Media Release: July 9, 2004
Contact: Leticia Ayala, (619) 235-0281

EHC applauds Attorney General’s suit against
manufacturers of lead-contaminated candy
Companies must act now to protect children’s health

(San Diego) – Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) today applauded California Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s decision to sue Mexican candy manufactures and distributors for failing to warn consumers that many of their products contain unsafe levels of lead. The suit was filed under the provisions of Proposition 65, which requires that businesses provide clear and reasonable warnings before exposing people to carcinogens or other reproductive toxins. Lockyer’s actions were prompted in part by EHC’s plans to file its own Proposition 65 complaint.

Lead poisoning is the number one environmental health threat to children under 6-years-old. Among other things, exposure to lead causes reproductive harm, including miscarriages and birth defects; developmental harm in children, including low IQ; and cancer.

“Clearly, these candy manufacturers knew that their products had tested positive for lead, but they continued to make money at the expense of children’s health,” said Leticia Ayala, Director of EHC’s Campaign to Eliminate Childhood Lead Poisoning. “Their actions are simply unacceptable.”

In 2001, EHC's community promotoras collected Mexican candies from a variety of local stores in San Diego and sent them to the California Department of Health Services (DHS) for testing. In July 2002, DHS released tests showing two brands of Mexican candies contained excessive levels of lead. These candies were not removed from store shelves.

Candies contaminated with lead present an unacceptable health risk to children, and should have been removed from store shelves immediately. But a year after the DHS test results, many of these poisonous candies are still readily available to children in San Diego communities.

In April, the Orange County Register reported that more than 100 brands of candy sold in California, most of them from Mexico, have tested positive for dangerous levels of lead in the past decade. In nearly every case, the candy — mostly marketed to Latino kids — stayed on store shelves and no action was taken to protect children’s health. “Ultimately want we want is for the problem to be fixed at the source, and for manufacturers to provide candies that are safe for children on both sides of the border,” Ayala said.

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