permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

 CBS News August 15, 2018, 7:45 AM
Weed-killing chemical linked to cancer found in some children's breakfast
foods

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A new report found glyphosate, a weed-killing chemical that some health
authorities link to cancer, in a number of popular breakfast foods and
cereals marketed to children. The study by the non-profit Environmental
Working Group (EWG) discovered trace amounts of the most widely used
herbicide in the country in oats, granolas and snack bars. Thirty-one out
of 45 tested products
<https://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth/glyphosateincereal/> had levels higher
than what some scientists consider safe for children.

Recently, some scientists, doctors and activists around the world have
worked to keep glyphosate out of crops due to concerns that it is a
dangerous carcinogen.

"We're very concerned that consumers are eating more glyphosate than they
know," said Scott Faber, vice president of government affairs at EWG. He
has been working to improve food safety standards for more than a decade.
He said he and his team at EWG had a lab test involving "45 samples of
products made with conventionally grown oats" and found glyphosate – the
active ingredient in the Monsanto weed-killer Roundup – in all but two.

"I was shocked," said Dr. Jennifer Lowry, who heads the Council on
Environmental Health for the American Academy of Pediatrics and is a
toxicologist at Children's Mercy Kansas City.

"We don't know a lot about the effects of glyphosate on children," Lowry
said. "And essentially we're just throwing it at them."

EWG used its own, more stringent standards to conclude that products with
excessive levels of the herbicide included Quaker Old Fashioned Oats,
Cheerios, Quaker Dinosaur Egg Instant Oats, Great Value Instant Oats, and
Back to Nature Classic Granola. Glyphosate was even found in a few organic
products, though most had non-detectable levels.

The World Health Organization says glyphosate is a "probable carcinogen,"
and California lists it as a chemical "known to the state to cause cancer."

Monsanto disputes that, saying in a statement, "glyphosate does not cause
cancer" and "has a more than 40-year history of safe use."

Of EWG's study, Monsanto says "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" for glyphosate residues.

But just last week, a jury in California ordered Monsanto to pay one man
$289 million in damages
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dewayne-johnson-monsanto-roundup-weed-killer-jury-award-today-2018-08-10/>
after he claimed the company's weed killers caused his cancer. EWG's Faber
is skeptical of EPA's glyphosate limits.

"We don't think it does enough in particular to protect children," Faber
said.

"It is time now for them to step up and do their jobs to ban glyphosate,"
said Zen Honeycutt, who heads Moms Across America, a group formed to raise
awareness about toxic exposures. Her family switched to an organic-only
diet after her three sons developed allergies and other health problems.

"We want to trust that what is in the grocery store is safe and the
shocking reality is that in many cases it's not," Honeycutt said.

In a statement Quaker said: "We proudly stand by the safety and quality of
our Quaker products. Any levels of glyphosate that may remain are
significantly below any limits of the safety standards set by the EPA and
the European Commission as safe for human consumption."

General Mills told CBS News: "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."

On Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 2:12 PM, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Glyphosate, weed-killing Roundup chemical linked to cancer, found in
> children's breakfast foods - CBS News
> https://www.cbsnews.com/news/glyphosate-roundup-chemical-
> found-in-childrens-breakfast-foods/
>
> Somewhere there is a list of foods that contain the most glyphosate
> residues. Cheerios (oat cereal) was one of the worst
> and that would likely include other non organic oat cereals, Cheerio
> look-alikes.
>



-- 
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared