The Green party made their warning after testing the breast milk of 16 women from a variety of German regions. 
 
 Traces of glyphosate, a chemical used in weed-killers, amounting to between 0.210 and 0.432 nanograms per mililitre were recorded. 
 
 In drinking water a quantity of no more than 0.100 nanograms of the substance is allowed. 
 
 Irene Witte, professor of toxicology at the University of Oldenburg described the findings as “intolerable.” 
 
 “I would never have guessed that the quantities are so high,” she said. 
 
 Witte warned that no conclusions should be drawn from tests on 16 women, but added that this was a first indication that there is a problem. She called for the tests to be broadened to included a larger sample set of breast-feeding women. 
 
 The extent to which glyphosate is harmful to one's health is still contested, but in March the World Health Organisation's cancer research programme designated the substance as “likely carcinogenic.” 
 
 Witte said that if the chemical is proven to be carcinogenic then any exposure could be dangerous. 
 
 “There is not upper limit you can then put on the quantity. Every molecule could cause cancer.” 
 
 The chair of the Environmental Committee in the Bundestag (German parliament) Bärbel Höhn of the Green Party, called for government action. 
 
 “The government needs to take glyphosate out of circulation until the question of its links to cancer has been cleared up,” she said. 

 Dr. Michelle (Shelley) McGuire has led a team of researchers from Washington State University (WSU), including Monsanto, in a study that has allegedly found US mothers’ breast milk to be glyphosate-free. 
 
 Without releasing full details of the method or the limits of quantification used McGuire stated in a WSU press release Thursday that her and Monsanto’s study “strongly suggests that glyphosate does not bioaccumulate and is not present in human milk.” 
 
 McGuire and Monsanto’s study directly contradicts validated and low LOQ testing in Germany that was carried out earlier in 2015 which showed that German women’s breast milk contained glyphosate at levels between 0.210 and 0.432 ng/ml. 
 
 The WSU Press Release of Dr. McGuire’s joint study with Monsanto and Covance Laboratories seems to attack the Moms Across America / Sustainable Pulse 2014 pilot testing on glyphosate in breast milk more than it gives information about their own study, however it completely misses out on comments about the German study. 
 
 Dr. McGuire also fails to mention that she turned to both Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse for help in June 2015 seemingly needing help with Monsanto’s analytical methods; “As you know, these assays are tricky and it would be very nice to see the details of the analysis you all have worked up in this regard.” 
 
 Sustainable Pulse and Moms Across America (MAA) have thus decided to dissect the WSU Press Release from top to bottom (Please find this dissection at the end of this article). 
 
 McGuire and Monsanto 
 
 The McGuire family have long been very close to Monsanto and Dr. Shelley McGuire’s husband Dr. Mark McGuire, Animal and Veterinary Science Department Head at the University of Idaho, was deeply involved in the scientific promotion of Monsanto’s infamous recombinant bovine growth hormone Posilac. 
 
 Watch the ‘Cancer Milk Posilac Cover-Up’ Here 
 
 Regulatory bodies in several countries, such as the EU, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina rejected Monsanto’s application to sell Posilac because Posilac increases the risk of health problems in cows, including clinical mastitis, reduced fertility, and reduced body condition. 
 
 Dr. Mark Mcguire is also a close personal friend of Dr. John Vicini, Monsanto’s Food Safety Scientific Affairs Lead. 
 
 Dr Mark McGuire’s research is also funded by the Gates Foundation, which is strongly promoting GM crops and their associated pesticides including glyphosate, especially in Africa. 
 
 In 2014 just days after the Sustainable Pulse / Moms Across America pilot study was released showing that US mothers’ breast milk contains glyphosate, Dr. Shelley McGuire was put in touch by her husband’s contacts with Dr. Dan Goldstein, Monsanto’s Medical Sciences and Outreach Senior Scientist. Goldstein was leading a desperate attempt at the time to come up with some data to save Monsanto’s number one product – Roundup (a glyphosate-based herbicide) – from public crucifixion. 
 
 From this point on Dr. Shelley McGuire has helped Monsanto to reach their goal: Glyphosate–free breast milk. 
 
 WSU Press Release Dissected 
 
 WSU Press Release: Washington State University scientists have found that glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, does not accumulate in mother’s breast milk. 
 
 Sustainable Pulse/MAA response: You can make this bold claim based on a 41 woman pilot study with all the analysis done by Monsanto, which sells more glyphosate than anyone else in the World? 
 
 WSU Press Release: Michelle McGuire, an associate professor in the WSU School of Biological Sciences, is the lead researcher of the study, which is the first to have its results independently verified by an accredited, outside organization. 
 
