Episode 218 — Baby Formula Can Be TOXIC

Guest: Zen Honeycutt • Date: August 22, 2024

Episode Overview

Zen Honeycutt, Founder and Director of Moms Across America, returns to the show to discuss new findings about baby formula. Her organization has uncovered concerning results from independent testing. While the news isn't good, Zen shares how parents can choose better, less toxic options to ensure healthier choices for their families.

About Zen Honeycutt

Zen Honeycutt is the Founder and Director of Moms Across America, a non-profit National Coalition of Unstoppable Moms. With the motto "Empowered Moms, Healthy Kids," Moms Across America has grown rapidly, with over 600 leaders creating 1,000+ community events in all 50 states in the first 5 years of inception. Zen has three boys with allergies and autism symptoms, which greatly improved when they went GMO-Free and organic. She discovered that thousands of Moms are seeing the same results. She has been featured on ABC, CNN, Dr. OZ, the Wall Street Journal, C-SPAN, Fox News, Reuters, The Hill, Huffington Post, and many other media outlets.

www.momsacrossamerica.com/

You’ll Discover

• The Shocking Truth About Baby Formula (2:06)

• The Link Between Toxic Exposure and Chronic Illness in Children (10:25)

• Why Healthy Skepticism Is Needed With Testing and Regulation (18:39)

• How Parents Can Make Better Choices (24:30)

• Baby Formulas With The Most Issues (27:03)

• Baby Formulas With The Fewest Issues (30:30)

• The Case For Breastfeeding (34:20)

Referenced in This Episode

• Moms Across AmericaBaby Formula Toxic Metals Test Results

• Autism Parenting Secrets- Episode 103:Organic + Non-GMO = Thriving Family

• Autism Parenting Secrets- Episode 130: School Lunches Aren’t Safe, Pack Your Own

• Autism Parenting Secrets- Episode 194: Fast Food FUELS Aggression & Anxiety

• Autism Parenting Secrets - Episode 124: REWIRE The Brain Through DIET

• GMO Science - The New MDs

• Unsafe at Any Meal: What the FDA Does Not Want You to Know About the Foods You Eat by Dr. Renee Joy Dufault

Full Transcript

Zen Honeycutt | 00:00

Poison is not partisan. OK, this is not a Republican or Democrat or any type of party issue. If you have a baby or a grandbaby that's consuming drugs, formula, they are most likely consuming what could be considered poison. Heavy metals can be poisonous and can cause lifelong permanent damage and cancer. And it's not going to care what party you're from.

So they need to act and they need to do it immediately.

Cass Arcuri | 00:28

Want to truly be the best parent you can be and help your child thrive after their autism diagnosis? This podcast is for all in parents like you who know more is possible for your child.

Len Arcuri | 00:39

With each episode, we reveal a secret that empowers you to be the parent your child needs now, saving you time, energy, and money, and helping you focus on what truly matters most, your child.

Cass Arcuri | 00:50

I'm Cass. And I'm Len. Welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets.

Len Arcuri | 01:06

Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. Returning to the show is Zen Honeycutt. She is the founder and director of Moms Across America, a nonprofit coalition of unstoppable moms. Their motto is Empowered Moms, Healthy Kids. And their mission is to educate and empower mothers and others with actions and solutions to create healthy communities. Our first episode with Zen was episode 103. Where we talked about the importance of going organic. Next, in episode 130, she shared... All the reasons to avoid school lunches and to pack your own.

And then in episode 194, we learned that fast food is even worse than we think. This week, we're talking about the shocking fact that baby formula can be toxic. And Zen's got the research to back it up.

So the secret this week is... Baby formula can be toxic. And I'm so excited to welcome Zen back to the show.

Zen Honeycutt | 02:06

Thank you so much, Len. Hi, Cass. Thank you to all your listeners. I so appreciate your dedication and getting out the truth to your followers. Thank you so much.

Cass Arcuri | 02:14

Zen, thank you so much for sharing all the wisdom and all the research that you're doing because it's in real time. There's so much going on, but let's dive in. Baby formula, right?

