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Whitewash pp 55–77Cite as

Weed Killer for Breakfast

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Abstract

For many people, a toasted bagel topped with honey might sound like a healthy breakfast choice. Others might prefer a bowl of oatmeal, cornflakes, or a hot plate of scrambled eggs. Few would likely welcome a dose of weed killer that has been linked to cancer in their morning meal. Yet that is exactly what private laboratory tests in the United States started showing with alarming frequency in 2014: residues of the world’s most widely used herbicide were making their way into American meals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), “Pre-harvest Glyphosate Application to Wheat and Barley,” Information Sheet 02, Summer 2008, http://cereals.ahdb.org.uk/media/185527/is02-pre-harvest-glyphosate-application-to-wheat-and-barley.pdf.

  2. 2.

    Jason Vanfossan (USDA), e-mail to Terry Councell (FDA), August 29, 2014, https://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GIPSA-wheawt.png.

  3. 3.

    Alliance for Natural Health USA, “Glyphosate Levels in Breakfast Foods: What Is Safe?,” April 19, 2016, http://www.anh-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ANHUSA-glyphosate-breakfast-study-FINAL.pdf.

  4. 4.

    GMO Free USA, “GMO Free USA Finds GMOs and Weedkiller in Kel-logg’s Froot Loops,” press release, January 29, 2015, http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/37644-GMO-Free-USA-Finds-GMOs-and-Weedkiller-in-Kellogg-s-Froot-Loops.

  5. 5.

    Fernando Rubio, Emily Guo, and Lisa Kamp, “Survey of Glyphosate Residues in Honey, Corn and Soy Products,” Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology 5 (November 19, 2014): 249, doi:10.4172/2161-0525.1000249.

  6. 6.

    Bruce Hemming, in conversation with the author, April 2015.

  7. 7.

    U.S. Geological Survey, Environmental Health–Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, “Common Weed Killer Is Widespread in the Environment,” April 23, 2014, http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/2014-04-23-glyphosate_2014.html.

  8. 8.

    William Battaglin, in conversation with the author, August 2016.

  9. 9.

    William A. Battaglin et al., “Glyphosate and Its Degradation Product AMPA Occur Frequently and Widely in U.S. Soils, Surface Water, Ground-water, and Precipitation,” Journal of the American Water Resources Association 50, no. 2 (2014): 275–290, doi:10.1111/jawr.12159.

  10. 10.

    Michael Hansen, in conversation with the author, August 2016.

  11. 11.

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Glyphosate—Pesticide Petition (PP#2E7979),” Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0132, https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0132.

  12. 12.

    Environmental Protection Agency, “Final Rule, Glyphosate; Pesticide Tolerances,” Federal Register 78, no. 84 (May 1, 2013): 25396–25401, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-01/pdf/2013-10316.pdf.

  13. 13.

    Ibid.

  14. 14.

    Ibid.

  15. 15.

    Gary M. Williams, Robert Kroes, and Ian C. Munro, “Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of the Herbicide Roundup and Its Active Ingredient, Glyphosate, for Humans,” Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 31, no. 2 (April 2000): 117–165, doi:10.1006/rtph.1999.1371.

  16. 16.

    Marie Sønnegaard Poulsen et al., “Modeling Placental Transport: Correlation of In Vitro BeWo Cell Permeability and Ex Vivo Human Placental Perfusion,” Toxicology in Vitro 23, no. 7 (October 2009): 1380–1386, doi: 10.1016/j.tiv.2009.07.028.

  17. 17.

    David Murphy and Henry Rowlands, “Glyphosate: Unsafe on Any Plate,” Food Democracy Now! and the Detox Project, November 14, 2016, https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fooddemocracynow.org/images/FDN_Glyphosate_FoodTesting_Report_p2016.pdf.

  18. 18.

    Moms Across America, “EPA Admits Widespread Misuse of Roundup Herbicide Must Stop,” press release, April 19, 2016, http://www.momsacrossamerica.com/press_release.

  19. 19.

    Organic Consumers Association, Moms Across America, and Beyond Pesticides v. General Mills Inc., Case No. 2016 CA 006309 B in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, http://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/2016.08.24NatureValleyDCCourtStampedComplaint.pdf.

  20. 20.

    U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Science and Technology Program, “Pesticide Data Program: Annual Summary, Calendar Year 2014,” https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2014%20PDP%20Annual%20Summary.pdf.

  21. 21.

    U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Pesticide Data Program, “PDP Special Projects,” https://www.ams.usda.gov/datasets/pdp/pdp-special-projects.

  22. 22.

    U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Science and Technology Program, “Pesticide Data Program: Annual Summary, Calendar Year 2011,” p. 25 and Appendix C, https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2011%20PDP%20Annual%20Summary.pdf.

  23. 23.

    Diana Haynes (USDA), e-mail to staffers titled “April–June 2017 PDP Program Plan,” January 11, 2017.

