. Two samples of each product were tested, for a total of 40 samples.
Concerning findings include:
- 100% of the 40 samples tested contained aluminum and lead.
- 57% of the samples tested positive for arsenic, 55% for mercury, and 35% for cadmium.
- Six of the 20 formulas were positive for all five toxic metals in both samples.
- At 41,000 ppb, aluminum levels in a goat’s milk baby formula were 4000 – 40,000x higher than other metals in the formulas tested and exceed limits set by the FDA for maximum safety level of aluminum for a preemie.
- Levels of mercury in four samples measured above the limit allowed by the FDA in drinking water.
- Levels of cadmium in both samples of one formula were nearly twice the level allowed in drinking water.
The FDA concluded many years ago that babies and young children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of food contaminants because of their small bodies and rapid cellular growth. In 1962, the FDA launched the Total Diet Study, recently published in July, 2002, analyzing 910 foods, including only four infant formulas. Two of the four formulas contained toxic metals, including uranium. In April 2021, the FDA announced its “Closer to Zero” plan, wherein it committed to proposing allowable levels of lead in various baby foods by April 2022, levels of inorganic arsenic by April 2024, and cadmium and mercury sometime after 2024. None of those deadlines, however, have been met, and all of them have been removed from the Closer to Zero website.
To date, the only actionable limits the agency has set are for one toxic metal only (inorganic arsenic) in one type of baby food product (infant rice cereal).
Citing findings of nearly 400 childhood lead poisoning cases in fall 2023 linked to recalled cinnamon applesauce pouches. A coalition of 20 Attorneys General led by New York’s Attorney General Letitia James issued a letter to the FDA on February 15 of this year to call on the federal agency to protect babies and young children in the United States from lead and other toxic metals in baby food. That letter followed an October 2021 petition and subsequent June 2022 petition, asking the FDA to issue specific guidance to the baby food industry to require testing of all finished food products for lead and other toxic metals.
It has been over two years! Action must be taken now!
Moms Across America, GlyphosateFacts, and GMOScience presented the new baby formula test results and science from Stephanie Seneff and others in meetings with congressional representatives and the FDA in Washington, DC from April 29 to May 2. They were informed by Jim Jones, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the FDA, that the agency is waiting for Congress to pass legislation that would mandate testing for lead and other harmful chemicals in food. On May 9, US lawmakers introduced the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024, which, with Congressional approval, would allow the FDA to regulate and enforce limits on levels of heavy metals found in baby food and potentially formula.
Please support the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 and insist that baby formula is added to the bill so that the FDA may regulate and monitor levels of heavy metals in both baby food and baby formula.
Thank you.
Signed with Gratitude,
Your constituent __________________
