Quaker Oats customers in California and New York customers have filed a lawsuit against the company, due to their allegation that their oatmeal may contain traces of the pesticide glyphosate.
The lawsuit was filed after a test was done to analyze the ingredients of Quaker Oats Quick 1-Minute oatmeal, by an independent lab in California. Researchers used liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, a procedure often used by medical and chemical labs for drug research. They found unwanted traces of the chemical in some of the Quaker Oats products.
The sample they tested contained traces of glyphosate, and although the amounts discovered was lower than the legal allowable limit, the company was still sued for “false advertising” because of claims that their product is “100% Natural”.
The Quaker Oats company has said that the chemical did not come from their involvement with the product, and must have come from the farming stage, where pesticides used by the farmers are sprayed on the oats. The replied:“Any levels of glyphosate that may remain are trace amounts and significantly below any limits which have been set by the E.P.A. as safe for human consumption.”
Numerous pesticides, including Monsanto’s ‘Roundup’ are used on crops all over the worls, and although they are effective in killing unwanted pests, there have been constant concerns over the health implications of these chemicals finding their way into the final food products.
The popular pesticide was created in 1974 and has been in use since then, despite the fact that the InternationalAgency for Research on Cancer has recently (2015) placed it into the category of “probable” cause of cancer.
As well as cancer, the pesticide has been linked to other health problems.
Experts have warned that allowing glyphosate to interfere in the amounts of vitamin A, can be detrimental for fetal development.
Additional studies have been done on ‘Roundup’ in it’s relation to Attention Deficit Disorder, as it is thought to disrupt the function of the thyroid hormone.
Glyphosate also changes the way serotonin is produced in the body, and can affect sleep, mood, appetite, and may lead to depression.
The Quaker Oats company may have lost countless customers over this dispute, and if products that are marketed as ‘100% organic’ are being found with traces of chemicals, it is impossible to know who we can trust when it comes to large food corporations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWWE2YXjmTM
*Article originally appeared at Counter Current News.
