Cancer-causing Monsanto weed killer now found in infant oat cereal
The FDA has just confirmed that residues of the cancer-causing weed-killing chemical glyphosate have now turned up in baby food!
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the monster herbicide from Monsanto that’s sprayed on genetically-modified crops. But it’s also sprayed on lots of non-GM ones — like the oats used to make cereals for babies.
Until recently, the FDA claimed that it would be just too costly to test foods for Roundup residues, even though it does so for lots of other chemicals.
But now that it has started testing, it looks like we’re in big trouble.
Because it turns out that what we didn’t know can hurt us.
If there’s such a thing as a pesticide that’s “too big to ban,” it would be glyphosate.
Consider the rap sheet of the world’s most widely used weed killer:
- Two years ago studies found that it interferes with the bacteria in our GI tract, which in turn depletes essential amino acids.
- Studies have linked it to kidney and liver damage.
- It may be a contributing factor in obesity, depression, autism, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and
- Last year the World Health Organization announced that it can probably cause cancer.
Any other chemical would have no doubt bit the dust by now. But despite how many of us protest, wave signs and demand a stop to Monsanto’s takeover of our food supply, glyphosate just keeps right on being used.
And used to the tune of over 3.5 billion pounds in the last four decades.
So by now, it’s starting to show up in some unexpected places.
One of them, as the FDA has just confirmed, is in various flavors of oat cereal for infants.
But how does a chemical that we thought was only a worry with those Frankenfood crops like corn, soy, and canola, suddenly end up in oats, which isn’t?
This spring I broke the news to you about one of the biggest secrets there is regarding this chemical: Its use goes way beyond GM foods.
Monsanto has been encouraging farmers to use it as a “desiccant” or drying agent on foods such as lentils, peas, wheat…and oats. And that includes oats used to make baby food.
In fact, according to the EPA, the amount used annually on oats in the U.S. is about 100,000 pounds!
But before the FDA started testing for residues of glyphosate, which just began this year after it was “shamed into it” by a scathing GAO audit, residues of this chemical in non-GM foods might have remained a deep, dark secret.
What this all means is that it doesn’t really matter if those oats or wheat or lentils are GM or not.
So to steer clear of this hazardous chemical — which is especially crucial where infants are concerned — we’ve got to take some extra precautions.
With the sheer quantities that are used it’s impossible to keep it out of our diet altogether. But by following these three steps you’ll at least be doing all you can to keep from taking a mouthful of glyphosate at every meal.
Step #1: Try to buy only organic bread and other items made from wheat flour. “Off-label” use of glyphosate has been found to be very common in wheat.
Step #2: Other foods that you should only buy organic include: lentils, peas, dry beans, flax, barley, potatoes, and of course, oats.
Step #3: Even if soy is labeled as being not genetically modified, it’s still quite likely to have been sprayed. So it looks like the best measure here is to eat either organic soy or as few foods containing soy ingredients as possible (which aren’t particularly good for you anyway).
This is also the best way we can avoid having to worry about any further scary surprises this “too big to ban” chemical might spring on us.
Sources:
“FDA confirms presence of carcinogen in baby food” Alexandra Jacobo, October 5, 2016, Nation of Change, nationofchange.org
