Conventional Wine Has 10X the Glyphosate Level of Organically Grown Wine, But Conventional Grains Have 500% More Than Conventional WIne

A new Public Interest Research Group test for glyphosate in beer and wine has revealed what many suspected all along.

You can't rid of the herbicide entirely - it's in the rainwater - but you can reduce more than 80-90 percent of your exposure by drinking organic.

You can get the report here.

The report is curious to me because if health risks were the main concern, the far greater levels of exposure come from grain, soy and bread. What is happening?

Nonprofit activist groups are finding that putting out messaging on beverages gets more media attention than foods that the general population is consuming. 

Since 2016, when more responsible groups began testing for the herbicide, findings have been consistent that the best way to get glyphosate out of diets is by eliminating grains and cereal based products.

In 2016, glyphosate testing showed that residues in Cheerios were 1,125 ppb, for Kashi oatmeal chocolate chip cookies 275 ppb, and for Ritz Crackers 260 ppb. Each of these contains 500% percent more glyphosate than the highest conventional wine on this short list.

Wineries should stop using glyphosate, but they probably won't unless consumers start reacting and only buying French wines that will, in a few years' time, have lower glyphosate residues. But U.S. wineries should stop telling people glyphosate levels of 51 ppb are fine. They're not. We have peer reviewed science that tells us otherwise.

In addition, the latest meta-analysis shows that workers and others who use Roundup do have a 38% higher chance of getting non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It's workers and other people who use it on a regular basis who have the highest risk.

My biggest concern re wineries' use is the guys who landscape the tasting rooms grounds. They're often out there everyday spraying. Are they at least wearing protective gear when they do that?

But while all glyphosate intake is a concern, shouldn't responsible health reporting focus on the greatest risks?

EWG did just that, when it published a big report last year on the highest risk foods. But focusing on beverage intake, in my view, is more about clickbait than informing consumers of the highest risks to cut back on. Of course, kids are the most impacted - and they don't really drink beer and wine. But they do eat a lot of cereal and bread.