Canadian oats and other cereal grains used in popular breakfast products have been found to contain glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. According to 2017 tests by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, nearly one-third of the food samples contained traces of the herbicide, with some 1.3 percent found to have unacceptably high levels.

Most of the foods with unsafe glyphosate levels were grains – including those used in food products for infants and children.

What Constitutes Unsafe Levels?

Like regulatory agencies in most countries, Health Canada has established what is referred to as “maximum residue limits,” or MRLs, for pesticides and herbicides in foods. For example, in Europe, the MRL for honey is .05 milligrams per kilogram. Levels at or below the MRL are considered safe.

How Much Glyphosate Was Found?

Tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group detected levels of glyphosate in popular oat products ranging from 10 to 1300 parts per billion.

In testing of other grains by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, barley was at the top of the list, with 10 parts per million; wheat, kamut, and spelt were found to contain 5 ppm.

Legumes, such as garbanzos (chickpeas), lentils and peas contained 4-5 ppm, however, soybeans were found to have 20 ppm.

Why is Glyphosate in Canadian Oats at All?

Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide among Canadian farmers. While it is primarily deployed for weed control, glyphosate is also used to dry grain and bean crops prior to harvest.

If Health Canada Considers These Levels Safe, What is the Problem?

There is a great deal of controversy and disagreement between government regulators and scientists over the question of glyphosate safety. Toxicologist Alexis Temkin, who was commissioned in 2018 by the Environmental Working Group to prepare a report on glyphosate contamination, says that glyphosate should not be in any foods at all – particularly those fed to children.

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined that glyphosate is a “likely carcinogen.” However, two years later, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the chemical was “not likely” to cause cancer. Nonetheless, three juries have disagreed with that assessment, awarding plaintiffs in glyphosate lawsuits hundreds of millions of dollars (Bayer, Roundup’s current manufacturer, is appealing all three verdicts and continues to maintain that its product is safe).

Why the Disagreement?

In the U.S., court documents surfaced in 2017 showing that Monsanto (the original manufacturer of Roundup) colluded with the EPA in order to conceal evidence of glyphosate carcinogenicity. The evidence strongly indicated that Monsanto wrote a great deal of its own research on glyphosate safety, and was in communication with EPA officials.

In 2018, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that environmentalists accused Health Canada of relying on glyphosate safety studies that were covertly influenced by Monsanto when it approved Roundup in 2015.

Is Any Action Being Taken?

A number of lawsuits filed across Canada by cancer victims claiming their disease was caused by glyphosate exposure. Cases are currently pending in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. As of November, at least 360 Canadians had filed suits against Bayer. A Toronto law firm has also filed a $500 million class action on behalf of 60 plaintiffs.