← Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey
The Shocking List of Foods Killing You | Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis
00:19:35
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A
Ugh.
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I barely got any sleep last night.
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C
What? Why?
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I spent hours fighting with AI all because I was trying to make a website. It started out okay, but then I got stuck just trying to change one button. Okay, okay, relax. Just try wix Harmony.
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What's that?
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It's wix's new website builder. Lets you switch back and forth between AI tools and hands on editing anytime. So I'm not just prompting and praying? Nope. Just try it for free@wix.com Harmony.
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People have the right to not be poisoned. Sounds really common sense, but unfortunately, there are a lot of companies in the food industry that do not agree. That is why Florida is fighting back. They are leading the states in trying to make Maha a reality for Americans like you and me and those that are trying to make healthy choices, especially for our kids. We've got first lady Casey DeSantis here today to talk about the stunning findings that their researchers have done in the state of Florida into the poison that is in so many of our foods and even baby formula. You're going to learn a lot today. I know I did. We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable. First lady Casey DeSantis, thank you so much for taking the time to join Relatable. I really appreciate it.
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C
Hey, thanks for having me.
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A
Yeah. Okay, tell me why Florida is conducting all of these tests on candy, on food, on things like bread and baby formula.
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C
Well, first of all, it's the right thing to do. Right. I think consumers should have full transparency about what they're consuming and what they're eating. But it really started with the governor, Ron, looking at this and wanting to be a force multiplier to the federal government. What can we do in the free state of Florida to help try to make America healthy? And how can we help make Florida healthy? And. And the Surgeon general and I got together, who's an excellent human being, and we sat down and we said, well, why don't we trust but verify kind of what's going on with our food supply? And that led into testing of baby formula first, because we thought it was important, since these babies, that's all they're eating in the first years of life, that we should ensure the integrity of that. And then when we got the results back, we were very startled and obviously disquieted by the fact that there was 17 out of 24 that came back with priority problematic levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. So that was the first step. And then we went into other components and that is the candy. And then ultimately now going on and looking at the bread.
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Okay, let's talk about the baby formula first, because I find this to be really disturbing. A lot of moms, for a variety of reasons, have to rely on formula to feed their babies. And you would think that with babies, our most vulnerable citizens in this country, that we would want to be extra careful about what we put in our formula. But it seems like actually these industries care a lot less about what's put in formula. I mean, you can't find formula in the United States that actually has whole healthy ingredients. So what is going on there?
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C
So, I mean, it is really problematic. And this is not something that is new. Right. So if you go back to last year, the beginning of last year, Consumer Reports came out with their own study showing that there were problematic levels of these contaminants. And then as a result of that, on the federal side, Secretary Kennedy and rightfully President Trump decided to launch Operation Stork Speed, basically saying, we need to go in and test a lot of this stuff. Well, here comes Florida, and now this is a year later, and there's still problematic contaminants in the baby formula. So we're like, what gives? Right. Yeah, because it's particularly frustrating as a mother, when you go into a store and you're looking at the store aisles and you're looking at the products on the shelves, and you're thinking that everything on there, you have an assumption, assumption that it is indeed safe. So you're making the best decision that you can for the best interests of your child. And when we find out that this stuff is in it, it's totally unacceptable. So the question is, is where do we ultimately go from here? Right. Like, there hasn't been a lot of change. So what we are doing in Florida, we're publishing all of these results so consumers can make informed decisions. You can go to exposing foodtoxins.com, you can then, through the power of your pocketbook, buy the options that don't have these contaminants. And I think that that' thing to say, not all of them were bad. Right. There were some. So don't tell me it can't be done better. Right? Don't tell me it's. Oh, it's the way that this stuff is sourced and therefore we can't do anything about it. That's false. There are some that are better than others. Parents have a right to know that. And we're doing another thing, too. Not only are we trying to Put some sunshine on it by doing our independent testing in Florida. We're also asking and calling on the states to join in. So I had a great call earlier today with the first lady of North Dakota, who is all on board to be able to try to help from her state's capacity. I talked to the first lady of Oklahoma, talked to lieutenant governor of Indiana. We're reaching out to West Virginia and Arkansas and Georgia, and we're having really robust conversations about, okay, let's all be force multipliers to the federal government. Let's all find data and evidence and the truth about what's in the food supply and then give that to Kennedy and McCary and these guys. And so therefore they can come in and hold these companies accountable. And I think that's ultimately how we get to change. Utilizing federalism of the states, using these incubator, incubators of innovation to try to drive the accountability that ultimately can force, we hope, companies to make better decisions because that's what the consumers want.