So many of us have used it. So many parents are probably still using it. What do we need to know?

Zen Honeycutt | 02:31

Well, I want to say, first of all, I used it. This is not an anti-baby formula episode. This is not just a pro-breastfeeding episode. Breast milk has been found to have glyphosate in it. I'm not sure about heavy metals, but it has had chemicals in it. And we tested it. 40 samples of baby formula and did find it was very disturbing. We were hoping to find some of the brands, 20 different brands to be good and clean and clear and be able to celebrate that. Really, that was our goal was to be able to support parents in being able to find baby formulas that would be helpful for them in any type of transition period or if they needed them, you know, needed it full time. But we wanted to sort of suss out Whether or not there was mercury in baby formula. We interviewed on the new MDs, that's moms, doctors, and scientists working together to heal our children, Dr. Rene Defoe, who wrote a book called Unsafe on Any Plate, and it's about heavy metals and what the FDA does not want you to know. And she said that she suspected that mercury would be in baby formula because they use mercury in the process of extracting the corn syrup solids from the cork. And, And so we were very concerned about that. And so we tested for heavy metals, but I insisted that we include aluminum because we've been finding higher levels of aluminum. I'm concerned about the spraying of aluminum in the air for geoengineering, which apparently is really happening. And other types of exposure to aluminum could be machinery parts, could be the lining of the inside of the containers. There's a lot of aluminum being used.

So we tested for aluminum. And what we found was very disturbing. We, first of all, did not find that as high levels of mercury as we thought. We did find mercury in 55%. Of the baby formulas tested, which is concerning, but it wasn't quite as high and the amounts weren't quite as high as we thought. We did find cadmium in 35% of the samples. Which is carcinogenic, highly carcinogenic, and we did find arsenic in 57% of the samples We found 100% of the samples tested positive for lead and aluminum. And 80% of those samples were levels that were higher than what the EPA allows in drinking water.

So that's, This is incredibly concerning. This is not 10%. Do you know what I mean? This is not 20%. This is 80% of the samples had higher levels than what the EPA allows in drinking water. And that allowance for drinking water is really for an adult.

You know, it's not really based on what an infant is going to be consuming right out of, you know, the womb and at, you know, and it being its primary food source. So that was extremely concerning. And we found 41,000 parts per billion of aluminum in a goat's milk baby formula. And those levels were 4,000 to 40,000 times higher than the other heavy metals levels. And does exceed the FDA maximum safety levels for aluminum for a preemie. And this was extremely concerning. We tested because We learned when we found heavy metals in fast food, as I previously reported with you. That there's no heavy metal testing, sorry, there's no heavy metal regulation going on by the FDA in any foods except for lead and applesauce.

Some guidelines for baby food, because high levels of heavy metals were found in baby food a couple of years ago by the Consumers Union, but they're guidelines, they're not regulations. And some rules for lead in candy, like chocolate, like lead has been found at high levels in chocolate.

So those are the only foods that are being regulated for heavy metals by the FDA. I found that shocking. Don't you find that shocking? Wouldn't you think that the FDA is regulating for heavy metals in our food supply?

Len Arcuri | 06:35

Anybody listening... Would be probably like, let me just ask a loaded question, which I think I know the answer, but I want to hear what you say, Zen. Anyone listening might say, well, okay, so you did all this testing on baby food. How's that compared to the government's detailed testing? How does your testing compare to the government's detailed testing? They don't do it.

Right? They.

Zen Honeycutt | 06:54

Don't there is, we did find in the process, thank you for asking, Dr.

Cass Arcuri | 06:55

Well.

Zen Honeycutt | 06:59

Michelle Perro researched and found that, I'm sorry, I don't remember how many years ago, but it was like seven or 10 years ago, like many years ago, the FDA did do a survey of the food supply for heavy metals and they did test hundreds, maybe a thousand. I don't know. They did test a large quantity of different types of foods. They only tested four baby formulas, though, four samples of baby formula. And one of them and they found heavy metals, I believe, in all of them. And they found uranium in one of them.

