SANTA FE, NM–Attorney General Hector Balderas filed suit today against a number of baby-food makers and major retail chains, alleging that they market and sell products in the State that are tainted with dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium. Filed in First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, the Attorney General’s complaint asserts that defendants including Beech-Nut, Nurture, Hain Celestial, WalMart, and Kroger have violated consumer protection laws by promoting and selling certain contaminated products as safe and appropriate for babies, infants, and young children, “precisely the population most vulnerable to the serious adverse neurodevelopmental effects and other adverse health effects known to be associated with exposure to or consumption of” toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
