Nestle, Hershey, Mars, and others are named in toxic-metals suit

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Nestle, Hershey, Mars, others are named in toxic-metals suit

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

Forwarded from SoFlaVegans list (thanks)

 

http://www.msnbc.com/news/749356.asp>

 

May 8 - A nonprofit environmental group on Wednesday named several chocolate

makers in a lawsuit alleging that their products contain dangerous levels of

lead and cadmium.

 

THE AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL Safety Institute alleges that Hershey Foods Corp.,

Kraft Foods Inc., and Nestle SA's Nestle USA Inc. unit are exposing their

customers, especially children, to the

toxic metals. Also named were Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. and

privately held Mars Inc. and See's Candies Inc.

 

" Our scientific research clearly shows that chocolate products contain lead and

cadmium, heavy metal poisons also known to the state of California's health

experts to be hazardous to human health, " Deborah A. Sivas, president of the

California-based institute, said in a prepared statement.

 

" 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, " she said.

 

The chocolate companies named in the suit, which was filed in Los Angeles County

Superior Court, collectively control more than 80% of the U.S. chocolate-product

marketplace, the institute said.

 

Responding to the suit, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association described the

claims as baseless, and said the California attorney general had reviewed the

allegations and determined the lawsuit lacks merit. The companies also said

scientists and doctors at the Food and Drug Administration have confirmed the

chocolate products are safe to eat.

 

Nestle, the world's largest food and beverage producer, said Wednesday that it

will need to look into the details of the lawsuit. " For now, we have not taken

any position, " Nestle spokesman Marcel Rubin said.

 

Other companies named in the suit weren't immediately available for comment.

 

A health expert working with the institute called chocolate a " long-recognized,

but under-appreciated source " of dangerous heavy metals. " The presence of lead

and cadmium in chocolate was flagged as a problem by the World Health

Organization almost 20 years ago, " said

 

Dr. Marc Lappe, director of the Center for Toxics and Ethics, in the institute's

press release.

 

The institute said it is seeking enforcement of Proposition 65 - a California

consumer-health statute that requires warnings be issued to individuals before

they are exposed to hazardous chemicals - and California's Unfair Competition

Law.

 

It is also seeking an injunction to require warnings on chocolate products

before they can be sold.

 

The American Environmental Safety Institute is a nonprofit group that

investigates environmental and public-health hazards. The group also has filed

lawsuits against cigarette and drug makers.

 

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METALS IN YOUR MOUTH, NOT IN YOUR HANDS?

 

The American Environmental Safety Institute (first we've heard of it) sued

Nestle, Hershey, Mars, and other chocolate manufacturers yesterday for not

disclosing that their products contain toxic metals

such as lead and cadmium, as required under California law. In a lawsuit filed

in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the group said that the levels of the

metals in the chocolates like M & Ms posed a health threat, especially to

children. California's Proposition 65 requires that companies warn individuals

before they are exposed to dangerous chemicals. But a lawyer for the Chocolate

Manufacturers Association said the lawsuit was frivolous and alarmist. She said

the two metals are naturally present in chocolate -- as they are in other foods

-- at levels too low to pose any danger.

 

Straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press,

Andrew Bridges, 08 May 2002

http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=86