Study finds 90 percent of families have toxic weed killer in their bodies. Significantly higher levels found in children
By Surya Zeeb
Published: August 2, 2019
Category: Glyphosate Controversy, The Organic & Non-GMO Report Newsletter
Results released as Trump’s EPA poised to approve the continued use of glyphosate in the U.S. for 15 more years
A new study by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) found that over 90 percent of families tested had glyphosate in their bodies. The study sought to determine whether children are more exposed to Monsanto’s toxic weed killer than their parents. The results were unequivocal. Nine of the twelve parent-child pairs tested (in one family both parents and two children participated), the child had higher concentrations of glyphosate in their body than their parent. Six children had twice the amount of their parents and one had nearly 100 times more. The families tested lived in a variety of states from across the country. CEH’s findings corroborate other recent studies that found glyphosate in the bodies of 70 to 93 percent of those tested.
“Our findings are particularly alarming for children, whose bodies are still developing,” said Caroline Cox, CEH’s Senior Scientist. “A toxic weed killer known to cause cancer has no business in our bodies or our food. Human health and the health of our children should outweigh the chemical industry’s right to profit. These results warrant immediate, long-term, independent follow-up studies with increased sample sizes.”
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer/Monsanto’s Roundup, is the most widely used herbicide in history. 2.4 billion pounds have been sprayed on American farmland in the last decade. The World Health Organization has classified it as a “probable human carcinogen.” California’s environmental protection agency listed glyphosate as a chemical known to cause cancer. Recent research has found it can increase the risk of some cancers by more than 40 percent, disrupt hormones, damage human cells, and genes, and cause birth defects.
The increasing use of the weed killer allows for numerous routes of human exposure, including food and proximity to farms that use it on corn, soybeans, oats, and hundreds of other crops. Children are more exposed to pesticides than adults, and Roundup is increasingly sprayed around homes, schools, and parks, and is found in popular children’s cereals and the vast majority of oat-based items on public school menus.
“Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) like glyphosate can have lifelong and even transgenerational health impacts,” said Alexis Luckey, Executive Director, Toxic Free North Carolina, and a study participant. “These hormone disruptors can cause even more harm at low doses. So, there’s no assurance that any level of glyphosate exposure is safe. This study highlights the need to protect children and families by promoting organic alternatives to this toxic weed killer that are less harmful to human health and the environment.”
Source: Center for Environmental Health
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