A recent report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) suggests that oats and oat cereals may be contaminated with the herbicide glyphosate, often sold under the brand name Roundup. Some industry-affiliated groups contest the findings, leaving doctors and patients wondering what to think.
What’s Wrong with Roundup?
Part of the reason this report has gotten so much attention is that glyphosate was declared a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research back in 2015. Needless to say, the company that makes Roundup does not agree. A Monsanto spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that the popular weedkiller had been extensively studied and that it does not cause cancer. However, a California jury recently awarded $289 million in damages to the heirs of a man who claimed that his exposure to Roundup as a groundskeeper for a school system resulted in his terminal cancer diagnosis.
Which Breakfast Cereals Contain Roundup?
While the EPA and its European counterpart are deliberating on whether glyphosate actually poses an elevated risk of cancer, the EWG warns that breakfast foods like oats, granola, oatmeal and granola bars may contain elevated levels of the herbicide. Quaker Oats (whose Quaker Oats Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats were named as high in Roundup residue) and General Mills (maker of the ready-to-eat oat cereal Cheerios) both object that their products meet safety standards. Until the controversy over glyphosate as a cancer-causing agent is resolved, parents may want to find substitutes for these popular breakfast foods.
