The news of infant cereal arsenic and arsenic in infant juices will probably be the next thing that drives American parents crazy.
A series of tests by Consumer Reports apparently revealed inorganic arsenic in about 10 percent of test samples of apple and grape juices given to children, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.
After that study, Dartmouth College later found that arsenic was also found in infant formula and cereal bears.
The culprit seems to be organic brown rice syrup, which is used as a sweetener instead of the notorious high-fructose corn syrup.
Obviously the revelations are prompting calls for increased regulation.
Of course, as most observers can see, there can be a long time between when a problem in food processing is discovered and the time it gets regulated. What happens to injuries and health problems that arise in the time in between?
One good avenue for those parents that believe that infant cereal arsenic may have affected their children's health is to pursue litigation.
One theory of litigation an attorney might conceivably follow in badly processed foods would be something akin to defects in manufacturing, which is a sub-set of products liability. A defect in manufacturing is one that the manufacturer did not intend. A manufacturing defect is the clearest instance in which strict liability applies. Under the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability, a product "contains a manufacturing defect when the product departs from its intended design even though all possible care was exercised in the preparation and marketing of the product."
For more information about your options in dealing with arsenic and organic brown rice syrup please speak to a local attorney.
Related Resources:
- Find a Philadelphia Personal Injury attorney (FindLaw)
- What is Product Liability (FindLaw)
- Defects in Design (FindLaw)
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