Americans are exposed to possible cancer-causing substances in the food they eat every day. 

The information we get from doctors, scientists and our public health agencies often conflicts and tends to change over time as new research becomes available. The public is exposed to controversies and new scares every day. It’s hard to decide what to eat, and many people just go with the old saying, “everything is okay in moderation.”

Studies are showing that glyphosate, a herbicide used in our fruits and vegetables, is being found in 80% of urine samples from US children and adults. 

Glyphosate is one of the world’s most popular herbicides. It’s the active ingredient in weed-killer products like Roundup, Rodeo and Pondmaster. Farmers use it during food production.

Traces of glyphosate have been found in a many foods, including baby formula and popular breakfast foods and cereals marketed to children.In July 2020, an 

analysis of laboratory data confirmed that glyphosate is present in more than 90 percent of non-organic hummus and chickpea samples, as well as other bean and lentil products.

A survey done by a division of the CDC, found glyphosate in 1,885 of 2,310 urine samples. Almost a third of the samples came from children six to 18.

“Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the country, yet until now we had very little data on exposure,” Alexis Temkin, a toxicologist at the Environmental Working Group, said Monday in a statement. 

“The Environmental Protection Agency should take concrete regulatory action to dramatically lower the levels of glyphosate in the food supply and protect children’s health,” Temkin continued.

Problem is, scientific experts, world and governmental health agencies, and US courts can’t seem to agree on how dangerous glyphosate is, or isn’t. 

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classifies glyphosate as probably carcinogenic to humans. 

In 2020, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) research found that glyphosate is not a serious health risk and is “not likely” to cause cancer in humans, but last month a federal appeals court ordered the EPA to take another look at its findings. 

The EPA has repeatedly sided with the pesticide industry and downplayed the risks of glyphosate exposure in humans.

Many scientists say that the CDC’s data confirms that human exposures to glyphosate safe, and well below the EPA’s safety threshold. 

The weed-killer Roundup is owned by the Bayer company. Bayer inherited the controversial brand when they purchased Monsanto in 2018. 

Roundup is used all over the US in agricultural settings, including huge industrial farms, as well as residential gardens and small farms. 

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed by people claiming that the weed-killer caused cancer.  Bayer went as high as the Supreme Court to shut down the lawsuits, but its bid was rejected. A California man sued for $25 million, claiming he developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from Roundup. The court sided with the California man.

Other courts sided with the Bayer company. In state court, Bayer won four trials against people who sued due to Roundup use. 

Bayer insists the product is safe and says that even the CDC research shows that human exposure to glyphosate is low and not dangerous. 

So, is glyphosate dangerous and do we have to be concerned that it is all around us and showing up in our urine?

Even though Bayer insists that glyphosate is not dangerous to the population, they agreed to replace in for residential use in 2023.  However, the fruits and vegetables we eat come from places where glyphosate will still be in use. 

As the experts, clinicians and governments flip-flop over the herbicide issue, a big clinical research study is in progress – with millions of test subjects… us.