The weed killer glyphosate (aka Roundup in patented form) is lauded by farmers as a safe, effective herbicide. However, there are few chemicals more distrusted by the public. The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington DC-based public health nonprofit, recently claimed there are dangerous levels of glyphosate in breakfast cereal, which only added to the controversy and unnecessarily frightened consumers.
As the GLP reported on August 17:
The fundamental, consensus conclusion: A bowl of cheerios, or a daily bowl over months or even many years won’t endanger your health. Why? Because we are talking about minuscule amounts of glyphosate—well below the levels that would be considered dangerous.
In this video, Know Ideas Media founder and filmmaker Nick Saik does the math, and shows how EWG likely came up with its safety cut off limit to generate the media firestorm that accompanied the scare report. He uses EWG’s own figures on glyphosate residue to show exactly how many bowls of Cheerios you’d need to eat in order to consume an unsafe amount of the weed killer
Bottom line: Even using EWG’s scientifically unsupportable safety limit, glyphosate residues are harmless, which is exactly what the Environmental Protection Agency, Health Canada, European Food Safety Committee and dozens of other regulatory and advisory organizations have determined. Saik also discusses how regulatory agencies like the EPA keep pesticides out of our food. Our food supply is the safest it’s ever been, while fear of food is simultaneously at an all-time high.
Nick Saik is a filmmaker and the founder of Know Ideas Media, a company that aims to entertain and inform audiences by presenting rationally optimistic, scientifically-based solutions to highly controversial subjects. Follow him on Twitter @nick_saik
