A scientist friend of mine points out that the "safe level" they're using is from California's Prop 65, which is widely held to use absurdly low thresholds: "half a cup of grape juice baby food contains 2x daily prop65 lead limit". So maybe take this article with a grain of (unleaded) salt.

A friend sent me this report earlier this week and had me spiraling a bit. Fortunately, Crooked Media’s friends of the pod show Terminally Online did some digging on this and pointed out what Dirk mentioned above. They referenced this doctor’s post about the report and she included a graph that normalizes the two products CR found to have the most lead to the actual US and European standards.

https://news.immunologic.org/p/consumer-reports-latest-panic-toxic

Something else to note is this is primarily in regards to plant based products as it sounds like they are more susceptible to having lead and other heavy metals absorbed from the soil they’re grown in.

I am a big Consumer Reports fan but this does seem a bit like fearmongering to me. They are using an extremely low “safety threshold” which even they admit has a “wide safety margin built in.” https://youtube.com/shorts/Xl7CNGUVHu0?si=NOzh6LQAq_lp-NSL

There’s no reason to panic if you’ve been using any of the products they tested, or if you take protein supplements generally. Many of these powders are fine to have occasionally, and even those with the highest lead levels are far below the concentration needed to cause immediate harm.

What authority do I have to say that, you ask?
It's actually a quote pulled directly from the article - after all of the scare-mongering in the first six paragraphs.

What as waste of e-ink this is! Consumer Reports continues to prove itself to be absolutely useless. Kinda like Wirecutter.
Read their reviews on something on which you are an expert and realize how off they typically are; then realize that all of those products for which you lack good knowledge.....they're most likely gonna be similarly off-base.

My use of Wirecutter nowadays boils down to looking at their top pick so I know to remove that from consideration. If I still read CR, that'd be the extent of my trust in them as well - particularly after seeing this sensationalized and disingenuous heap.

It's really sad how low CR has gotten and resorting to fearmongering. Used to be one of the most trusted names out there.

Call me crazy, but I don't want any lead in my protein supplements and publicizing the lead levels might make some of these companies look more closely into their supply chain.