A study released on Wednesday said high amounts of the widely used weed killer Roundup was found in some types of oat cereals, oatmeal, granola, and snack bars. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group said in the report that they tested 45 breakfast products made of oats and discovered all but two had high traces of glyphosate.
Thirty-one out of the 45 products had levels higher that what scientists consider to be okay for children. According to The Hill, children shouldn’t have more than .01 milligrams per day.
CBS News reports that products such as Cheerios, Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, Quaker Dinosaur Egg instant Oats, and Back to Nature Classic Granola all contained high levels of the product.
There has been a long debate between some scientists, doctors, and activists on glyphosate link to cancer. According to CNN, just last week, a groundskeeper was awarded $239 million in damages by the jury at the Superior Court of California in San Francisco. The man’s attorney argued that extreme exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup caused his terminal cancer.
Oatmeal, breakfast foods contain unsafe amounts of cancer-linked weed killer, report says https://t.co/S3lxZUiLJb pic.twitter.com/kiQ20sAnD2
— WUSA9 (@wusa9) August 16, 2018
Monsanto is the company that helped create the weed-killer 40 years ago and help turn it into a popular brand. In a New York Times interview, vice president at Monsanto Scott Partridge said that there are hundreds of studies that say glyphosate doesn’t cause cancer and is safe for human use.
“Even at the highest level reported…an adult would have to eat 118 pounds of the food item every day for the rest of their life in order to reach the EPA’s limit,” the company said in a different interview with CBS News.
But the concern really lies with the children consuming these products.
“It is very troubling that cereals children like to eat contain glyphosate,” said PH.D EWG toxicologist and author of the report Alexis Temkin in the press release. “Parents shouldn’t worry about whether feeding their children healthy oat foods will also expose them to a chemical linked to cancer. The government must take steps to protect our most vulnerable populations.”
The fact is that the human effects of glyphosate is still relatively unknown. Many regulators and scientists do say it’s safe. The National Institutes Of Health published in a recent, major study that they “observed no associations between glyphosate use and overall cancer risk.”
Quaker Oats and General Mills both released similar statements stating that their products comply with federal regulations and were safe.
“While our products comply with all safety and regulatory requirements, we are happy to be pat of the discussion and are interested in collaborating with industry peers, regulators and other interested parties on glyphosate,” said a Quaker Oats spokesman on Wednesday.
The spokeswoman for General Mills also said, “Our products are safe and without question they meet regulatory safety levels.”
Either way, safe or not, I don’t think I want to consume glyphosate every single morning for breakfast. It just doesn’t sound too appetizing.