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A
Yeah, you know, people who can't afford to get their formula from places like Denmark or Germany where the regulations are different and you can actually find much more wholesome formula brands are kind of forced to choose from what is in the grocery store. As you said, they're trying to make the best choices. They assume that Enfamil and these other brands are creating these really good products for babies that it's all tested. But what you're saying is basically we are forcing especially lower income moms to choose unhealthy items for their vulnerable babies. And people might not realize that this doesn't just have an effect on a baby for say, the first year of their life, but there could be long term consequences to things like heavy metals and elevated mercury, mercury levels in this formula. Can you tell us like what has research found about what this can do to a child's behavior in mind?
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C
Yeah, you're right about the heavy metals and they don't just leave the body easily. Right. Arsenic and all of these things. And unfortunately what our surgeon general in Florida has said, that you have a definite increased risk of cancer over the course of your lifetime if you're consuming this early in life. And he looked at something like 20% increase. Plus there's a lot of other things that are bad with consuming arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. And you're right, it is not fair. It is not fair to any mother to go into a store, to have to sit there and wonder which option is better than another when all of it should Be safe, all of it. You should have an expectation of it being safe. So one of the things that we've done to partner with the federal government is we looked at wic, which is women, infant, and children. These are women that receive federal assistance to be able to buy formula, because we are under a certain amount of moms that apply to that federal group. Prior to this discovery, there was only one supplier that was supplying that formula. Because of our work with Secretary Kennedy and others, we are now opening that up to two suppliers so they have more options. And some of those options do not have those harmful metals in it. And so you can. You can go to exposing foodtoxins.com and then you can find an option, no matter what, to be able to help fit. Obviously, your family that doesn't have this junk in it.
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Okay. So we also found that bread has something called glyphosate, or not all bread, but a lot of the brands that you're getting in the grocery store. This is another one of those ingredients that most people can't pronounce, so they don't know what it is, and they think, okay, well, if it's in all the bread, then it's probably fine. But what is glyphosate, and why should we care about it?
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C
Yeah, well, it's wheat killer. It's Roundup. I mean, it's the main ingredient that they're using to spray on plants to destroy weeds. Right. It kills plants. And so there's no reason why any of that should be in any product that we're consuming, clearly, without your consent or knowledge, because I don't see that in the list of ingredients. Right. Glycophate is really problematic. And of course, our surgeon general has said there's a lot of problems that can happen at the cellular level with your microbiome, with your gut, all of these things that we're starting to get more and more evidence on. But when you read the Roundup label and the glyphosate label, you see where it says if you touch it, do X, Y, and Z. If you inhale it, do all of this. If you stop breathing, call 911. There's all of these problematic things with being in proximity to glyphosate, probably safe to assume that it's not good in the food supply in bread. So, again, on the website, we put down the breads that were tested and the levels of glyphosate that's in there so that people can make informed decisions and they can find something that doesn't have this stuff in it.
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Okay. So this is not an ingredient that people are seeing that's bad for them. This is something that's completely hidden from most consumers. And regulations right now are saying that. That it doesn't have to be disclosed that the products that someone is consuming at one point was basically sprayed with Roundup, which we know and have known for a long time, causes all the health problems that you're talking about.
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Yeah. So the silver lining is what I would say with this. Not all of them had it in there.
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Right.