 Sustainable Pulse/MAA response: Covance Laboratories is this accredited, outside organization – Covance Labs has worked closely with Monsanto for many years. Covance Laboratories are a service contractor for Monsanto on feeding studies with genetically engineered plants. 
 
 WSU Press Release: “The Moms Across America study flat out got it wrong,” said McGuire, who is an executive committee member for the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation and a national spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition. “Our study provides strong evidence that glyphosate is not in human milk. The MAA findings are unverified, not consistent with published safety data and are based off an assay designed to test for glyphosate in water, not breast milk.” 
 
 Sustainable Pulse/MAA response: This is a very bold statement and Dr. McGuire / Monsanto’s study has already shown to be “flat out wrong” by a German study? 
 
 Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse only reported results from an accredited lab testing, so to keep to the facts there was no Moms Across America ‘study’. The testing was to encourage further independent studies on the issue – of which the German study mentioned above is one. The Moms Across America testing used an accredited lab – Microbe Inotech – who conducted industry standard tests which found glyphosate to be present just as the German tests did. 
 
 WSU Press Release: Independent regulatory and safety assessments of glyphosate conducted by scientists at organizations like the…have found no consistent effects of glyphosate exposure on reproductive health or developing offspring. 
 
 Sustainable Pulse/MAA response: We did not know that Dr. Shelley McGuire is more of an expert than the World Health Organization on the dangers of glyphosate. WHO recently announced that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. Professor Christopher Portier, one of the co-authors of the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) recent report which determined Glyphosate’s status as a probable carcinogen, recently reiterated the IARC’s conclusions, and said: “Glyphosate is definitely genotoxic. There is no doubt in my mind.” 
 
 WSU Press Release: In McGuire’s research, she and her colleagues collected milk and urine samples from 41 lactating women living in or near the cities of Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Wash. The area is a highly productive agricultural region where glyphosate is routinely used in farming practices. 
 
 Sustainable Pulse/MAA response: Due to suggestions made by Dr. McGuire herself that the breast milk would be supplied to Monsanto from the breast milk bank at WSU we would like to see full traceability of the samples – were they really taken from women alongside their urine samples? Also it was not made clear when the samples were taken – were they taken in the last 20 years or before glyphosate herbicides were even produced? 
 
 WSU Press Release: Milk and urine samples were analyzed for glyphosate and glyphosate metabolites using high sensitivity liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods specifically optimized for the task. 
 
 Sustainable Pulse/MAA response: Considering that Dr. McGuire and Monsanto were seemingly struggling with method development just 1 month ago, it seems unlikely that the method, which has not been released, is either accurate or has low Limits of Quantification. 
 
 WSU Press Release: Urinary glyphosate levels were either non-existent or extremely low and not of concern, McGuire said. 
 
 Sustainable Pulse/MAA response: Over 90% of the US population has glyphosate in their urine. Dr McGuire is not qualified to judge if this is of concern or not. 
 
 Furthermore MAA requests a formal retraction and apology from WSU for insinuating that MAA attempted to declare breast milk unsafe. MAA clearly stated when reporting the testing that “Moms Across America feels very strongly that breast milk should still be the number one choice for mothers and certainly preferred over GMO soy formula ingredients. We just urge all mothers to eat as organic as possible, especially meat, dairy, oils and grains that are sprayed with glyphosate at harvest as a drying agent.” 

 Pilot study shows build-up of glyphosate herbicide in Mothers’ bodies 
 
 Urine testing shows glyphosate levels over 10 times higher than in Europe 
 
 Initial testing shows Monsanto and Global regulatory bodies are wrong regarding bio-accumulation of glyphosate, leading to serious public health concerns 
 
 Testing commissioners urge USDA and EPA to place temporary ban on all use of Glyphosate-based herbicides to protect public health, until further more comprehensive testing of glyphosate in breast milk is completed. 
 
 In the first ever testing on glyphosate herbicide in the breast milk of American women, Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse have found ‘high’ levels in 3 out of the 10 samples tested. The shocking results point to glyphosate levels building up in women’s bodies over a period of time, which has until now been refuted by both global regulatory authorities and the biotech industry. 
 
 The levels found in the breast milk testing of 76 ug/l to 166 ug/l are 760 to 1600 times higher than the European Drinking Water Directive allows for individual pesticides. They are however less than the 700 ug/l maximum contaminant level (MCL) for glyphosate in the U.S., which was decided upon by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based on the now seemingly false premise that glyphosate was not bio-accumulative. 
 
