Trial begins over baby food lead warning

SAN FRANCISCO -- A trial began yesterday in a lawsuit filed by an environmental group aimed at forcing the nation's largest baby food makers to alert consumers that some products contain low amounts of lead.

The trial will help determine whether the products must carry warning labels in California.

Gerber Products, Del Monte Foods, Beech-Nut Nutrition and many other makers of baby foods and juices are selling products containing lead at levels that require warning labels under California Proposition 65, the Environmental Law Foundation asserts. It filed the suit in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland.

Lawyers for the food companies say the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tested products targeted in the lawsuit and decided levels were below the federal standards that require a warning.

More than 500,000 U.S. children are believed to have lead poisoning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. -- AP