Does Glyphosate Cook Out of Pasta?

Moms Across America was shocked to find that Banza chickpea pasta had the highest level of glyphosate ever recorded in human food pasta by the laboratory we used to test gluten-free products. The level was over 2876 ppb. Ultra low levels, just nanograms (4 ppb) per kilogram of body weight were found to contribute to liver disease in rats by Antoinou et al.

Scientists have long told us that glyphosate does not wash, dry, or cook off; it absorbs into the crop and remains in the food, so this amount was extremely concerning. Banza pasta proponents posted on social media that glyphosate "is water soluble and cooks out of the pasta." They did not provide any evidence of this, so we decided to test the same pasta as tested before and see if that was true. We hoped it would be so, and we could inform consumers that chickpeas and other pastas, when appropriately cooked, would be safe.

The laboratory provided the results today, showing a re-testing of the same uncooked pasta, which still has high levels of over 2000ppb, and the level of glyphosate in cooked pasta is greatly reduced when cooked. This is great news!

The glyphosate partially cooks out and goes into the water - we wonder if the water could be used as a weed killer?

Please keep in mind the reduction of glyphosate occurred when the pasta was cooked in boiling water and the water was discarded. If the pasta is cooked in a casserole, dry, one might expect that the glyphosate would remain in the casserole dish.

However, the level of cooked Banza chickpea pasta is still of concern; 161.55 is still far above what independent studies show can be harmful. See the chart and notes from the laboratory below. There is no safe level of glyphosate. Anyone who claims so is ignoring independent science.

Banza pasta and other glyphosate advocates will argue that the levels detected in gluten-free and other foods are safe because the EPA limits, regulated by the FDA, are 5000 ppb in the USA and, surprisingly, 10,000 ppb in the EU for glyphosate.

Our response to this claim is that the EPA and FDA are captured agencies by the industry. Those maximum residue levels (MRLs) are set that high because of corporate pressure from the chemical companies. The MRLs have not been set as such with any reliable, independent animal studies with blood analysis, to prove safety. The chemical companies demand high residue levels be legal on crops so they can continue to sell and encourage farmers to frequently spray their crops with glyphosate herbicides as both an herbicide and as a drying agent before harvesting on crops like chickpeas, beans, oats, grains, legumes, and wheat. The fact is that 5000 ppb and 10,000 ppb of glyphosate are extremely unsafe levels, according to independent science (not the biased science paid for by industry). The independent science shows low levels of glyphosate cause or contribute to liver damage, sex hormone changes, and other organ damage, which can lead to cancer in the low part per billion.

These studies have largely been ignored by the US EPA. Charles Benbrook of the Heartland Health Research Alliance revealed in his analysis of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)'s assessment of glyphosate and determination that it is a probable human carcinogen and definite animal carcinogen that the US EPA completely disregarded and did not review 67 of the studies that the IARC reviewed. This is called cherry-picking the science and results in misleading policy that shills and trolls can use to attempt character assassination of Moms Across America and other health advocates.

The science remains clear to those looking for the truth: glyphosate is very harmful, even at and especially at very low levels, because it has been shown to have endocrine-disrupting properties that affect reproductive organs. Glyphosate has been shown to cause not only liver and kidney damage but thyroid damage, damage to sperm, androgenize baby girls, cause nervous system and neurological damage, and cancer. The problem with the argument that does make the poison is that it simply is not true with endocrine-disrupting chemicals; low levels are harmful.

The other point to consider is that consuming even 161.55 ppb of glyphosate in Banza chickpea pasta in a meal does not take into consideration any other consumption of glyphosate in wheat bread, oats, hummus, lentils, beans, and even orange juice, beer or wine, all which are positive for glyphosate. We believe that consumers should be able to know what is in their food so they have the choice to reduce or eliminate their exposure to ingredients they want to avoid, much like one would avoid sugar or synthetic food dyes.