[SethTro]

From my reading the disagreement is about how often or much chocolate people consume. The thresholds (MADL, EU) are in µg/day and the Consumer Reports numbers are in µg/serving.

Arstechnica somewhat bridges this gap at the end with quotes including "at these intake levels", "A single serving", "from time to time", "indulging during holidays".

[Retric]

The issue with lead is you can have a sub clinical amount from a dozen or even a hundred sources and end up with significant issues. Thus the threshold needs to be set extremely low for any individual source.

Arstechnica is really understating the risks here. While global chocolate consumption is 7.2 million metric tons that isn’t split evenly among 8 billion people resulting in 1.8kg/person per year instead the majority of the global population is 0-0.5kg/person and the rest is increasingly concentrated.

It’s not that uncommon to find someone eating a 1.6oz Hershey chocolate bar per day or the equivalent amount in whatever brand they prefer. If they happen to like an unusually high concentration brand the amount on its own might not seem concerning but it combines with every other source in their life and their lifetime accumulation from other sources.

[sparker72678]

For someone in the upper 1% of chocolate consumption, lead intake via chocolate is unlikely to be anywhere near the top of their list of health risk factors.

[newZWhoDis]

>Arstechnica is really understating the risks here.

Glad to see my Ars ban in 2015 was ahead of the curve, and sad they are still churning out the same garbage that got them blacklisted in the first place.

[pests]

> instead the majority of the global population is 0-0.5kg/person

Count me closer to that 0 number. I can't think of the last time I ate any chocolate. Never was much into sweets or snacking.

> It’s not that uncommon to find someone eating a 1.6oz Hershey chocolate bar per day

I can think of two acquaintances who consume at least that a day.

[henearkr]

Exactly, so as an abnormally avid chocolate consumer, I'm still scared (and even more than before reading Arstechnica's take).

[nomel]

I used to eat a large bar of very dark, high quality, chocolate per day (having to constantly explain to onlookers that the whole bar had the sam sugar as a half cup of milk). I’m sure I was in the 99th percentile for cocoa. I stopped when I saw this coming a few years ago.