  24. 24.

    Carey Gillam, “USDA Drops Plan to Test for Monsanto Weed Killer in Food,” Huffington Post, March 23, 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/usda-drops-plan-to-test-for-monsanto-weed-killer-in_us_58d2db4ee4b062043ad4af84.

  25. 25.

    Kimberly Hodge-Bell, “Concerned about Pesticide Residue?,” Monsanto Company, Beyond the Rows (blog), April 1, 2015, http://monsantoblog.com/2015/04/01/concerned-about-pesticide-residue/.

  26. 26.

    R. W. Cook (EPA), memorandum to R. J. Taylor and Toxicology Branch (EPA) titled “Glyphosate on Wheat Grain and Straw: Evaluation of Analytical Methods and Residue Data,” January 22, 1991, https://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/chemicalsearch/chemical/foia/web/pdf/103601/103601-260.pdf.

  27. 27.

    U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Total Diet Study,” http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodScienceResearch/TotalDietStudy/default.htm.

  28. 28.

    Timothy H. Begley (FDA), e-mail to Michael E. Kashtock (FDA) titled “Methods for Pesticide Coverage,” January 17, 2013, http://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FDA3.pdf.

  29. 29.

    U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Food Safety: FDA and USDA Should Strengthen Pesticide Residue Monitoring Programs and Further Disclose Monitoring Limitations,” GAO-15-38, October 2014, http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/666408.pdf.

  30. 30.

    Laura Bowman, in conversation with the author, July 2016.

  31. 31.

    Canadian Food Inspection Agency, “Safeguarding with Science: Glyphosate Testing in 2015–2016,” April 2017, https://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CFIA_ACIA-9123346-v1-FSSD-FSSS-Glyphosate-Final-Report-15-16_018410-1.pdf.

  32. 32.

    U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Pesticide Data Program: Annual Summary, Calendar Year 2015,” https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2015PDPAnnualSummary.pdf.

  33. 33.

    Ibid., p. 16.

  34. 34.

    Chensheng Lu, in conversation with the author, November 2016.

  35. 35.

    Alice Park, “Exposure to Pesticides in Pregnancy Can Lower Children’s IQ,” Time, April 21, 2011, http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/21/exposure-to-pesticides-in-pregnancy-can-lower-childrens-iq/.

  36. 36.

    Virginia A. Rauh et al., “Brain Anomalies in Children Exposed Prenatally to a Common Organophosphate Pesticide,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109, no. 20 (April 20, 2012): 7871–7876, doi:10.1073/pnas.1203396109.

  37. 37.

    European Parliamentary Research Service, “Human Health Implications of Organic Food and Organic Agriculture,” Science and Technology Options Assessment PE 581.922, December 2016, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/581922/EPRS_STU(2016)581922_EN.pdf.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., p. 6.

  39. 39.

    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Q&A with Philippe Grandjean, February 8, 2017, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/health-benefits-organic-food-farming-report/.

  40. 40.

    International Food Information Council Foundation, “Food Decision 2016: Food and Health Survey,” http://www.foodinsight.org/sites/default/files/2016-Food-and-Health-Survey-Report_FINAL1.pdf.

  41. 41.

    Danielle S. Cooper v. The Quaker Oats Company, Case No. 3:16-cv-02364 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2820643/Quaker-Oats-Class-Action-Complaint.pdf.

  42. 42.

    Lee I-chia, “FDA Says Pesticide Residue Found in 10 Oatmeal Items,” Taipei Times, May 27, 2016, http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/05/27/2003647215.

  43. 43.

    Monsanto Company, “Preharvest Staging Guide,” p. 3, https://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Monsanto-application-guide-for-preharvest.pdf.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., p. 10.

  45. 45.

    Carey Gillam, “FDA to Start Testing for Glyphosate in Food,” Time, February 17, 2016, http://time.com/4227500/fda-glyphosate-testing/?xid=fbshare.

  46. 46.

    Internal e-mails and reports obtained through Freedom of Information Act request FDA #2016-717.

  47. 47.

    Ibid.

  48. 48.

    Nate Carmichael, in conversation with the author, September 2016.

  49. 49.

    Marcela Carmichael, in conversation with the author, September 2016.

  50. 50.

    Margaret Lombard, in conversation with the author, September 2016.

  51. 51.

    Amelia Jackson-Gheissari (Monsanto), e-mail to Lauren Robin (FDA), April 15, 2016, http://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FDA4.pdf.

  52. 52.

    Narong Chamkasem (FDA) and Gary Hinshaw (USDA), e-mail exchange, May 5, 2015.

  53. 53.

    Jay Feldman, in conversation with the author, September 2016.

  54. 54.

    Michael Antoniou, in conversation with the author, September 2016.

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Gillam, C. (2017). Weed Killer for Breakfast. In: Whitewash. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-833-6_5

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