Should you pass on that morning bowl of cereal or oatmeal? That’s what some people may be asking in light of a study released this week by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on agricultural and chemical-safety laws in the U.S. The study looked at the prevalence of a pesticide called chlormequat in oat-based food products, including cereals like Cheerios and Quaker Oats.
The EWG said it found detectable levels of the chemical in 92% of nonorganic oat-based foods purchased in May 2023. “Studies in laboratory animals show that chlormequat can cause harm to the normal growth and development of the fetus and damage the reproductive system,” Olga Naidenko, vice president at the EWG, told MarketWatch. Those risks, the EWG report noted, can include reduced fertility. It has not been proven that the substance affects humans in the same way the studies cited by the EWG found it does lab animals, and there are other studies that have found chlormequat had no effect on reproduction in pigs or mice, or any impact on fertilization rates in mice. The EWG is still advocating that concerned consumers buy organic oat products as an alternative, however. “Certified organic oats are, by law, grown without synthetic pesticides,” Naidenko said. Representatives for General Mills
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The EWG said it found detectable levels of the chemical in 92% of nonorganic oat-based foods purchased in May 2023. “Studies in laboratory animals show that chlormequat can cause harm to the normal growth and development of the fetus and damage the reproductive system,” Olga Naidenko, vice president at the EWG, told MarketWatch. Those risks, the EWG report noted, can include reduced fertility. It has not been proven that the substance affects humans in the same way the studies cited by the EWG found it does lab animals, and there are other studies that have found chlormequat had no effect on reproduction in pigs or mice, or any impact on fertilization rates in mice. The EWG is still advocating that concerned consumers buy organic oat products as an alternative, however. “Certified organic oats are, by law, grown without synthetic pesticides,” Naidenko said. Representatives for General Mills
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