The new findings from independent laboratory tests refute the allegation of high arsenic presence in Nature's One baby formula.

The experiments conducted by Applied Speciation, an FDA-recognized laboratory, have found that the arsenic presence in Nature's One's formula products is 20 percent less than what is accepted worldwide in rice-based baby foods.

The arsenic guidelines offered by the CODEX Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) accept certain levels of arsenic in rice-based food for infants. The new findings suggest that the Nature's all Baby's Only Organic formulas follow the right standards set by CODEX.

The controversy had started after the 'Environmental Health Perspectives,' a journal from by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, published a study on arsenic in organic food and brown rice syrup. The study was conducted by researchers from Dartmouth College. In their study, the researchers had tested 17 infant formulas, 29 cereal bars and three energy shots.

The nation's first baby formula manufacturer was under national scrutiny since then as it used organic brown rice syrup as a source of carbohydrate in its organic baby formulas.

Defending its baby formulas, Nature's One CEO Jay Highman said that the researchers in Dartmouth College were following a World Health Organization (WHO) guideline which was withdrawn recently. The use of the wrong testing methodology resulted in their findings about the exaggerated levels of arsenic presence in brown rice and brown syrup-based products such as organic baby formula and cereal bars.

While we are pleased with the results of the testing, we will continue to make sure our products have the lowest possible amounts of any known food contaminants that may negatively impact a baby's developmental health, said Highman.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines arsenic as a metalloid element, which forms a number of poisonous compounds. It is widely distributed throughout the Earth's crust, and is found in groundwater supplies in a number of countries.

Long-term human exposure, through drinking of contaminated water, is an important public health problem in some regions and countries, and is associated with cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder and kidney. Acute arsenic poisoning produces vomiting, oesophageal and abdominal pain, and bloody 'rice water' diarrhea, says the WHO.

The FDA finds organic arsenic as harmless. But the inorganic arsenic, similar to the type found in pesticides, can be toxic.

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