These days you have to be careful about anything you are putting into your and your children’s body. News has come about that glyphosate, a chemical found in weed-killing products has not only been linked to cancer, but also has been found multiple breakfast foods that you might have in your pantry right now!
A non-profit called the “Environmental Working Group” has put out a study that found small amounts of the chemical in oats, granolas and snack bars. Even though there are small amounts of the chemical, scientists say they are not safe for children. Even if they were safe for us adults, I wouldn’t want to be risking my life on it!
Environmental Working Group tested 45 products and found the chemical within 31 of those products!
Scott Faber who is the VP or government affairs at EWG said:
“We’re very concerned that consumers are eating more glyphosate than they know.”
Basically they found the same chemical in the popular weedkiller “Round-Up” in a multitude of breakfast products. These products include Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, Cheerios, Quaker Dinosaur Egg Instant Oats, Great Value Instant Oats, and Back to Nature Classic Granola. These products were found to have “excessive” levels of glyphosate.
There are two opposing views to what glyphosate does to your body. On one hand, the World Health Organization (pretty dang reputable source) says that glyphosate is a “probable carcinogen.” On top of that, the state of California reports that the chemical is “known to the state to cause cancer.”
Now on the other side of the coin, Monsanto refutes these statements. Surprise right? The company that makes billions of dollars from these horrible chemicals. In a statement they said:
“…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.”
I don’t understand why we have to prove the human body can take a harmful chemical to a certain degree. If it’s killing off bacteria, it can’t be helpful to the body.
To prove EWG’s study further, a jury in California last week ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million to a man that claimed the weed killers their company produced caused his cancer.
Quaker also put out a statement since many of their products were named in the EWG study. They refuted it also saying:
“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 also told CBS News that:
“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.”
Either way, I think it’s time to hold these huge companies accountable for putting harmful chemicals into our bodies, even if it truly is a “trace amount.”