According to a new report conducted by the nonprofit organization Environmental Working Group (EWG), a number of popular cereals that we all know and love were discovered to have glyphosate, a chemical in the Roundup weed killer that has been linked to cancer; 43 out of 45 tested cereals to be exact.
Just last week a jury in California ordered Monsanto, which is the agricultural company responsible for making the Roundup herbicide, to pay $289 million in damages to a man dying from cancer after he had been exposed to glyphosate from the herbicide.
After the verdict and related news, the EWG released test results from their independent laboratory that found the chemical glyphosate in 43 out of 45 types of cereal.
Out of the 43 cereal brands that tested positive, 31 of those cereals had a glyphosate level greater than 160 parts per billion, which is above the level that the EWG considers harmful to humans.
The cereals that have been found to be over the threshold in the laboratory tests include the following:
- Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Cereal
- Nature Valley Granola Protein Oats ‘n Honey
- Quaker Dinosaur Eggs (Brown Sugar, Instant Oatmeal)
- Quaker Steel Cut Oats
- Quaker Simply Granola Oats, Honey, Raisins & Almonds
- Lucky Charms and more
According to Fast Company, General Mills and Quaker responded to the EWG’s findings and this is what they have to say about it:
General Mills:
“Our products are safe and without question they meet regulatory safety levels. The EPA has researched this issue and has set rules that we follow as do farmers who grow crops including wheat and oats. We continue to work closely with farmers, our suppliers and conservation organizations to minimize the use of pesticides on the crops and ingredients we use in our foods.”
Quaker:
“Quaker does not add glyphosate during any part of the milling process. Glyphosate is commonly used by farmers across the industry who apply it pre-harvest. Once the oats are transported to us, we put them through our rigorous process that thoroughly cleanses them (de-hulled, cleaned, roasted and flaked).
Any levels of glyphosate that may remain are significantly below any regulatory limits and well within compliance of the safety standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as safe for human consumption.”
EWG’s Director of Communication, Monica Amarelo responded to their statements with disappointment because she feels as if Monsanto should take the necessary precautions to ensure that their oat farmers stop using glyphosate on their crops.
Amarelo stated in an article released yesterday, “General Mills and Quaker Oats are relying on outdated safety standards used by a government agency that is notorious for neglecting new science on chemicals. Our view is that the government standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency pose real health risks to Americans — particularly children, who are more sensitive to the effects of toxic chemicals than adults.”
Amarelo also included, “Just because a pesticide level is legal in food doesn’t mean that level is safe.”
More information on these findings can be found on EWG’s website here.