And then they didn't do anything about it. They didn't do any follow-up testing for years, if not decades, you know, for many years. They didn't warn the public. I don't know if they pulled those, you know, baby formulas from the market. But what was very concerning was that when baby food was found to have high levels of heavy metals. And it was quite scandalous because it was revealed that the companies actually knew about those levels and still put those. And that was right?

Len Arcuri | 08:00

Only a couple of years ago.

Zen Honeycutt | 08:01

That was a couple of years ago. Yeah. By consumers union. And there was a congressional briefing on it and, they did enact policy called, called Closer to Zero.

So their goal is to get closer to zero for heavy metals and baby food. But when they did that, they didn't think to include baby formula in the proposed bill, the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 that came out recently. They're like, let's just ignore baby formula, even though the FDA itself had tested years ago and found heavy metals and baby formula. And baby formula is the only food that some babies consume for the first six months of life.

So Not including that in the Baby Food Safety Act seems Preposterous to me. So we did go to the FDA and shared these test results with them. And we'll get more into the details about what kind of baby formulas we tested and, you know, brands and all that stuff. But we did go to the FDA before we even released this information because we were still working on analyzing it. It was a lot of data, you know, six, five different heavy metals, you know, 20 different brands. And we shared the information with them.

And then a week later, they were interviewed by CNN and an article was put out. And we were very happy to see that the head of the FDA for human foods, Jim Jones actually said, we have requested of Congress to include baby formula in the Baby Food Safety Act.

So they did make that request. Now, what we're waiting on is for Congress. To approve the FDA, to give the FDA the mandate to be able to regulate for heavy metals in baby formula. That seems ridiculous to me. It seems to me like the FDA should be able to regulate for heavy metals in baby formula and in all kinds of foods. But apparently we're waiting on that.

So that's why we've been putting out the request for people to please contact their senators and representatives and let them know that poison is not partisan. Okay, this is not a Republican or Democrat or any type of party issue. If you have a baby or a grandbaby that's consuming. Formula, they are most likely consuming what could be considered poison. Heavy metals can be poisonous and can cause lifelong permanent damage and cancer, and it's not going to care what party you're from.

So they need to act and they need to do it immediately.

Cass Arcuri | 10:25

A hundred percent. Right.

Like this. And then you think about like, OK, what now are we seeing? Right. Children having chronic illness at a rate of over 50 percent by the time they're 18. They'll have, you know, some kind of chronic illness. You have autism and developmental delays like skyrocketing.

So, of course, like, hey, could this be part of the epidemics that we're seeing? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Zen Honeycutt | 10:52

And I want to reiterate that I'm not saying, for instance, that baby formula is the only culprit of leading to developmental delays and cancer and autism and all of those types of things. There's a baby food lawsuit out where parents are saying that it was the heavy metals in baby food that caused their children's autism. I believe it's a combination. I believe it's the heavy metals in the vaccines. It's the heavy metals in the baby food. It's the heavy metals. In the formula. And it's the glyphosate in all of those. Glyphosate has been found in all of those, including vaccines. And glyphosate, unfortunately, increases the harmful impact of other environmental toxins because it breaks down the blood-brain barrier and carries those heavy metals right into the brain, like for instance, aluminum.

And then there's bath body water, there's chemicals on pajamas, like flame retardants. There's all kinds of toxins that are causing these problems.

Cass Arcuri | 11:53

Then the one thing I just want to share a quick little antidote. So years ago, I think this was right after probably 2009, we moved into a green building that purified our air and water and was made from non-toxic materials. But as we kind of got into this, Len organized, we rented something called an XRF gun and it tested household materials for mercury, cadmium, There was... Was it... Led to there was a few materials that it came up and like you know our baby pack and play the side my daughter loved to put her mouth on the parts the mercury was like sky high sneakers, like all this stuff.

So we live like, yes, what's going into our kid's body what's going on our kid's bodies and our own, but our environment. Like there's so many factors.