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So, again, it is not inevitable. We can do better, but we have to have people all across the United States of America stand up and say, enough is enough. Okay. This is not okay. The way that we've been going with how our food supply is operating. It is not okay to have levels of glyphosate. It can't just be. Well, it happens in the manufacturing process and therefore we can't do anything about it. No, of course you can. Of course there are better options. And so it takes, I think every one of us. And honestly, Secretary Kennedy just today was posting something on social media saying, you know what? It's going to take all of us, it's going to take the social media influencers, it's going to take people in elected positions, it's going to take the consumers and the American people to finally stand up and say, we've had enough. We deserve the right to be able to eat food without having it contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides.
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Yeah. Seems common sense. And of course, we know that candy like nerd ropes aren't great for us because of the sugar levels. But that's mostly what people are thinking. Maybe at this point, people are also realizing that Red Dye 40 actually has a negative effect, especially on kids. But your findings found, or your state's findings found that it's actually far worse than that. It's not just about the sugar. That's terrible for you and this candy, right?
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No, it is true. There is a couple of things going on. There is the sugar, which obviously parents know is problematic. There's a generally accepted as safe principle. These are the things that the. The additives that are put in there. We can get into the antiquated law of what these things actually are. And then there's the third side of it, and that is the pesticides that we see, excuse me, with the arsenic that we're seeing in it. And what we have found through the Florida Department of Health is in their testing, we're not talking about one Jolly Rancher. Right on. One time. What they're finding is when you eat it in aggregate. But what does that mean? What's the context and perspective for your viewers? Well, our analysis found that if you eat more than 96 nerds over the course of a year for a child, you are exceeding the allowable threshold of arsenic for a child. If you eat more than six Jolly Ranchers, that is exceeding the allowable threshold of arsenic for consuming in a child over the course of a year. So it's realistic to assume that children are eating more than 96 individual nerds. When you look at a box that you get in a movie theater, there's 8,000 nerds in it. And how much food and candy are they consuming on Halloween or Valentine's Day is right around the corner. So it's the consumption in aggregate that is very problematic, and that has to be taken into account, and that has to be disclosed to parents so that they can make better decisions. And again, I go back to the silver lining of all of this stuff, and that is there are some candies that don't have it. As a matter of fact, I was looking at our results, and again, you can go to exposingfoodtoxins.com to see this data for yourself. Some of the healthier varietals, it's not oxymoronic.
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A
Right.
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C
Healthier varietals of candy don't have any arsenic in it. Like unreal and yum earth. So if you wanted to give the kids something, you can give them something with a little bit of an assurance there's not rat poison in it.
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A
Yeah. And we should have that assurance. And like you said, we should have a right to be able to choose from any manner of food and not be poisoned. How much sugar we want to put in our body, that might be a choice that we make, but we should definitely have the choice of not being poisoned. And I just think about, as with so many policies, this disproportionately affects kids who are consuming the formula, who are eating the PB&J sandwiches on the bread, who are getting rewarded. Maybe at school. I know that growing up, we would get rewarded with Jolly Ranchers all the time. You're talking about the threshold, right? Oh, I definitely exceeded that threshold for arsenic when I was growing up, but you just don't know. And so it really is up to parents to be the ones that say, on behalf of, yes, myself, but my kids, who really don't have the ability to discern and to consent to all of this, to Demand that we have the transparency and that we set our standards a little bit higher for what people are consuming and buying from the grocery store.
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C
Yeah. And so, and here's what I would say. I think transparency is huge. I think the website is huge. The testing that we're doing, we're relying on the other states to be force multipliers to test as well. But the onus should not be on you to go into a store to have to get out your phone to try to figure out which one is better than the other. The onus needs to be on these companies. They're the ones that need to clean up their act as it pertains to the products that they're putting in front of these children. And that's how we get the change. So you should have the confidence that when you go into the grocery store that what you're consuming and what your children are consuming is safe. It's not fair to parents to have to be there every five minutes trying to look over their shoulder to see if they're probably giving their kids something problematic. Because let's face it, as moms, we're busy. Right. Like, and their health and nutrition and well being, of course is paramount. But think of all the things that we have to contend with, social media and all, making sure they're getting the best education and they're brushing their teeth and doing all these like to have to go in to ensure that these companies are doing the right thing. Yes. Parents should do that right now, obviously, and that will drive accountability because they're voting essentially with their pocketbook about these products. But at the end of the day, it's up to these companies. These companies need to be motivated, to be, be able to do the right thing. Not say it's just, it's just the way it is. It's just in the manufacturing process, there's nothing that we can do about it. It's just presidents society. No. Do better.
