By Todd Neeley
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to begin testing for glyphosate residues in corn, soybeans, milk and eggs, though the agency did not offer a timeline when that testing might begin.
FDA has conducted food residue tests on hundreds of pesticides and other chemicals for years.
An agency spokesperson told DTN in a statement Thursday, however, that until now there was no approved, cost-effective method for testing for glyphosate in food.
"The FDA has not routinely looked for glyphosate in its pesticide chemical residue monitoring regulatory program in the past for several reasons, including that available methods for detecting glyphosate were selective residue methods that would have been very cost- and labor-intensive to implement in FDA field labs," said Jason Strachman Miller, strategic communications and public engagement in FDA's office of the deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine
"Also, glyphosate levels, if present in genetically engineered corn and soybeans, are likely to be reduced by the processing done to those foods."
Strachman Miller said FDA recently developed "streamlined methods" to test for glyphosate.
"The agency is now preparing plans for fiscal year 2016 to measure glyphosate in soybeans, corn, milk, and eggs, among other potential foods," he said.
When contacted earlier this week, a spokesperson for Monsanto Company told DTN the company had received no information about whether FDA intended to test for glyphosate residues.
"While FDA hasn't officially confirmed to us that they plan to move forward with residue testing, glyphosate's 40-year history of safe use has been upheld by the U.S. EPA and regulators around the world following decades of study and review," Charla Lord, spokesperson for Monsanto said in a statement.
"No data have ever indicated residue levels of more than a fraction of EPA's very conservative allowable daily intake or any level of concern. If FDA does move forward with residue testing in a scientifically rigorous manner, we are confident it will reaffirm the safe use of this vital tool used safely and effectively by farmers, landowners and homeowners around the world."
Glyphosate is the main component of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.
In January 2016, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment declared glyphosate as "being known to the state of California to cause cancer." Monsanto sued to prevent the state from making the designation.
Glyphosate was listed as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, leading the state of California to do the same through its law known as Proposition 65. That law calls for the listing of any substance classified as a carcinogen by the IARC.
The IARC listed glyphosate a "probable carcinogen," but the agency does not make recommendations on regulating a product following a finding.
Monsanto argued in court the listing of glyphosate as a chemical known to cause cancer violates both the California and U.S. Constitution. That is because, Monsanto said, the state would be ceding its regulatory authority to "an unelected and non-transparent foreign body that is not under the oversight or control of any federal our state government entity."
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @ToddNeeleyDTN
(CC/AG)
© Copyright 2016 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.