Why I'm Quitting Chocolate

For roughly the last twenty years, i've been enjoying dark chocolate regularly, at an average of perhaps 30 grams per day. Now i've learned that in doing so, i've been slowly poisoning myself. Lo, many cocoa products, including my favorite Green & Black's 85% chocolate bars, contain significant amounts of anthropogenic lead and cadmium. Apparently this has been the state of affairs since 2014, if not earlier, and nothing much has changed. Avast, we live in a polluted world!

Lead and cadmium are toxic to humans, damaging our organs (e.g. brains, hearts, and kidneys) even at small doses over many years. In fact, no healthy blood level exists for lead or cadmium.

But that does not stop heavy-metal-laden food and drink from being sold. Moreover, different jurisdictions set different tolerable levels on lead and cadmium. As far as i know, California set the lowest levels with its Proposition 65. My GB85 bars exceed those. You can check your favorite chocolate against them via As You Sow's website in the first link above. On the other hand, GB85 bars don't exceed the USA's FDA and EPA daily limits, which are much higher. Consumer Reports is concerned, but Consumer Reports NZ is not, because they used different guidance levels. Yes, New Zealand chocolate is contaminated too.

I'm taking a hard line and quitting chocolate —dates and peanut butter, anyone?— because all exposures to lead and cadmium are considered dangerous to human health, and i've been exposing myself too long. Choose your own thresholds, of course, keeping in mind that cocoa is not the only source of environmental lead and cadmium (paint!) nor the only food source of it (cinnamon!).