Four in five Americans — a whopping 80% — tested positive for a little-known pesticide linked to “reproductive and developmental problems.”
Residual from the pesticide, which was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from use on U.S. food crops, has been detected at increasing levels in oat-based products imported into America, such as those found on your supermarket’s cereal aisle.
A peer-reviewed pilot study from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) detected chlormequat in the urine of 77 out of the 96 people it tested.
“Some animal studies show chlormequat can damage the reproductive system and disrupt fetal growth, changing development of the head and bones and altering key metabolic processes,” the EWG reports. “This research raises questions about whether chlormequat could also harm humans.”
More alarming, the levels of detectable chlormequat are “on the rise,” the study found.
“For its study, EWG sourced urine samples collected between 2017 and 2023 from 96 people in the U.S. and tested them for chlormequat at a specialized lab in the United Kingdom,” the group reports. “The tests found chlormequat in the urine of more people and at higher concentrations in samples collected in 2023, compared to earlier years – suggesting consumer exposure to chlormequat could be on the rise.”
Higher exposure to the pesticide began under the Trump administration and threatens to spike under Biden’s.
According to the EWG:
Environmental Protection Agency regulations allow the chemical to be used on ornamental plants only – not food crops – grown in the U.S.
But since 2018, the EPA has permitted chlormequat on imported oats and other foods, increasing the allowed amount in 2020. Both regulatory changes took place under the Trump administration. Many oats and oat products consumed in the U.S. come from Canada.
In April 2023, in response to an application submitted by chlormequat manufacturer Taminco in 2019, the Biden EPA proposed allowing the first-ever use of chlormequat on barley, oats, triticale and wheat grown in the U.S.
EWG opposes the plan. The proposed rule has not yet been finalized.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been following the EWG’s work and sounding the alarm bells over chlormequat for some time.
“Independent testing commissioned by [EWG] detected concerning amounts of the agricultural chemical chlormequat in 13 of 14 popular non-organic oat-based cereals,” Kennedy, who serves as Founder and Chairman of the Board for the Children’s Health Defense, wrote on X in February of last year. “Studies in non-human mammals link chlormequat to a host of reproductive issues.”
Independent testing commissioned by @ewg detected concerning amounts of the agricultural chemical chlormequat in 13 of 14 popular non-organic oat-based cereals. Studies in non-human mammals link chlormequat to a host of reproductive issues.https://t.co/ml31gcngz3
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) February 1, 2023
“Eleven products contained chlormequat levels higher than the amount we think is safe for children’s health, and one sample contained exactly that amount,” the Children’s Health Defense’s “Defender” reported at the time. “This level — EWG’s health benchmark — is 30 parts per billion, or ppb, equivalent to a blade of grass on a football field. It’s the most chlormequat we think someone can eat every day without facing potential health risks.”
According to The Defender, “Quaker’s Old Fashioned Oats had the highest concentration, 291 ppb. The next highest samples, all above 100 ppb, included two more Quaker products, Honey Nut Oatmeal Squares and Maple and Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal, as well as Great Value Oats & Honey Granola and Cheerios.”
“The only conventional product with no detectable level of chlormequat was Kellogg’s Special K Fruit and Yogurt,” the outlet stated. “No chlormequat was detected in the single organic granola sample tested.”
“EWG’s new study on chlormequat is the first of its kind in the U.S.,” EWG Toxicologist Alexis Temkin, Ph.D, lead author of the study, said in the group’s latest news release. “The ubiquity of this little-studied pesticide in people raises alarm bells about how it could potentially cause harm without anyone even knowing they’ve consumed it.”
“The federal government has a vital role in ensuring that pesticides are adequately monitored, studied and regulated,” Temkin stated. “Yet the EPA continues to abdicate its responsibility to protect children from the potential health harms of toxic chemicals like chlormequat in food.”
“EWG urges the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration to test foods for chlormequat and requests that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention add chlormequat to its biomonitoring program,” the group, founded in 1993, wrote. “The organization also calls for more research on the effects of chlormequat on human health.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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