The Catacombs

modernity.news [emphasis mine] | 16th February 2024

80 per cent of Americans who consume popular cereals such as Cheerios and Quaker Oats are being exposed to a chemical that delays puberty and causes infertility.

A study by The Environmental Working Group published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology found that four out of five people tested positive for a harmful pesticide called chlormequat.

“Just as troubling, we detected the chemical in 92% of oat-based foods purchased in May 2023, including Quaker Oats and Cheerios,” the group said.

Animal studies have shown that chlormequat disrupts fetal growth, damages reproductive systems and delays puberty.

What’s even more concerning is that exposure to the pesticide appears to be increasing in recent years.

While chlormequat was detected in 69% of study participants in 2017, that figure has now risen to 90% in the 2023 sample.

“Since chlormequat typically leaves the body within 24 hours, such a high concentration of positive tests indicates that Americans are regularly being exposed to the pesticide,” reports the New York Post.

The US federal government allows the “highly toxic agricultural chemical,” which aids the plant’s growth and makes harvesting easier, to be used on on oats and other imported grains.

The EWG noted that under the Biden administration, the US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed allowing the use of chlormequat on barley, oat, triticale and wheat grown in the US in response to a request by chlormequat manufacturer Taminco.

Cheerios are made by General Mills while Quaker Oats is owned by PepsiCo. Both companies have so far refused to comment on the issue and neither did the FDA.