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A
Yeah. You know, this should be completely bipartisan. This has nothing to do with politics. But have you found in trying to get collaboration from other states that this is kind of breaking down along party lines, that blue states aren't as interested in collaborating or going in the same direction because of some kind of aversion to Maha or RFK Jr.
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C
I haven't seen that yet, no. But I would just pray at the end of the day, put the partisan politics aside. This is entry level for government. This is foundational. We need food to survive. So we should all be on the same team to be able to drive accountability. I haven't seen anything negative, but if you start seeing some negative stuff that maybe you should ask why and where that's coming from. But, but so far every conversation that we've had with the states has been really, has been positive. Everybody wants to unify forces. As a matter of fact, I talked to Secretary Kennedy just this morning about this and he is all on board to try to drive some of this change. So I really do think that the moment is now to be able to get this done. I think with the states, of course with Florida, we're helping to lead the way. But obviously, you know, there's a lot of good things the other states can do. You know, there is some things regulatory wise that can happen within the fda. There is, there's some stuff that can be done statutorily within the US Congress. But the leadership of what Kennedy is doing with this Maha movement, I think if we rise up and we say enough is enough, I really do think that we can change. But we have to keep our pedal to the metal. Because the one thing I don't wanna see, and I feel like this has happened a little bit with the baby food stuff, baby formula, it's like a blip on the radar. They wait out the news cycle, right. And then it goes away and nothing ever happens. It's like no, no, like it's not okay. There's lead, there's mercury, like no, we have to go full stop. And the other thing I would say, if these baby food manufacturers are testing for things like salmonella or bacteria before it ever leaves the facility, then why can't we have them test for lead and mercury and arsenic and cadmium? I mean it's like low hanging fruit. Right. I think that's something that the US Congress could add and do very quickly. And that is the right thing to do on behalf of families all across this country.
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A
Totally. Well, praise God that there is a collaboration and hopefully people putting partisanship to the side cause it really has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat at this point. It's about advocating for, yes, healthy bodies, healthy America, but especially I think for children and babies. In a year from now, looking back, how would you measure the success of this initiative in Florida?
- [17:41]
C
Well, that is an excellent question. I had somebody tell me once a long time ago, you know, put yourself out, you know, however many months and work backwards and what would you want to see the result be? I'd like to see no pesticides and lead in any of our food. Right. I would like to be able to go to the grocery store, and if my children ask me for something, I could have some assurance that it wasn't toxic or had problematic components in it. Right. That would ultimately be the goal. Now, short of that, I think that there are some things that we can do to try to provide the transparency to people. I would hope that we would have such a good testing apparatus in place through the states, with accountability from the fda, to be able to have some sort of apparatus to say, oh, okay, you know, we see this. Let me just make sure it's okay. Okay, fine. But again, at the end of the day, I think that the onus needs to be on the companies. While parents are doing everything in their power to do the right things, they're busy. Shouldn't all have to be on them to do it. We hope that ultimately there's some. Some. Some major change that ultimately drives this beyond just testing and trusting, but verifying the part of the consumer.
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A
Yes, and amen. Well, thank you so much, first lady Casey DeSantis, for your leadership on this, and just praying that it starts the ripple effect that Florida has started in many ways for so many years now. I'm very, very thankful for what Maha is accomplishing and your role in that.
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C
Yeah. Well, thank you. And thanks for your help. And don't take your foot off the gas. Yes.
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A
Good to see you so much. Good to see you too, Sam.