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Related Links: Protect Your Unborn Baby (Acrobat 56k)
Estimated Deaths by Known Foodborne Pathogens (pie chart) |
Miscarriage, Birth Defects “Too High a Price to Pay” for Tainted Food Charge Victims and Health Group USDA Petitioned to Require Meat Processors to Conduct Safety Tests
WASHINGTON - The government should mandate systematic testing for two dangerous
foodborne pathogens charged the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and three
parents who suffered miscarriages linked to those pathogens. CSPI, the American Public Health
Association, and four other organizations today petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to
require meat processors to conduct frequent tests for Listeria. CSPI also released a new report,
Unexpected Consequences: Miscarriage and Birth Defects from Tainted Food, summarizing the
risks to pregnant women and their fetuses posed by foods contaminated with the bacterium
Listeria and the parasite T. gondii.
“Listeria and T. gondii cause thousands of illnesses and hundreds of deaths each year,”
said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food-safety director for CSPI. “These foodborne hazards are
particularly harmful to fetuses, resulting in miscarriages, mental retardation, blindness, and other
severe problems. Preventing exposure of pregnant women and other high-risk consumers to
Listeria and T. gondii should be a top priority for federal food-safety officials.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year T. gondii
infections due to eating contaminated meats and unwashed fruits and vegetables sicken about
112,500 and kill about 375 Americans. In addition, congenital toxoplasmosis, where the parasite
is transmitted from the pregnant woman to her fetus, is estimated to cause mental retardation and
blindness in as many as 400 to 6,000 children and may kill another 80 fetuses and newborns each
year. Because T. gondii can cause such severe problems, toxoplasmosis accounts for $3.3 billion
to $7.8 billion per year in economic costs. The government ranks it as one of the most expensive
forms of food poisoning.
Listeria causes approximately 2,500 illnesses and 500 deaths per year. Based on CDC
data, CSPI estimates that about one-third of deaths involve pregnant women and their fetuses.
Listeria contaminates foods processed or packaged in unsanitary conditions.
“If I had known about the risks of consuming deli meat while I was pregnant, I might
have been able to prevent my miscarriage,“ said Lisa Lee of Columbus, Ohio, who was a victim
in the 1999 Listeria outbreak caused by cold cuts distributed by the Sara Lee Corporation. “I’m
speaking out because I want to prevent other women from going through what I went through.”
Mary Lenkersdorf, of West Palm Beach, Florida, also suffered a miscarriage because of
Listeria. “When I was pregnant for the first time, no one told me not to eat hot dogs, deli meats,
or Brie or feta cheese. One afternoon, when I was four months pregnant, I started feeling sick.
By the next night I had miscarried.”
In its report and in a new brochure titled Protect Your Unborn Baby, CSPI advises
pregnant women to avoid certain soft cheeses, rare meat and poultry, foods containing raw eggs,
pâtes, raw shellfish, and unpasteurized juices. The materials also recommend that pregnant
women avoid eating ready-to-eat meats such as hot dogs and luncheon meats unless they have
been heated to steaming.
“Action by the government, the food industry, the medical community, and consumers
themselves could greatly reduce the tragic effects of Listeria and T. gondii. After all, miscarriage
and birth defects are too high a price to pay for food poisoning,” concluded DeWaal.
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