Question

Prenatal vitamins may have dangerous levels of lead and arsenic

Answer 1

According to AllSides.com, the New York Post is considered a Right-Leaning news source.

View AllSide's full report here

The NYPost sources the information in this article from the Research Article titled Content of Selected Nutrients and Potential Contaminants in Prenatal Multivitamins and Minerals: an Observational Study. This study was funded in full by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). CSPI is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization and has pushed, since its formation in 1971, for nutritional analyses and critique.

Below is the conclusion shared by the researchers:

"Current PMVM labels are misleading with the potential to harm pregnant persons and fetuses through omission or inaccurate content of essential nutrients and inclusion of heavy metals. Regulation is needed, and the Food and Drug Administration needs sufficient authority and staffing to oversee these dietary supplements."

See the article here

The NYPost reflects this claim clearly in their article. They include buzz words such as "explosive" and "shocking", but are accurate and honest in their relay of information from the study. Furthermore, the basis of the study is funded by a non-profit organization focused on the health of consumers and to raise general awareness. Finally, the authors have declared they have no conflicts of interest.

Considering its credibility, and if we are to consider the research article's findings to be true, this article from the NYPost is true. 

Rating: True

Comments

I am fond of you using more than one source to fact check this claim, particularly the first one due to it exposing the influence of being more right-leaning (as New York Post being right-leaning is well known). On top of that quoting the articles you provided show that you really put effort in the fact checking, showing how thoroughly that you looking. It helped your claim be more believable if the evidence wasn't enough for someone.

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Using two separate sources to support you claim is great! Calling out the opposing source as your claim is great too. For readers that important to see.

Answer 2

This article was published by Tracy Swartz on November 22, 2024. Swartz is an associate editor for the New York Post and has a masters degree in public affairs and is working on getting a masters degree in science writing from John Hopkins University. This article claims that prenatal vitamins may have dangerous levels of lead and arsenic. "Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus tested 47 prenatal vitamins — 32 over-the-counter and 15 prescription — for their choline and iodine levels and checked for arsenic, lead and cadmium." Seven of these products had arsenic amounts above the purity limits, two products had too much lead and thirteen products had cadmium which can cause chills, fever and chronic exposure can cause damager to kidneys, bones and lungs. Laura Borgelt, the study's first author says "The present of contaminants, especially cadmium was....concerning." Laura Borgelt is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and she has her PHD and MBA in pharmacy and Ambulatory Care Specialty Residency. She has won numerous awards and is highly certified. Furthermore, an article written by the NIH states that several toxic heavy metals have been found in prenatal vitamins which are placed in pharmacies and supermarkets across the US. To further prevent this, the article says that the government regulators should consider how to address this concern and how to keep women safe. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10874124/