Testing Finds 'Probably Carcinogenic' Pesticide In Nearly Half Of Popular Breakfast Foods Including Organic Eggs, Oatmeal

In a test of 24 popular breakfast foods — including bagels, oatmeal, eggs (including the organic variety), non-GMO soy coffee creamer, and potatoes — nearly half of samples tested positive for glyphosate, the widely used pesticide and the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup line.

Bread, yogurt, dairy creamers, flour, and corn flakes were also tested during the study by the Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA). Ten samples, including a number of organic products, indicated detectable levels of glyphosate, while the remainder of foods had levels below 75 parts per billion. The FDA's allowable daily intake, or ADI, is 1,750 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight.

Oatmeal, bagels, bread, and wheat cereal had the highest levels of glyphosate, attributed to the herbicide's use before harvest. Eggs and dairy creamer, neither of which are sprayed directly with glyphosate, also showed high levels of the herbicide, suggesting that it can accumulate in animals as it does in humans.

To date, glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide, and GMO crops developed by Monsanto including modified soy and corn have been designed to withstand high levels of the herbicide. Currently, these GMO seeds account for 94 percent of all soybeans planted and 89 percent of corn.

As of 2015, the World Health Organization considers glyphosate a "probable human carcinogen," meaning that it is likely to cause cancer. Exposure to glyphosate has also been linked to endocrine disruption as well as "acute diseases and chronic health problems," according to a recent report from the Environmental Health Journal.

Only in February of this year did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decide that it would begin reviewing glyphosate as part of its pesticide residue testing, after the agency was rebuked by the U.S. Government Accountability Office for failing to test for "the most-used agricultural pesticide" and failing to disclose the limitations of its testing processes to the public. In 2011, the USDA did conducted only known series of glyphosate tests on 300 soybean samples, and found that 271 contained residues from the pesticide.