Somone over at r/Soylent seems to have dug up information on what now looks like a bogus claim: I'll also add that ANYONE can post a press release on these mostly spammy pr 'news' sites. The guy behind that non-profit is Andrew Behar, who's previous employers include the 'Institute of Noetic Sciences' (a complete fakkin woo-woo 'institute' that "conducts research on such topics such as spontaneous remission, meditation, consciousness, alternative healing practices, consciousness-based healthcare, spirituality, human potential, psychic abilities, psychokenesis and survival of consciousness after bodily death.") and VivoMertic Inc (looks like a tiny ambulatory product company). He has a Bachelors in Communications and Media... Sounds to me like a fear-mongering hippie-nut. Edit:
High Levels of Lead and Cadmium Found by As You Sow in Two Samples of the Trendy Meal Replacement Powering Silicon Valley Coders From: http://www.asyousow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/As-You-Sow-Soylent-Press-Release_20150813-2.pdf Two samples? You are filing suit over TWO samples? Two samples out of MILLIONS shipped?! That's not science, that's hippie-dippie fear mongering. I'll also add they SEO optimized their press release, making sure to hyperlink their name... using press releases like this is a common SEO tactic Edit 2:
If you search for 'food' on their site they seem pretty pro-fast food, pro-big food companies as it's article after article applauding such companies. They also seem very pro-themselves and pro-food babe with their 'articles' they get posted (probably via 'press releases') on news sites. Edit 3:
And Andrew paid himself $124,800 for FYE 12/20/2013 out of $1,705,327 in revenue (that's 7.31%) yet they have page after page shitting all over CEO's for their salaries: http://www.asyousow.org/our-work/power-of-the-proxy/executive-compensation/ http://www.asyousow.org/ays_report/the-100-most-overpaid-ceos/ http://www.asyousow.org/our-work/power-of-the-proxy/executive-compensation/faqs/
etc Edit 4: OP's account has had exactly two posts in 3 years, a NSFW activism photo and this post, the orca thing is right up As You Grow's alley leading me to believe OP IS EMPLOYED BY AS YOU SOW and a quick google search shows connections betweent he woman in the photo and As You Sow Except the levels present aren't high at all.
Someone else on r/Soylent laid out the numbers: Soylent 1.5 self-reported levels: Soylent is over the Prop65 safe harbor limits for cadmium and lead MADL and slightly over the lead NSRL, which means they must include a warning. My box of Soylent 1.5 does have a warning for children and pregnant women, but does not have a warning about carcinogens... probably because I don't live in California. Soylent claims they include the necessary warning for California, so I'm not sure exactly what they are being legally threatened about. sidenote... Prop 65 limits appear to be very conservative: California Prop 65 NSRL (No Significant Risk Levels) for carcinogens and MADL (Maximum Allowable Dose Levels) for chemicals causing reproductive toxicity:
(http://oehha.ca.gov/prop65/pdf/safeharbor081513.pdf) Cadmium: NSRL: 0.05 (inhalation) ; MADL: 4.1µg/day
Lead: NSRL: 15µg/day ; MADL: 0.5µg/day
(https://faq.soylent.com/hc/en-us/articles/204197379-California-Proposition-65) Cadmium: 21.39µg/500ml = 85.56µg/day
Lead: 4.99µg/500ml = 19.96µg/day "a person exposed to the chemical at the NSRL for 70 years would not have more than a "one in 100,000" chance of developing cancer as a result of that exposure"
(http://oehha.ca.gov/prop65/background/p65plain.html) MADL "is determined by identifying the level of exposure that has been shown to not pose any harm to humans or laboratory animals" then that level is "divided by 1,000 in order to provide an ample margin of safety"