Chocolate makers dismiss toxic claims

Minute traces of lead exist in chocolate

The world's biggest chocolate makers have dismissed as "frivolous" claims that there is enough lead and cadmium in their products to make them a health hazard.

A lawsuit filed by the American Environmental Safety Institute (AESI) claims Nestle, Kraft, Hershey and others violated Californian health laws that require warnings on food products containing hazardous chemicals.

Chocolate manufacturers have neither taken appropriate actions to remove potentially dangerous levels of lead and cadmium from their chocolate products, nor notified consumers of the health risks

American Environmental Safety Institute

"We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against these baseless and frivolous allegations," said a spokesman for Switzerland's Nestle, the world's leading food company.

Cadbury Schweppes, Britain's biggest chocolate maker, said it was "not aware of any problems".

Trace metals such as lead and cadmium occur naturally in chocolate, but levels vary depending on where the cocoa plants are grown.

Michelle Corash who represents confectionary manufacturers in the US, told the BBC's World Business Report that all chocolate contained minute quantities of naturally occuring minerals.

Lead poisoning can impair intellectual development in children and cause progressive kidney disease in adults, while cadmium can cause kidney failure and inflammation in the lungs.

Mighty appetite

Mike Webber, director of the UK's Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance (BCCCA), said even chronic chocoholics would be physically incapable of consuming enough chocolate for toxins to pose a health risk.

"Lead and cadmium are there, but in such minute amounts that you'd need to eat hundreds of kilos every day to cause yourself a problem," he said.

A Nestle spokesman claimed the AESI, which has filed a number of suits against tobacco, food and drugs companies, had "no scientific competence of any sort".

US Food and Drug Administration researchers have found children under 6 who eat lots of chocolate take in less than 6% of the total daily amount of lead allowable by law.

A probe by the Californian Attorney General's office cleared chocolate makers of violating Proposition 65, which applies only to potential hazards added in the manufacturing process.

Warning wanted

The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court against companies that control 80% of the US chocolate market.

"The chocolate manufacturers have neither taken appropriate actions to remove potentially dangerous levels of lead and cadmium from their chocolate products, nor notified consumers of the health risks," the non-profit AESI said in a statement.

The institute is seeking an injunction requiring warnings on chocolate products before they can be sold, restitution to people who purchased the products without receiving legally-mandated warnings, and civil financial penalties.

The institute has previously sued successfully over lead levels in children's vitamins.