So there really isn't one smoking gun. There are multiple guns. But what you're the research you've done is such a vital part for parents to really pay attention to. It's like Hey, what can I do? How can I be proactive here? What do I need to look at for ingredients?

You know, we can get into those brands that you've tested because I think just parents to have awareness that it's not just. Okay, it's deemed safe because it's on a store shelf. Let's be honest, that's bullshit. There's so much on store shelves that haven't been tested. And there aren't any regulations to do that, as you said, just guidelines.

You know, so how can as your organization is doing empowering parents, you know, how can parents who are listening to this be empowered to make better decisions?

Zen Honeycutt | 13:30

Yeah, well, thank you. That's a really good point. The first one is to acknowledge that just because it's on the store shelves does not mean that it's safe to consume. And I need to say I was that person for a very long time. I don't think it was until my children were maybe nine years old that I just was I, you know, it was, I had that moment where I realized, wait a second, they're putting GMOs in the food supply and they're not telling us what else aren't they telling us? Right. It was like, I went through a depression, like a deep betrayal. I was like depressed for three days. Just crawled up on a couch crying on and off.

I mean, maybe not the whole time, but you know, it was a deep betrayal when I realized that these types of things were going on in our food supply and they were not telling us. And then I started looking at the labels. My friend lost her mother around the same time. She told me about parabens in the food supply.

You know, I guess it was a few years before that, how those can, the endocrine disruptors can disrupt our kids' hormones. And they started looking at, it was like that moment in the matrix of where everything looks like the dots and dashes, Everything changed. It goes from looking like a normal world to all of a sudden, wait a second, we're all being controlled. And I don't mean to say we're all being controlled in that way, but we are all being sort of duped in that way when you go into the grocery store and you expect that what's on the grocery store, number one, is safe, and number two, that it's labeled properly. Both of those things are not actually true Entire could you know could might not be actually true. There are many most of the ingredients that are not many of the ingredients are not listed on most of the products like they will contain glyphosate or pesticides or, you know, other types of industrial chemicals like you saw in our fast food thing we mentioned that you know the butanediol was found in Jack in the Box and you know several different fast food companies burgers.

So There's a lot that's not being labeled and shared with us. And that is because There were some FDA loopholes where they named some of the things like GMOs and pesticides as a process. And not an additive. They created that loophole. They put them into two different categories.

Like, okay, let's call GMOs and pesticides a process that happens to the food rather than an additive, even though you can test and find them. In the food. They're there. They're like, no, it's not an additive. It's a process.

So we don't actually have to test it like you would an additive like salt and sugar.

They just don't have to say they don't have to disclose that. That's a problem.

Cass Arcuri | 16:16

And what you, what, Another aha as you're talking is like, think about water, right? Water source matters so much.

So water can be on any ingredient list and everyone deems it natural, but let's be honest. Water can be so, you know, toxic from is it high in lead?

Like what is, you know, is it just the local municipality water that has all these extra chemicals and fluoride and other things added to it?

Zen Honeycutt | 16:45

Yeah, PFAS now is a big one. There's a lawsuit in Florida about PFAS. It's been in the water in North Carolina where I live. There's phthalates because of the packaging. There's BPAs because of the packaging. There's so many different chemicals. In America, our families are being exposed to 1,200 different endocrine disruptors. In Europe, they only allow three. There's a major failure happening here of our regulatory system.

For sure. So that's why we do need to be as vigilant as we can with the things that we know about, right? If we make an effort to reduce the toxic exposure to our family members with the things that we do have control over, as you said, like what can we do? Then I think we're doing the best we can with that. If we don't know and...

You know, our kids are being exposed in other ways. I don't know if it's through stuff at school or a friend's house or like there's things we just can't control. We have to admit we cannot control everything. But if we do start looking into, you know, what can we control and what we can we do about it? I think as a mom, I feel good if I've done a couple of things a day. To make sure my kids are safe and healthy. At least it's probably a hundred, but consciously I'm like, okay, I'm going to do something today to create a healthy future for my children and It happens to be mostly through my work, but sometimes it's like, hey, do you guys know what this herb is that's growing in my garden? Do you know how to use it?

