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Following the release of the report Glyphosate: Unsafe On Any Plate on November 14, which revealed alarming levels of the weedkiller glyphosate in popular American foods, Monsanto supporters went in to full attack mode to protect their number one product, however this time they fell on their own swords within a matter of days.
Last year, 17 leading global cancer experts from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) sparked a firestorm when they classified glyphosate as a class 2A “probable human carcinogen”.
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On the heels of this growing controversy surrounding the safety of glyphosate, the testing report published by Food Democracy Now! and The Detox Project revealed alarming levels (5 to 1125 ppb) of glyphosate in General Mills’ Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran and Frosted Flakes and PepsiCo’s Doritos Cool Ranch, Ritz Crackers and Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips, as well as many more famous products, at levels that present significant risks according to the latest independent peer-reviewed science on glyphosate.
Fail #1: Criticism of testing methods
What happened following the publishing of ‘Glyphosate: Unsafe On Any Plate’ can only be described as an epic fail by some of Monsanto’s main supporters including Dr. Kevin Folta (University of Florida) and Dr. Michelle McGuire (Washington State University).
Folta and McGuire started the attack on the report on November 14 on Twitter, with criticism of the testing methods used, even before they understood what these were.
However, after holding an e-mail conversation with the FDA-registered Anresco Laboratories, Folta was forced to withdraw his criticism, which he had already fed to a selection of journalists across the U.S..
Folta stated on November 24; “I was contacted by the laboratory that did the analysis for them and I am comfortable that they did the detection 100% correctly. No question.”
Anresco Laboratories expert statement on their new era of glyphosate testing can be found here.
Fail #2: Misinformation regarding the safety of low levels of glyphosate
After their first line of attack failed massively, Monsanto’s supporters moved on to other possible ways to attack the report.
Firstly, they tried the dose makes the poison argument that is only used by desperate industry-funded scientists still hanging on to the understanding of science from the 1970s and 1980s. Not surprisingly, Dr. Folta is one of those industry scientists who still ‘believe’ that low doses of chemicals are not dangerous despite mainstream scientific evidence now showing that many chemicals can be endocrine disruptors (hormone hackers) at very low levels (e.g. 0.1 to 3000 ppb).
Chemical industry funded science still suggests that the higher the dose of a chemical the more dangerous it is, however modern independent science has discovered that many toxic chemicals have as much or more of an influence on our health at low doses– these chemicals are known as hormone hackers (endocrine disruptors).
A study from March 2015 stated that the health costs to the European Union of hormone hacking chemicals is over $ 150 Billion per year! The study stated that lower IQ, adult obesity and 5% or more of autism cases are all linked to exposure to endocrine disruptors.
Glyphosate is likely to be one of these hormone hacking chemicals according to independent science. Find more information on this here.
Fail #3: Peer Review needed for food testing results?
Dr. Folta and colleagues have now taken to stating that they cannot trust the results because they are not peer-reviewed, even though they are all clearly aware of the difference between University studies and commercial laboratory reports.
This is a ridiculous line of attack as millions of food samples in the U.S. are tested and reported by FDA-registered laboratories, such as Anresco Laboratories, every single year with no peer-review.
The Glyphosate: Unsafe On Any Plate report is not a University-based scientific study, which would require peer-review, it is a report of accurate results of glyphosate levels in popular American foods from a commercial laboratory (Anresco Laboratories) with over 70 years of experience in protecting public health through using accurate testing methods.
Monsanto and their supporters have thus completely failed in their latest attempt to hide the real truth about glyphosate from the public! Surely a day to celebrate!
Of course, education is one of the best things that can be done to make everyone wiser about things going on around us. That said, Cheerios are made with oats as the main ingredient, as with Frosted Flakes are made with flour that comes from wheat. Neither of those two grains have a tolerance to glysophate. If glysophate were sprayed on either, it would kill the plant. Glysophate is not used in the production of either grain. At current, the only crops raised that have glysophate tolerance are corn, soybeans (both where the majority are used in livestock feed production) and cotton. If glysophate were really a carcinogenic, don’t you think every farmer that has used it for the last twenty years would have cancer? Aside from that, glysophate is a salt basically and is stored in the root system of that plant. It is not stored on the leaves (edible part of corn and beans). You don’t have to take my word for it. As a matter of fact, never take anyone’s word for it. Do some research.
So, Kevin, a little while ago, the party line was that glyphosate breaks down on the environment within a couple days and never reaches the table.
Now that that’s clearly proven to be false, you’re making the argument that glyphosate can’t be on the oats and wheat and even if they were, they’d be in the roots only. Sure, that makes some sense (at least the oat/wheat part), but the facts show it in the final product.
Unfortunately, it _is_ in the final product on the table and clearly the story we’ve been fed about how this chemical behaves isn’t standing up to the reality we’re seeing.
A carcinogen and endocrine disruptor like glyphosate doesn’t just have effects on everyone exposed to it, but rather increases the likelihood of the problem. Also, many endocrine disruptors can be more dangerous a low doses, so the farmers may miss some of those effects.
You take yourself far too seriosly for someone who doesnt even know that grain crops are routinely sprayed just prior to harvest because it does kill the plants and in doing so makes them easier to harvest.
Look out anyone who eats wholegrain flour if it isnt organically harvested (not just grown).
Hello Kevin,
You state that Glysophate would kill corn or wheat grains yet the article is saying they are still detecting this chemical in the cereals. Are you saying this is a misleading or false news report? I’m just trying to educate myself on this. Also is this something you have learned through internet research or is this your field of work? I appreciate your reply. I don’t trust anything from Kellogs or General Mills. Or anything in a box for that matter unless it’s labeled non GMO Organic. Best regards
In New Zealand, glyphosate based herbicides are used to dry off grains before harvest. Our NZFSA has found high levels of glyphosate in the wheat due to this. However AMPA the metabolite also found shows it probably came from the preparation of the field before planting as you say – these grains are not GM so will die if sprayed. most grains are now desiccated or dried off before harvest.
Unfortunately you are mistaken. Glyphophate is used to delberately kill and “dry down” many crops at the end of the growing season, so they can be harvested more quickly. Because it is a systemic herbicide, this means that the crops retain the high levels used into processing and into our food
This is being done to most of the grains and legumes in the US. Europe found residue levels like this in their bread and is considering banning the practice. Good luck getting the USDA to do the right thing and follow suit.
More studies need to be done that show how glyphosate stops breaking down and becomes bio-accumulative when it has been in contact with heavy metals (very common in soils) and how its action changes. Also how its action is changed by other ingredients in the spray need to be assessed with regard to how it affects humans, especially over time, and with particular regard to the gut biome.