When we buy our favorite candy bar or sweet treat at the local grocery store, either for ourselves, our families, or our friends, we're thinking about the joy and satisfaction it's going to bring -- not what harm it could do to us.
We need to be able to trust supply chains and regulators to keep our food safe! But according to new research, when indulging in dessert, our safety may not be guaranteed. Scientists from George Washington University just revealed that the
dark chocolate bars we buy at places like Amazon and Whole Foods often contain harmful heavy metals like lead.Sign the petition demanding that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration actually set limits on how much lead, and other heavy metals, can be in our food!The researchers tested over 70 dark chocolate treats from various sellers --
nearly half of these dark chocolate products contained over the acceptable amount of lead in them. The risks of lead are
abundant and devastating.
In children, high levels of lead can cause immense damage to the nervous system leading to "coma, convulsions, and even death." At lower levels, lead exposure can still be tragically life altering --
lead can affect brain development making it harder for a child to learn, socialize, and even just pay attention which has massive implications for the rest of their life.
Additionally, over a third of tested products contained higher than acceptable levels of cadmium, which is known to cause cancer in high amounts!This is incredibly shocking considering we have a governing agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the sole purpose of which is to hold producers accountable and keep us safe from dangerous toxins like these!
But the FDA doesn't even set limits on heavy metals, like lead and cadmium, in most foods! This means that there is nothing incentivizing chocolate producers and supply chains to keep these poisonous materials out of our food.
If the FDA were to set actual limits on lead, cadmium, and other harmful heavy metals, producers would have to comply in order to stay in business! And since the United States is such a massive market, this would move the needle on business worldwide -- producers who want to sell in the United States would end up
making their chocolate safer for all customers worldwide.As we move into the peak of holiday season, people are going to be buying more chocolate than ever -- for presents, for baking ingredients, for guests to munch on at parties and family gatherings.
The FDA cannot let another day go by without setting limits on harmful heavy metals in the food we consume!Sign the petition if you want to see the FDA protect us from heavy metals in our dark chocolate, and all other food!