Breakfast with a Dose of Roundup?
EWG’s new report, Breakfast With a Dose of Roundup?, reveals alarming levels of glyphosate in popular cereals, granola bars and instant oatmeals. Glyphosate is the cancer-causing key ingredient in Monsanto’s signature herbicide, Roundup. Recently, a San Francisco court ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million in damages after ruling glyphosate played a key role in causing a school groundskeeper’s cancer.
EPA has denied that glyphosate may increase the risk of cancer, and documents introduced in the recent California trial showed how the agency and Monsanto worked together to promote the claim that the chemical is safe. EWG has been urging the EPA to review all evidence linking glyphosate to increased cancer risk and other adverse health effects in human and animal studies. The EPA should limit the use of glyphosate on food crops, including pre-harvest application.
Each year, more than 250 million pounds of glyphosate are sprayed on American crops, primarily on “Roundup-ready” corn and soybeans genetically engineered to withstand the herbicide. But when it comes to the food we eat, the highest glyphosate levels are not found in products made with GMO corn.
Increasingly, glyphosate is also sprayed just before harvest on wheat, barley, oats and beans that are not genetically engineered. Glyphosate kills the crop, drying it out so that it can be harvested sooner than if the plant were allowed to die naturally.
Monsanto’s cancer-causing chemical shouldn’t be anywhere near our food!
Quick Stats on Glyphosate
- In 2016, the non-profit Food Democracy Now tested for glyphosate in single samples of a variety of popular foods. “Alarming levels” of glyphosate were found in a number of cereals and other products, including more than 1,000 ppb in Cheerios. More recently, the Center for Environmental Health tested single samples of 11 cereal brands and found glyphosate levels ranging from about 300 ppb to more than 2,000 ppb.
- Glyphosate has contaminated our planet, and is now found in our children’s urine, mother’s milk, our bloodstreams, and our food and water.
- In 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization found that glyphosate “is a probable human carcinogen”.
- In July of 2017 the California State Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) added glyphosate to its prop 65 list of known carcinogens.
- In October of 2017, after over 1 million Europeans requested a ban, 72% of the Members of the European Parliament voted to BAN glyphosate and EU Member states have refused to renew the license.
- Four countries have banned glyphosate: Malta, Sri Lanka, The Netherlands, and Argentina.
- Many U.S. school districts and cities have already discontinued the use of glyphosate.
Read the full report to find out if glyphosate is in any of your favorite foods. Check out the resources below to protect your family and tell food giants to get glyphosate out of our food!
EPA: Ban GLYPHOSATE Glyphosate does not belong in cereal. Act and urge the EPA to restrict pre-harvest applications of glyphosate and tell companies to identify and use sources of glyphosate-free oats.
Remove RoundUp From The Shelves: Home Depot, Costco, Lowes
SIGN THE PETITION TO BAN GLYPHOSATE FROM IDAHO
GLYPHOSATE Resources:
Glyphosate Herbicides Contain Toxic Levels of Arsenic
