Weed killer in your wine, beer? That's what a new US PIRG study says

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"An adult should drink more than 140 glasses of wine a day containing the highest level of glyphosate measured to reach the level defined by the Office of Environmental Health Risk Assessment (OEHHA). ) from California as "No significant level of risk", "he writes. spokesperson for the Wine Institute in a statement in the United States today.

USA TODAY is addressed to companies whose products have been tested. Many have questioned the accuracy of the PIRG study. Others have recognized the potential for the presence of herbicides in minute quantities beyond their control.

The organic winery Frey Vineyards noted that no herbicide was "used" in its agricultural practices, but that glyphosate is found in trace amounts in rainwater because of its use on land cultivated in a conventional way. Glyphosate is found in trace food products throughout the United States. We invite consumers to speak up to ban any use of glyphosate. "

In declaring that a pesticide is "the last thing you want to think about" by raising a glass, PIRG wanted to highlight what it considers to be a potential hazard.

"Regardless of the efforts of brewers and winemakers, we have found that it is extremely difficult to avoid the disturbing reality that consumers will probably drink glyphosate at every hour of conviviality and at the same time. a barbecue in the country, "said Kara Cook-Schultz, US PIRG Education Fund. who is the author of the study.

The 2018 Merlot from Sutter Home was the wine with the highest concentration of glyphosate at 51.4 parts per billion, or ppb, while in the beer category, it was Tsingtao from Hong Kong with 49.7 ppb . The American beer with the biggest trace was Coors Light with 31.1. ppb.

Organic beverages for adults have also been involved in the US PIRG research. For example, a 2016 Inkarri malbec had 5.3 ppb and a 2017 Samuel Smith Organic Lager, 5.7 ppb.

William Reeves, a Bayer toxicologist who now owns Monsanto, has accused the group of publishing misleading information about pesticide residues in food.

"Assuming that the highest reported value, 51.4 ppb, is correct, a 125-pound adult should consume 308 gallons of wine a day, every day of life, to reach the limit of glyphosate exposure for humans established by the US Environmental Protection Agency, "he said. To put 308 gallons in context, it would be more than a bottle of wine per minute, for life, without sleep. "

The EPA regulates the use by producers of pesticides on food crops and sets limits, called tolerances, on the amount of food that can remain in or on food in the United States. For glyphosate, this value varies between 0.1 and 400 parts per million for coconuts and peanuts. for certain animal feeds other than grass.

The US public interest group PIRG has tested five wines and 15 beers, including organic, and found traces of weed killer in 19 of them. (Photo11: Zakharova_Natalia, Getty Images / iStockphoto)

The EPA "found no significant risk to human health, including in infants and children, when the product is used according to the pesticide label," said Dr. EPA in an email, adding that the EPA had so far concluded that glyphosate was "unlikely to be carcinogenic" to humans.

EPA has announced that it is currently reviewing public comments received on its proposed human health risk assessment and plans to release them later this year.

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The US PIRG reported that they purchased all Denver beers and wines and shipped them in sealed containers to a San Francisco lab they did not call.

The first court trial to find out whether Monsanto's Roundup caused cancer ended in October when a San Francisco judge upheld the jury's verdict that the weed killer had made a gardener sick. used the herbicide, but had reduced the amount due to him from $ 289 million to $ 78 million. DeWayne Johnson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 42.

This PIRG report is released when the first lawsuit filed against the company by the federal government in the Federal Court is opened in federal court in San Francisco. Applicant Edwin Hardeman alleges that the Roundup that he sprayed caused his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

"Today, a federal court is examining the link between Roundup and cancer, and we think the time is right to spotlight glyphosate," Cook-Schultz said. "This chemical could pose a real risk to the health of so many Americans, and they should know that it is present everywhere, including in many of their favorite beverages."

More than 9,300 people have filed similar lawsuits in the United States.

TO CLOSE

Do you have to start with a beer and then some wine, or is it safer to do it in reverse? Tony Spitz from Buzz60 has the details.
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