Popular Cereal In North Dakota May Have Cancer-Causing Pesticide

An ongoing study that spanned more than five years has linked one of North Dakota's most popular cereals to an increased risk of cancer.

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A chemical with strong ties to cancer, developmental delays, and reproductive problems was first identified in the study's samples taken from humans, and the presence of this pesticide was detected in human subjects 80% of the time.

New Cancer Worry With Popular Cereal Sold In North Dakota

Grain crops are treated with chlormequat chloride, an herbicide, to control the stem height, making harvesting easier by keeping the crop erect and less prone to bending over. The threshold for detectable chlormequat chloride in oats was increased as recently as 2020.

Research indicated following the increase in the allowance in oat products in 2020,

Eighty percent of people tested positive for the pesticide, and 23 out of the 25 most common traditional oat products tested had measurable levels as well, according to this article with Fox Business.

What is the popular cereal sold in Texas that has links to a cancer-causing pesticide?

That would be Cheerios owned by General Mills. Also showing high amounts of the pesticide are Quaker Oats products owned by PepsiCo.

Quaker Oats has not been a stranger to controversy recently, with the breakfast food giant battling a wide-spread salmonella recall spanning dozens of different types of oat-based treats.

This pesticide is not used in American crops but comes from imports from Europe and around the world, according to this Syracuse article.

In 2018, approximately 1.5 million tons of oats were imported into the U.S.