The Food and
Drug Administration, under public pressure to start testing samples of
U.S. food for the presence of a pesticide that has been linked to
cancer, has some early findings that are not so sweet.
In examining
honey samples from various locations in the United States, the FDA has
found fresh evidence that residues of the weed killer called glyphosate
can be pervasive - found even in a food that is not produced with the
use of glyphosate. All of the samples the FDA tested in a recent
examination contained glyphosate residues, and some of the honey showed
residue levels double the limit allowed in the European Union,
according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act
request. There is no legal tolerance level for glyphosate in honey in
the United States.
Glyphosate, which is the key ingredient in Monsanto Co.’s Roundup
herbicide, is the most widely used weed killer in the world, and
concerns about glyphosate residues in food spiked after the World Health
Organization in 2015 said its cancer experts determined glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. Other
international scientists have raised concerns about how heavy use of
glyphosate is impacting human health and the environment.
Records
obtained from the FDA, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, detail a range of revelations
about the federal government’s efforts to get a handle on these rising
concerns. In addition to honey, the records show government residue
experts discussing glyphosate found in soybean and wheat samples,
“glyphosate controversies,” and the belief that there could be “a lot of violation for glyphosate” residues in U.S. crops.
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