Heavy Metals in Baby Food and Formula

Marissa Hauptman, MD, MPH

Co-Director, Pediatric Environmental Health Center, Boston Children’s Hospital
Co-Director, Region 1 New England Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit
Chief Medical Advisor, Bureau of Climate and Environmental Health, Massachusetts DPH
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School

Heavy metals in baby food and formula are a public health concern due to the potential health impacts of prolonged exposure on brain development. Because babies and children have developing brains, they are more vulnerable to the impacts of heavy metals, and prolonged exposure to heavy metals can have effects on children’s learning, attention, and behavior.

This module equips clinicians and public health professionals with the resources to identify at-risk populations, assess exposure and health risks, and provides guidance on how to minimize exposure to heavy metals in baby food and formula.

The Heavy Metals in Baby Food and Formula module is part of the Environmental Health Hazards e-learning series. It is designed to be self-paced and should take most learners approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Learning Objectives: 

At the conclusion of this educational program, learners will be able to:

1. Identify sources of heavy metal contamination in baby food and formula, and common ways people may be exposed
2. Identify who is most at risk
3. Understand connections between exposure to heavy metals in baby food and formula and health equity
4. List ways to minimize exposure to heavy metals in baby food and formula and health risks
5. Understand the important role of health care providers and local health officials in risk communication and exposure prevention

In support of improving patient care, Boston Children’s Hospital is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physicians

Boston Children’s Hospital designates this live activity for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in this activity.

Disclosures

Boston Children’s Hospital adheres to all ACCME Essential Areas, Standards, and Policies. It is Boston Children’s policy that those who have influenced the content of a CE activity (e.g. planners, faculty, authors, reviewers and others) disclose all relevant financial relationships with commercial entities so that Boston Children’s may identify and resolve any conflicts of interest prior to the activity. These disclosures will be provided in the activity materials along with disclosure of any commercial support received for the activity. Additionally, faculty members have been instructed to disclose any limitations of data and unlabeled or investigational uses of products during their presentations.

The following planners, speakers, and content reviewers, on behalf of themselves, have reported the following relevant financial relationships with any entity producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on patients: 

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