Round-Up ingredient found in cereals marketed toward kids: study
A key chemical used in controversial pesticide Roundup is found in a number of name-brand cereals and granolas, a study out Wednesday found.
The study paid for by the Environmental Working Group, found that levels of Glysophate were found 21 oat-based cereal and snack items, many of which are marketed to kids.
Testing results showed that amounts of Glysophate, a cancer-linked chemical, were found in Cheerios and Nature Valley products.
Glysophate is a key ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, a commonly used commercial pesticide. Since last August, three courts have ruled against Bayer-Monsanto, the producer of the pesticide, that the product lead to cancer in the instances of three plaintiffs. Most recently, a California court in May awarded a couple $2 billion in damages after determining their cancer was caused by the weedkiller Roundup.
More than 13,000 similar lawsuits have been filed against Monsanto or its parent company Bayer.
The EPA earlier this month proposed new rules to “help farmers target pesticide sprays on the intended pest, protect pollinators, and reduce the problem of weeds becoming resistant to glyphosate.”
But the agency has denied the link between the pesticide and cancer and the chemical is still approved federally for commercial use.
“EPA has found no risks to public health from the current registered uses of glyphosate,” Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in an earlier statement.
Yet the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, in 2015 classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in 2017 classified glysophate as a known carcinogen.
The pesticide is commonly used on corn, soybean and oat crops.
The EGW study found the chemical on all of the 21 oat-based products it tested with Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch, exhibiting the highest level of glysophate at 833 ppb. In drinking water, EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Level for the chemical is 700 ppb.
EPA did to return a request for comment on the study’s findings.
The results come a week a leaked report from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed the agency found another cancer-linked chemical was showing up in milk, meat, produce and even store-made chocolate cakes sold in the U.S.
Aspects of the study, presented last week at a scientific conference in Helsinki found the class of chemicals, abbreviated as PFAS, present in a number of other food products. PFAS are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because of the time it takes them to break down.
The FDA later said they did not “have any indication that these substances are a human health concern.”
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/448145-round-up-ingredient-found-in-children-cereals-study