43 Oat-Based Breakfast Products Contain Monsanto’s Roundup, Says EWG
Almost all samples of oat cereals, oatmeal, granola, and snack bars recently tested by the Environmental Working Group contain the herbicide glyphosate, and this, despite the fact that there are no GMO oats on the marketplace today.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, an herbicide used to treat Roundup Ready corn and soy plants that have been genetically engineered to resist the chemical. Opting for non-GMO corn and soy products should make it easy for consumers to avoid the herbicide, but it is also used to dry some grain crops out at harvest, including oats.
EWG’s tests found glyphosate in 43 of 45 samples of products made with conventionally grown oats; more than two-thirds of the samples contained more than what EWG scientists consider protective of children’s health, including samples of Cheerios, Nature Valley Granola, Quaker Dinosaur Eggs instant oatmeal, and Barbara’s Multigrain Spoonfuls.
About one-third of 16 samples of products made with organically grown oats also contained glyphosate, albeit at levels “well below” EWG’s benchmark for safety.
The EWG has launched a consumer petition to press companies to eliminate glyphosate from food products entirely.
“We will petition the Environmental Protection Agency to do its job and end uses of glyphosate that resulted in the contamination we report today,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “But we very much doubt our petition will be acted upon by President Trump’s lawless EPA. So we’re calling on the companies to make these iconic products with clean ingredients.”
In 2015, the World Health Organization found that glyphosate was a “probable” human carcinogen. Last week, a California court agreed, ordering Monsanto to pay $289 million to a man whose exposure to Roundup led to him developing terminal lymphoma.
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