Tests Come as
Bayer-Monsanto Fined More Than $2B in Roundup Cancer Cases
A toxic
weedkiller linked to cancer was detected in every sample of oat-based cereals
and snack products in a new round of
laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group.
All but four of the 21
products contained levels of glyphosate, the main ingredient in
Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup, higher that what EWG scientists consider protective
for children’s health with an adequate margin of safety.
The highest levels of
the weedkiller were detected in General Mills’ Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch
at 833 parts per billion, or ppb, and Cheerios, with 729 ppb. EWG’s health
benchmark for children is 160 ppb. A child would only need to eat a single 60
gram serving of food with a glyphosate level of 160 ppb to reach the maximum
dose considered safe by EWG.
This is the third
round of glyphosate tests by EWG, and it confirms the findings from the first
two in August and October last
year. Tests of 94 samples of oat-based foods found glyphosate in all but two
samples, with 74 samples at levels of glyphosate above EWG’s health benchmark.
General Mills has so
far refused the growing call from consumers that the company get glyphosate out
of the foods it markets to children. More than 236,000 people have signed a
petition to General Mills, Quaker and other companies calling on them to use
oats that were not sprayed with the weedkiller.
“As these latest tests show, a box of Cheerios or other oat-based foods on store shelves today almost certainly comes with a dose of a cancer-causing weedkiller,” said Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., vice president for science investigations at EWG.
Naidenko asked: “Does
General Mills really want to keep using a chemical that independent scientists
say causes cancer, made by a company that three juries have found guilty of
covering up its health hazards? Or will they listen to the growing chorus of
concerned consumers calling on General Mills and other companies to remove
glyphosate from the cereals kids love to eat?”
Each year, more than
250 million pounds of glyphosate are sprayed on crops in the U.S., mostly on
“Roundup ready” corn and soybeans genetically engineered to withstand the
herbicide. Increasingly, however, glyphosate is applied to non-GMO wheat,
barley, oats and beans. The weedkiller kills the crop, drying it out so it can
be harvested sooner.
In 2015, the World
Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified
glyphosate as “probably
carcinogenic” to people. In 2017, the herbicide was also
listed by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment as a
chemical known to the
state to cause cancer.
More recently, three
courts in California have ordered Bayer-Monsanto to pay more than $2 billion
after each of the juries found glyphosate caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma in four
people who used Roundup.
The Environmental
Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to
live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and
unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.