"Low Heavy Metals Verified solves an industry-wide problem by creating a fair, transparent framework for heavy metals self-certification by responsible companies.
This effort is non-commercial, free of charge, fully transparent and created for the benefit of natural products consumers who are rightfully concerned about what they're eating and drinking."
–Mike Adams, The Health Ranger
Executive Director, the Consumer Wellness Center
Photos from the Forensic Food Lab where heavy metals tests are conducted.
THE EVIDENCE: The Natural News Forensic Food Lab, headed by food researcher Mike Adams (the Health Ranger) has tested over 1,000 products using ICP-MS atomic spectroscopy instrumentation. Some of these results have already been published at Labs.NaturalNews.com. These results show:
- Over 500 ppb Mercury in dried cat treats
- Over 10 ppm Tungsten in rice protein products
- Over 5 ppm Lead in ginkgo herb products
- Over 400 ppb Lead in cacao powders
- Over 500 ppb Lead and over 2000 ppb Cadmium in rice proteins
- Over 6 ppm Arsenic and over 1 ppm Lead in some spirulina products
- Over 100 ppb Mercury in dog treats
- Over 1,200 ppm Copper in children's multivitamins
- Over 200 ppb Lead in brand-name mascara products
- So much mercury contamination found in Maine lobster that the government halts fisheries.
THE RESPONSE: In response to the publishing of these findings, some companies that manufacture natural and organic products have announced new efforts to test source materials for heavy metals and dramatically reduce heavy metals concentrations in their retail products. Some other companies, however, have said that they believe heavy metals are actually good for you and that their customers should eat more heavy metals, and therefore they are not going to make any efforts to reduce heavy metals in their products. (This response stands at odds with all known environmental science.)
THE SOLUTION: The industry desperately needs a standard -- even a voluntary standard -- to which products can be compared for their heavy metals composition. Neither the USDA nor the FDA have expressed any interest in promoting or enforcing such a standard, so Natural News developed and published the standard you see here.
This standard is a purely voluntary standard, and each higher level of the standard is double the concentration of the lower level, so the standard is a logarithmic scale.
Update 1.1 - We have removed copper from this list for the reason that copper is nutritive at small levels even though it is toxic at high levels. The difficulty is that some multivitamins have very high ppm of copper even though they only deliver 1-2 mg of copper per serving. Under the old copper rankings, they would have been rated "F" on this scale. Until we find a more appropriate way to rate copper, we have removed it from the ratings list.
(This is currently Version 1.0 of the standards. We may add Aluminum, Nickel, Tin, Tungsten and other elements over time. Any revisions to these standards will be logged and noted here.)
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Verified A+++
Lead < 0.025 ppm Cadmium < 0.1 ppm Arsenic < 0.62 ppm Mercury < 0.006 ppm |
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Verified A++
Lead < 0.05 ppm Cadmium < 0.25 ppm Arsenic < 1.25 ppm Mercury < 0.012 ppm |
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Verified A+
Lead < 0.12 ppm Cadmium < 0.5 ppm Arsenic < 2.5 ppm Mercury < 0.025 ppm |
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Verified A
Lead < 0.25 ppm Cadmium < 1 ppm Arsenic < 5 ppm Mercury < 0.050 ppm |
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Verified B
Lead < 0.5 ppm Cadmium < 2 ppm Arsenic < 10.0 ppm Mercury < 0.1 ppm |
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Verified C
Lead < 1 ppm Cadmium < 4 ppm Arsenic < 20.0 ppm Mercury < 0.2 ppm |
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Verified D
Lead < 2 ppm Cadmium < 8 ppm Arsenic < 40.0 ppm Mercury < 0.4 ppm |
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Verified F
Is anything worse than "D" |
Frequently Asked Questions
CAN MY COMPANY USE THESE LOGOS?
Currently, we do not allow any use of these logos by other companies. We do, however, encourage companies to engage in the following process:
- Test the heavy metals concentrations of your own products using a qualified laboratory. Be sure to test every production lot, not just a single lot.
- Publicize the level your products meet, if you wish, and voluntarily LINK to this website to describe the details of the level. (We will create a list on this site of companies which are voluntarily citing these standards.)
- Create your own artwork, if you wish, to communicate this to your customers.
We would like to explore a way to allow companies to use these logos but we haven't yet developed a method which would reliably prevent fraud attempts by some companies which operate with low integrity. As a result, we currently allow no use of these logos as we cannot 100% validate the heavy metals concentration of every production lot without engaging in very expensive, routine testing of every production lot.
WHAT LEVELS OF HEAVY METALS ARE SAFE FOR ME TO CONSUME?
What's clear to nearly all environmental scientists is that lower exposure to dietary heavy metals is better for your health. All heavy metals interfere with healthy cellular function. At what level they become "dangerous" depends on your genetics, your diet and your overall health.
Heavy metals bioaccumulate in the human body. When levels become high enough, they substantially interfere with healthy functioning of the brain, liver, kidneys, heart, skin, reproductive organs and other body systems.
Learn more about heavy metals toxicity at: http://labs.naturalnews.com/Heavy-Metals.html
For expert clinical assistance at heavy metals detoxification, visit ACAM.org
I'VE BEEN TOLD THESE HEAVY METALS ARE "NATURALLY OCCURRING" IN ALL FOODS AND THEREFORE DON'T MATTER
That's a myth promoted by some companies whose products are heavily contaminated with toxic heavy metals. Some of these companies are trying to convince consumers that heavy metals don't matter by falsely claiming they are "naturally occurring." The claim is scientifically false and a prime example of scientific fraud perpetrated against innocent customers.
As proof of this, consider the fact that rice grown in China is often heavily contaminated with lead, cadmium and mercury while rice grown in the USA is incredibly clean, with virtually zero levels of those same heavy metals. If heavy metals were "naturally occurring" in all rice, then levels would be the same no matter where rice is grown. But they aren't. This proves that much of the rice being grown in China is grown in areas which are heavily contaminated by industrial pollution containing heavy metals.
We have also verified huge concentration differences in seaweed products depending on where they are grown. Wakame grown near New Zealand has almost zery heavy metals, while Wakame grown near China is heavily contaminated with heavy metals.
This video explains the truth about "naturally occurring" in explicit detail: http://labs.naturalnews.com/Video-False-Argument...
Also, listen to this interview with Dr. Chris Shade to learn more about mercury toxicity: http://labs.naturalnews.com/Video-Interview...
DOES NATURAL NEWS OFFER LABORATORY TESTING SERVICES?
No, we do not offer laboratory testing services on a commercial basis. All the testing we do is done free of charge to manufacturers and food companies. As a result, we are not able to test all products available today.
There are many labs available which do offer commercial laboratory services, however. We recommend investigating:
Eurofins (www.eurofins.com)
Sora Labs (www.Soralabs.com)
IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group (www.iehinc.com)
HOW WILL THIS SELF-CERTIFICATION BE ENFORCED?
Natural News will spot-check companies who claim adherance to this self-certification system by secretly purchasing their products at retail and testing their products via ICP-MS. If the results we find are drastically different from the self-certification levels claimed by the manufacturer, we will go public with our findings on Natural News and let customers know the manufacturer in question is making false claims.
We will pursue this effort with our own funding, never asking for any money from the companies whose products we test. (Because that would be unethical.)