A nutritious, healthy breakfast has long been touted as the best way to start a day—so it’s more than troubling to discover that high levels of a toxic herbicide have been found in Cheerios, Quaker Oats brands, Kellogg’s cereals, and granola bars.
Glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, was found in 43 of 45 samples of products made with conventionally grown oats, in a study commissioned by the Environmental Working Group—and three-fourths contained levels higher than what is considered safe for children. While the EPA denies that glyphosate increases cancer risk, WHO in 2015 classified it as a probable human carcinogen. Very recently, that classification proved irrefutable, as Monsanto was ordered to pay $289 million to a man dying of cancer from exposure to Roundup.
One-to two-year-old children have the highest exposure—levels 230 times the EWG benchmark, and twice California’s No Significant Risk Level. In 2017 California added glyphosate to its Prop 65 registry of chemicals known to cause cancer. This level is 60 times lower than the EPA’s safety level, representing one 60 gram serving of a food with 160 ppb. Most samples exceeded that—two samples of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats measured over 1,000 ppb, Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal came in at 490 ppb. For children that would be 0.01 mg of glyphosate per day.
Considering the widespread use of Roundup—250 million pounds sprayed on U.S. crops every year—it’s not surprising glyphosate is turning up.
Close to one-third of 16 samples for organic oat products also contained the herbicide. Glyphosate enters organic foods from drift, contamination during processing, or from pre-harvest spraying of wheat, barley, and oats for speeding up harvest.
Source: Environmental Working Group
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https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/glyphosateincereal/#.W5Q5WOhKiUk