Right? Can you identify, can you tell the difference between that one and the other one, between Lemon Balm and Tulsi, right?

Like just teaching them something which might trigger them to use natural remedies or to be healthy you know, something I can do and buying formula that is at least less toxic is a step that a parent can make in that direction.

Len Arcuri | 18:38

Yeah, no, as you're talking, I keep going back to, well, why is this so important? And I think people just generally have a false sense of confidence. That Things are being tested, the regulators are doing their job. And I think what you continue to reveal, Zen, after so many podcasts sharing what your organization is doing, is that you can't rely On these, they're just not either. Either they're not doing the testing or as you pointed out, they may do some testing, but then their thresholds as to what's safe and what's not are ridiculous. And especially for a child, those levels that they deem safe may be anything but safe for a child.

Zen Honeycutt | 19:20

Yeah, it is. The levels are not based on the levels that the EPA has set. The EPA sets the levels. For what's allowed, for instance, in the food supply, and then the FDA is supposed to be reinforcing it. Now, I've had a talk into the FDA directly about what does that mean? What exactly are you doing to enforce it? And what I said in that meeting with them when we met with them directly twice over the past couple of months was, you know, I understand you say that you're regulating it, but my experience of your regulation leaves something to be desired. For instance, when I was on the organic products advisory committee. Board for the state of California that was advisory to the secretary of agriculture for the state of California. I was a consumer representative because of my position at Moms Across America. When the CDFA, the California Food and Drug Administration and the FDA came to present to us and say, this is what we're testing for in the food supply. And what the results are, they tested maybe 1,200 different samples. I believe it was a CDF day that made that presentation to us. And 98% of them had pesticide levels below regulatory limits.

Sounds good. Right. But when you consider what the limits are, for instance, the limits are 30,000 parts per billion for glyphosate on wheat alone.

You know, 5,000 parts per billion for glyphosate on chickpeas. These levels, when you see the science from people like Dr. Antony and his team, that 0.1 parts per billion starts to show liver and kidney damage and sex hormone changes in animals.

You know, like four parts per billion per kilogram per body weight. It contributes to liver disease.

You know, these the levels of 5000 or 30,000 parts per million of glyphosate just don't make sense. It doesn't add up. It's not based on health and safety.

You know what they're based on? They're based on. Evidence of proof that we have of Monsanto sending memos to the EPA and to the Japanese government. For instance, that's in a movie. They have an example of the actual memo saying, hey, guess what? You need to raise your level, for instance, United States from two parts per million of glyphosate on EPA. Corn, which is still ridiculously high to 13 parts per million. Of glyphosate because the farmers are using more and more of it.

You know, basically they're using as a pre-harvest product. Weed killer, which is actually as a pre-harvest drying agent. And the weeds are becoming more and more resistant to it.

So they were using it more often. So the level residue levels were raised simply because the industry requested it. Okay.

So that's the first thing, the levels are ridiculous. So for them to say 98% tested below regulatory limits, really doesn't mean much as far as health and safety. It doesn't mean anything at all, actually. And then second of all, When I looked at the list, I said, okay, well, let's look at what they tested for. I looked at the list of what the California Department of Food and Ag tested for and what the FDA tested for. This is how they regulate, right? It's testing the foods.

And then I looked at what pesticides they tested for. Right. What are the names of them?

And then I compared that to the list that I got from the EPA of what pesticides are most widely used, most often used, the top 25 most often used pesticides. Guess how many were on that list that they tested for compared to the list of the most widely used pesticides? One. Okay. They tested for three and the federal government tested for two.

So for them to say 98% of the samples that we tested had levels below regulatory limits Well, if you're not testing for the most widely used pesticides, then that includes herbicides and fungicides. That doesn't matter. That number you just said is just misleading junk science. It's not, it doesn't mean anything.

