[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”1″ content_align=”center” style_type=”underline solid” sep_color=”#000000″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]

Food and Drug Administration plans to begin testing corn and soybeans for glyphosate residues

[/title][fusion_text]Wednesday, February 17th 2016

The Food and Drug Administration plans to begin testing corn and soybeans for glyphosate residues, the agency confirmed today. The testing was first reported by consumer advocacy group U.S. Right to Know, whose press release cited an article in Civil Eats by Carey Gillam, a former Reuters reporter who joined U.S. Right to Know last year. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, the use of which has soared since the introduction in 1996 of genetically engineered, herbicide-tolerant seed. A recent study in Environmental Sciences Europe estimated that agricultural use in the U.S. grew from 800,000 pounds in 1974, to 27.5 million pounds in 1995, to 250 million pounds in 2014. Monsanto said it had not been officially informed of the testing by FDA, but that “glyphosate’s 40-year history of safe use has been upheld by the U.S. EPA and regulators around the world following decades of study and review. USDA recently released its 2014 Pesticide Data Program report, which it said “confirms that overall pesticide chemical residues found on the foods tested are at levels below the tolerances established by the Environmental Protection Agency and do not pose a safety concern.” EPA was expected to issue a new risk assessment for glyphosate last summer, but has yet to do so. In a November 2014 report, the Government Accountability Office criticized FDA for not disclosing in its annual monitoring reports “that it does not test for several commonly used pesticides with an EPA-established tolerance,” including glyphosate. Glyphosate has been a target of food safety and environmental groups for decades. Last year, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that the chemical was probably carcinogenic to humans, a designation that would trigger labeling as a carcinogen by California’s Proposition 65. Monsanto released a preliminary scientific review disputing the IARC monograph, and is now suing the state of California over its proposal to add glyphosate to the Prop 65 list.

[/fusion_text][/fullwidth]