Second round of testing from EWG reveals that 100% of tested oat-based breakfast cereals are contaminated with glyphosate
01/25/2019 / By Tracey Watson
Did your kids eat cancer-causing glyphosate with their breakfast cereal this morning? If they ate an oats-based cereal made with conventionally grown oats then, yes, they probably did. The most recent round of tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) into potential pesticide contamination in food, found that every single oats-based cereal tested – that’s 100 percent – was contaminated with glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer.
Of course, General Mills, PepsiCo and the other companies that manufacture these cereals insist that they are 100 percent safe despite this contamination, simply because the glyphosate levels fall within the government’s 30 parts per million “safety” level set back in 2008. But, as noted by EWG, those levels were determined long before the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) described glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2015.
Monsanto immediately cried foul after the IARC’s report was released, and the company’s corrupt partner-in-crime, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has continued to insist that glyphosate is harmless. Nonetheless, the respected IARC scientists have resolutely stood by their findings, and other agencies, including California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), have subsequently labeled glyphosate as a chemical known to cause cancer.
How, then, is it possible that kids are scooping up glyphosate with their breakfast cereal every morning and nobody is doing anything about it? (Related: Breakfast cereal found to be contaminated with gender-bender chemical that tells your brain to make you fat.)
The EWG’s findings
The EWG commissioned an independent laboratory – Anresco Laboratories, based in San Francisco – to conduct the testing:
The tests detected glyphosate in all 28 samples of products made with conventionally grown oats. All but two of the 28 samples had levels of glyphosate above EWG’s health benchmark of 160 parts per billion, or ppb.
Products tested … included 10 samples of different types of General Mills’ Cheerios and 18 samples of different Quaker brand products from PepsiCo, including instant oatmeal, breakfast cereal and snack bars. The highest level of glyphosate found by the lab was 2,837 ppb in Quaker Oatmeal Squares breakfast cereal, nearly 18 times higher than EWG’s children’s health benchmark.
As noted by EWG’s president, Ken Cook, this is simply unacceptable.
“How many bowls of cereal and oatmeal have American kids eaten that came with a dose of weed killer? That’s a question only General Mills, PepsiCo and other food companies can answer,” Cook said. “But if those companies would just switch to oats that aren’t sprayed with glyphosate, parents wouldn’t have to wonder if their kids’ breakfasts contained a chemical linked to cancer. Glyphosate and other cancer-causing chemicals simply don’t belong in children’s food, period.”
Unfortunately, glyphosate is the most commonly used weed killer in the world and is pervasive in our environment. The levels of glyphosate determined by the EPA to be “safe” have been heavily influenced by industry lobbying, making them completely unreliable. As noted by EWG, “just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s safe.”
Make better breakfast choices
Of course, giving your kids cereal for breakfast every day, while certainly convenient, is not always the best choice. Most processed cereals are loaded with sugar, colorants, flavorants and preservatives, making them a less than ideal way for children to start their day.
The pace of modern life is hectic and it can seem much easier for your kids to help themselves to a bowl of cereal every day, but knowing that they are eating bowls of processed, poisonous junk might be enough of an incentive to get up a little earlier in the morning to make a healthier breakfast, or to teach your kids to make their own healthy breakfasts. Wellness Mama has some lovely healthy breakfast ideas which could provide a good starting point. (Related: Teaching and encouraging kids to eat healthy.)
It will take more time and effort on your part, but giving your family the right start to the day is well worth the extra work. Learn more at Glyphosate.news.
Sources include:
IARC.fr[PDF]
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