So that kind of thing is what really made me mad. And when I tried to combat that with like, hey, let's do our own testing. We have money. We can test for glyphosate. We don't have to reveal the names of the farmers.

You know, we just need to get to the source of why is there glyphosate contamination in organic food? I wanted to protect organic. I got basically yelled at. Bye. My, you know, farmer protective type of peers saying we don't want to expose the farmers. We don't want to expose the small brands. I said, we don't have to. It can be anonymous. But we need to find out where the glyphosate is coming from and the other pesticides. This contamination in organic food is unacceptable. We need to find out where it's coming from in conventional food. Right. Just because you can't afford to buy organic doesn't mean you should be poisoned. Okay. The right to live and pursue health and happiness basically in America should not be based on the size of your, you know, your checkbook.

So, So that's what we continue to be fighting for, is for a non-toxic, safe, nutrient-dense diet. Food to be available for everyone.

Cass Arcuri | 24:30

That's the mission. How can we raise healthy, how can we be healthy and raise healthy humans, right?

Like this is it. Now, Zen, let's go back to the, I know we're talking baby formula here.

So do you mind sharing a little bit of specifics? So for the listener who wants to, know what might be better brands based on your testing or, you know, and it sounds like you did a range of types of milk. You said goat milk before you I'm assuming, did cow milk formula.

Like if you could tell us a little bit about what you tested.

Zen Honeycutt | 25:02

Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

So now that you have the basic understanding of why all of this is happening, right, all of this contamination, how it's being allowed, you probably know more than most doctors if you're listening to this right now about the food supply just because of those facts. So we tested predominantly corn syrup based formulas.

So most of the formulas contained high or at least some corn syrup because we suspected that whole mercury issue. So we only tested 20 brands or at least 50 brands out there.

So our testing is not all inclusive. We only tested two samples, but those two samples were from different lots, different locations in the country. We ordered them directly from places like Amazon and Target and Amazon. Walmart, places like that and had them shipped directly to there so we never touched the samples. And what we found was that the lowest scoring, and this is Dr. Michelle Pero, a 43-year veteran pediatrician, assessed the information. And she gave the scoring based on some baby formulas. Had more toxic heavy metals basically than others. And so that would up that sort of up that risk of that score. Do you see what I'm saying? It wasn't necessarily based on whether or not they had all the heavy metals.

I mean, that was a factor. There were, I think, six brands that had all five heavy metals in them. But some may have had higher levels of aluminum, which is. Can be processed by the body in ways that the other four heavy metals are not as easily done. I'm not saying aluminum is not toxic. It is very harmful. It's considered a toxic metal, but arsenic lead, cadmium and mercury are considered heavy metals that are much more acutely toxic, right? In their exposure.

So anyway, so she did all of that assessment. I am not of the background to be able to do that. And she did that. And what she came up with the lowest scoring was Enfamil sensitive infant baby formula. This is an order. There's five of them. The last one I'm going to say was the most contaminated. Okay.

So the lowest scoring was Enfamil sensitive infant formula. Then Similac Total Comfort Infant Formula. Then up and up gentle premium deals Powder infant formula up and up non GMO hypoallergenic powder infant formula. And the one with the most contamination was Enfamil plant-based soy powder infant formula. And so we are very concerned. This correlates with our findings that people who are eating vegan and vegetarian diets, you know, plant based diets are. If they're not organic, can be consuming the highest levels of glyphosate. And in this case now it appears heavy metals. And that we believe is because the farmers who are growing soy and other crops, You know, proteins like peas and lentils and legumes that go into vegan and vegetarian diets are... Often spraying glyphosate or using fertilizers that come from confined animal feeding operations. They can't use straight up chemical fertilizers like the conventional farmers can. They have to use manure, either fish emulsion or fertilizer from confined, and they tend to use them from confined animal feeding operations. And that manure is likely to have more heavy metals and pesticides and glyphosate in the manure.

So that could even be on organic. It could even be on organic, right? But those crops in particular, the soy and the lentils and stuff like that tend to have more of that.

