Popular Chocolate Brands Show Lead, Cadmium

Chocolate fans beware. The health watchdog group is out with a list of beloved chocolate brands that are said to contain huge amounts of heavy metals.

This San Francisco-based advocacy group, As You Sow, commented that heavy metals like lead and cadmium can even remain in children's bodies for years, harming their health.

While cadmium damages the kidney, liver and bones, As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar commented  that lead can harm children's IQ as well as neurological structure. Hence, there is no safe lead limit for children.

After testing 50 types of chocolate, scientists explained that 35 showed high levels of lead or cadmium, much above California's limits, which are actually stricter than the federal guidelines.

"We assumed that companies were testing their products before they put them on the market, but they're not," Behar said.

The loaded brands of chocolates included  Hershey's, Chocolove, Earth Circle Foods, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Theo Chocolate and See's Candies. Others include Dove, Trader Joe's, Lindt, Ghirardelli, Cadbury, Godiva, Mars and Whole Foods.

Lead was discovered in 17 of the tested chocolates, including Cadbury's Royal Dark Mini Eggs and Royal Dark Chocolate Bar, Godiva's 72 percent and 50 percent cacao dark chocolate and Hershey's Special Dark.

Cadmium featured in seven of the chocolates, which included Ghirardelli's Intense Dark Twilight Delight and Dove's Dark Chocolate.

When As You Sow contacted the companies, just a couple of them agreed to solve the issue, but the others denied that their products are harmful and defended that their products are safe.

"Some minerals - like cadmium and lead - are found naturally in many foods, including seafood, peanuts, potatoes, grains, leafy vegetables and - sometimes - cocoa beans," the National Confectioners Association said. "Cocoa-based foods are consumed in small amounts and are not a major source of these minerals in the diet."