Soylent hits back at claims of unsafe levels of lead and cadmium

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/17/soylent-unsafe-levels-lead-cadmium

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Food replacement startup Soylent has hit back at claims that its product contains unhealthy levels of lead and cadmium, after environmental campaign group As You Sow announced its intention to sue the firm under California’s Proposition 65.

The law, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, imposes strict limits on the levels of toxic elements that can be found in foodstuffs without a warning label. But Soylent argues that its only error is one of labelling, and that the levels of the metals in its product are totally safe.

In a release, As You Sow reported that “test results commissioned by As You Sow, conducted by an independent laboratory, show that one serving of Soylent 1.5 can expose a consumer to a concentration of lead that is 12 to 25 times above California’s Safe Harbour level for reproductive health, and a concentration of cadmium that is at least four-times greater than the Safe Harbour level for cadmium.”

But while Soylent accepts it breaches the minimum levels set by Proposition 65, it argues that “Soylent does not have unusual or unsafe levels of lead, cadmium, or any metal”.

Related: My week on Soylent: 'I was irritable, grumpy and a general pain in the arse'

The company continues: “Trace amounts of lead and cadmium are present everywhere, including drinking water, which is why the FDA and EPA set strict exposure limits … Lead in Soylent 1.5 is 0.009982ug/mL, less than 1/50th of the FDA requirements for infant food.

“The heavy metal levels specified by California Proposition 65, which were cited in As You Sow’s press release, are much more stringent than those set by the FDA, the EPA, and the WHO. As a result, most packaged foods sold in California, as well as restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, convenience stores, and theme parks are required to display the warning. We are not required to change the product, but we are required to display the Proposition 65 text where we sell our products, which we do.”

The limits marked out by Proposition 65 are specifically designed to be as stringent as possible, with the “Maximum Allowable Dose Levels” being set at the level below which it can be proven that no harm occurs. Products which breach those levels are required to bear a label which reads: “WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.”

Soylent recently released “version two” of its meal replacement kit, which resembles a souped-up protein shake. The new version does not require refrigeration, which prompted Soylent founder Rob Rhinehart to give up mains electricity and live entirely off solar power. He describes buying new clothes from China rather than washing the old ones, selling his car and exclusively using public transport and Ubers, and boiling water for coffee and tea with a butane stove.

He wrote: “The first space colonies will have no coal power plants. I am ready. For now though, as I am driven through the gleaming city, my hunger peacefully at bay, I have visions of the parking lots and grocery stores replaced by parks and community centers, power plants retrofitted as museums and galleries. Traffic and trash and pollution will evaporate, if only we are willing to adapt some routines.”