Cass Arcuri | 28:48

And isn't it something like 90% of soy in the U.S. Is GMO?

Zen Honeycutt | 28:53

It's somewhere between 85 to 95% is GMO. And the weird thing about that is that we export like 70% of it to go to animal feed to Asia. But we import between, I think we import, it's 80%. We import 80% of the soy that's used in vegan and vegetarian products and organic products in the United States is imported from Turkey. And from, you know, from the Middle East. And so what happens is a carton of soy leaves Turkey, ends up in the Long Beach airport, you know, in California, and it suddenly switches from conventional to organic, ding, it's worth $2 million more. Right.

So there's fraudulent organic labeling going on, particularly in soy has been documented that is happening. So if you want to avoid fraudulently labeled soy, I would avoid highly processed foods like protein powders and, you know, those types of soy products that are more processed, you know, type of thing.

So anyway, that's, and that's what I think is going on in this soy powder infant formula is that type of thing could be happening. We found that particular Enfamil brand the soy Enfamil brand, was found by different scientists to have glyphosate levels in it that were very concerning.

So it could be the same thing. So Infamil has some work to do, we believe, especially on their soy powder. Then next, the two that were sort of in the middle was Gerber Good Start Gentle Pro and Earth's Best Organic Sensitivity Formula.

And then, but the, I don't want to say cleanest, but the one that was a top scoring, the one that had the least contamination was Kirkland ProCare non-GMO infant formula. That was number one.

And then the two under that were Similac sensitive infant formula, and then pure amino hypoallergenic powder infant formula. And that was for babies with digestive issues requiring pre-digested formulas.

So if you're anywhere that, you know, you're traveling and you ran out or whatever, pick the I would suggest, I mean, I'm not a doctor, but you may want to consider the hypoallergenic powder infant formulas. Because they tend to across the board have, you know, lower levels. But we were very happy to see that Kirkland ProCare non-GMO infant formula was the top scoring one because Costco is the only store that banned glyphosate, you know, removed, sorry, removed glyphosate. Roundup from their shelves when we petitioned them. And they sell the highest amount of organic food in the country.

So we're very happy about that.

Cass Arcuri | 31:31

And we'll put a link to this study so parents who are listening can kind of go through greater specifics for those who are interested.

Len Arcuri | 31:41

And yeah, great that you mentioned Dr. Michelle Pero. She's been on the show. I'll put that in the show notes as well. Episode 124. But no, thanks for shedding more light on what really came out.

Cause I know parents are always looking for better options. And I know most people are listening. Your child's older and baby formula may not be relevant, but you know, I know a lot of people are looking to have more kids and to, again, just spread this information because, you know, in terms of if you have a young child, you know, It's so important to be feeding them and to have an environment that is less toxic. And that's why we have these discussions with you, Zen, because again, this is important for people to know. Now, next time you come on, you're going to tell us about the findings of something that was much better than you thought, whatever that might be, right? Maybe there's some good news out there where some testing could confirm that some things are working.

Cass Arcuri | 32:34

I hope.

Zen Honeycutt | 32:34

So. Yes, I sure hope so. I do want to say too that the goat's milk... Baby formula is called Bub's goat's milk baby formula that tested at 41,000 parts per billion of aluminum. We don't want to insinuate that that's across the board for goat's milk. Okay. I grew up on goat's milk. I have no idea. We don't, we do not why that had 41,000 parts per billion of glyphosate in it. It could have been just that. Particular sample. It could have been the machinery that was used. It right?

Cass Arcuri | 33:01

Could have been aluminum, Okay.

Zen Honeycutt | 33:04

Yeah.

Cass Arcuri | 33:06

Aluminum. Yep.

Zen Honeycutt | 33:07

Yeah. So that the Bub's goat's milk formula that had 41,000 parts per billion of aluminum in it, is not indicative of all goat's milks. It is not indicative of all their products or other goat's milk brands. We just don't know why that happened. We hope that was an anomaly, but definitely more testing needs to be done.

I mean, if I were the head of the FDA, I would be testing a thousand samples of baby formula right now. Right.

