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The focus is on glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup.
Testing has increased in the last two years, but scientists say
requests spiked after a World Health Organization research unit
said last month it was classifying glyphosate as "probably
carcinogenic to humans."
"The requests keep coming in," said Ben Winkler, laboratory
manager at Microbe Inotech Laboratories in St. Louis. The
commercial lab has received three to four requests a week to
test foods and other substances for glyphosate residues. In
prior years, it received only three to four requests annually,
according to its records.
"Some people want to stay out in front of this. Nobody knows
what it means yet, but a lot of people are testing," said
Winkler.
Microbe has handled recent requests for glyphosate residue
testing from small food companies, an advocacy group testing
baby formula and a group of doctors who want to test patients'
urine for glyphosate residues, said Winkler. The firms and
doctors do not want their identities published.
Abraxis LLC, a Warminster, Pennsylvania-based diagnostics
company, has also seen a "measurable increase" in glyphosate
testing, said Abraxis partner Dave Deardorff.
Monsanto Co, the maker of Roundup, on April 1 posted a blog
seeking to reassure consumers and others about glyphosate
residues.
"According to physicians and other food safety experts, the mere
presence of a chemical itself is not a human health hazard. It
is the amount, or dose, that matters," Monsanto senior
toxicologist Kimberly Hodge-Bell said in the blog. Trace amounts
are not unsafe, she stated.
Company spokeswoman Charla Lord said last week that further
questions could be directed to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
There are numerous studies that have determined glyphosate to be
safe, but several others have linked it to human health
ailments. Critics say they fear that glyphosate is so pervasive
in the environment that extended exposure even to trace amounts
can be harmful.
Tests by Abraxis found glyphosate residues in 41 of 69 honey
samples and in 10 of 28 soy sauces; Microbe tests detected
glyphosate in three of 18 breast milk samples and in six of 40
infant formula samples.
North Dakota State University agronomist Joel Ransom reported to
the U.S. Wheat Quality Council in February that tests he ordered
showed traces of glyphosate in several U.S. and Canadian flour
samples.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City; Editing by Dan
Grebler)
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