Like, I mean, it just that the money would be going there instead of to the Ukraine, because what's happening here and the future of our children, I think is extremely important. So, yeah, I just want to make sure to state that.

Cass Arcuri | 33:43

Yeah, and you raise a really good point, too, is like parents pay attention to the packaging for items coming in, right? Stuff that's usually, you know, cans of soda, right? Aluminum cans, right? Metals. I remember when we tested the household materials, any like shoe that had a shiny material. Pretty lining in it. Guess what? It tested pretty high for mercury, but like making better decisions too might be looking beyond too. But there's so many factors to consider, but for those listeners, don't be scared, but just be mindful of the choices that you make and the impact that they may.

Zen Honeycutt | 34:19

Have. Yeah. And to please do try to breastfeed as much as possible and know that this is really important. We get scared. We, the fear is generated when we are a new mom and we just to tend to think, we, I had a mom of eight babies, had eight babies tell me, you know what, 99% of the time, you're going to think something's wrong. Actually 99% of the time, everything is okay, right? Everything's perfect. It's happening exactly as it should be. And you need to learn how to trust yourself. That was the best advice that I ever got. And one thing that I became aware of after I had my first, maybe even my second baby was that the size of an infant's stomach when it's born is the size of a cherry. It's, tiny. And it's not until the first month that it gets the size of an egg. In the first month.

So you might be thinking, my infant needs to consume eight ounces of baby formula when it's first alive or when it's a one month old or even a two or three month old at each sitting. And that is not true. You are most likely making exactly the amount of milk that your baby needs. Our bodies know what to do. And your baby will let you know, actually, if it really does need more milk. Believe me, it will tell you. And oftentimes when it is crying, it's because it has a wet bum or just wants to be held.

Like there's other, you know, it needs to burp. There are a lot of other things that need going on. And just consider that you may not need formula to supplement and feed your baby. That may just be a manufactured fear that you are allowing into your realm and your way of thinking simply because you care about your baby and you want to feed it, right? We know that, but there's the reality to what it actually needs.

Cass Arcuri | 36:07

And for the parent who's listening, who's like, that wasn't my story. And guess what? I had a poor lecture. Rye was awful.

So like, you know, we ended up having to go the formula route, supplemented with breast milk and just do the best that you can because we don't want you to be more stressed out because let's be honest, our kids feel when we're stressed. So, you know, have grace for whatever your reality is and just be as mindful as you can to make the best decisions that, you know, feel good and trusting yourself, right?

Zen Honeycutt | 36:38

Yep. And you can detox daily. There's products on Moms Across America. We have primary detox. There are sweating. It works great.

So get your kids out running, you know, when they're taught. That's awesome. I saw a reel the other day of a guy throwing a ball back and forth in his kitchen against the counter and the kid was running past it, like trying to escape it kind of thing. But he's like, I'm just getting my kid to run before bed, you know, like. Out running and get them in nature, feet on the ground. And detoxing on a daily basis is awesome. And eating foods, cilantro and maybe working in some bentonite clay or activated charcoal and smoothies or something like that. I'm not a doctor, but ask your doctor about different ways to detox on a daily basis because it's not just the baby formulas, other things too.

So make sure to do that.

Len Arcuri | 37:25

Well, Zen, thank you again. Dynamite Conversation, everyone listening, To learn more, go to momsacrossamerica.com. That's where the research is. That's where resources are. And please support Zen and become part of her organization, Dynamite team you have there. And again, we'll look forward to having you on down the road when we have something noteworthy to say. And again, I just so appreciate the work that you and your organization are doing.

Zen Honeycutt | 37:51

Thank you so much. Go to momsacrossamerica.org. Check out. We have all kinds of food testing. We have gluten-free food testing that was just out recently.

So we hope you'll check that out. And we hope to have more with your support if you care to donate to Moms Across America and support this type of testing. We appreciate it. Thank you both very.

Cass Arcuri | 38:06

Much. Thanks, Ben.

Cass Arcuri | 38:09

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