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 Glyphosate-containing herbicides are the top-selling herbicides in the world and are sold under trademarks such as Monsanto’s ‘Roundup’. Monsanto’s sales of Roundup jumped 73 percent to $371 million in 2013 because of its increasing use on genetically engineered crops (GE Crops). 
 
 The glyphosate testing (1) commissioned by Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse also analyzed 35 urine samples and 21 drinking water samples from across the US and found levels in urine that were over 10 times higher than those found in a similar survey done in the EU by Friends of the Earth Europe in 2013. 
 
 The initial testing that has been completed at Microbe Inotech Labs, St. Louis, Missouri, is not meant to be a full scientific study. Instead it was set up to inspire and initiate full peer-reviewed scientific studies on glyphosate, by regulatory bodies and independent scientists worldwide. 
 
 Other Language Versions of Press Release: Spanish , French , Russian, Chinese 
 
 The initial testing was done using ELISA tests and due to a high minimum detection level in breast milk and urine, it is possible that even those samples which tested negative contained ‘worrying’ levels of glyphosate. 
 
 Moms Across America Founder and Director, Zen Honeycutt, stated Monday, “When I was told by several doctors and labs that I could not test my own or my children’s urine for the most widely used herbicide in the world over a year ago, I became determined to find a way. Parents and citizens deserve the ability to be able to take care of themselves and their families by finding out if herbicides could be impacting their health. The purpose of this glyphosate testing project is to shed light upon the presence of glyphosate in our water, children’s bodies and mother’s breast milk, hopefully inspiring further scientific studies to support the world in being a healthy, safe place to live. 
 
 “The mothers tested are mostly familiar with GMOs and glyphosate. Most of them have been trying to avoid GMOs and glyphosate for several months to two years, so the levels of mothers who are not aware of GMOs and glyphosate may be much higher,” Honeycutt concluded. 
 
 High Glyphosate Levels – Danger for Infants? 
 
 There is currently no regulatory limit for the amount of glyphosate in breast milk anywhere in the world. However, the EPA has set a legally enforceable maximum contaminant level (MCL) for glyphosate of 700 ug/l in drinking water, which is 7,000 times higher than the MCL in Europe. 
 
 Monsanto and regulatory bodies worldwide have based all of their regulations on the assumption that glyphosate is not bio-accumulative. Senior Monsanto scientist, Dan Goldstein, even recently stated (2), “If ingested, glyphosate is excreted rapidly, does not accumulate in body fat or tissues, and does not undergo metabolism in humans. Rather, it is excreted unchanged in the urine.” 
 
 The discovery of levels of glyphosate in breast milk that are much higher than any reported results for urine samples is a source of concern to both the general public and government regulators worldwide, as the data suggests that glyphosate is bio-accumulative; building up in people’s bodies over a period of time. 
 
 Earth Open Source Research Director Claire Robinson said, “Regulators and industry always say it is the dose that makes the poison, and even the increasing levels of glyphosate currently found in food and feed and the environment are not a problem. However, that argument only holds true if glyphosate doesn’t build up in the human body and is excreted as fast as we take it in. These breast milk results suggest glyphosate may bio-accumulate. That means that our body tissues might be exposed to higher levels than the so-called safe levels set by regulators. So the regulations are not protecting us.” 
 
 From a total of 10 samples sent in by Mothers from states across the U.S., 3 women had detectable levels of glyphosate in their breast milk. The highest glyphosate level was detected in a mother from Florida (166 ug/l) and the other two mothers with ‘positive’ results were from Virginia (76 ug/l) and Oregon (99 ug/l). 
 
 Dr Angelika Hilbeck, senior scientist at the Institute of Integrative Biology in Zurich, stated, “If confirmed in a full investigation, it seems that glyphosate has become a ubiquitous chemical in terms of presence and persistence. This data also offers a first indication of potential accumulation in the human body, giving newborns a substantial dose of synthetic chemicals as a ‘gift’ for their start into life, with unknown consequences. This is reckless and irresponsible conduct in a democratic society, which still has a living memory of previous reckless chemical contaminations, such as DDT. It seems we either did not learn, or we have forgotten, our lessons from Rachel Carson! (3)” 
 
 Jessica M. from Virginia, one of the mothers who tested positive for glyphosate in her breast milk, said, “It is frightening to see any glyphosate in my body, especially in my breast milk that will then contaminate my son’s growing body. It’s particularly upsetting to test positive for glyphosate because I go to great lengths to eat organic and GMO free. I do not consume any meats or seafood and only very rarely eat dairy. This really shows me, and should show others, just how pervasive this toxin is in our food system.” 
 
 Honeycutt added, “Moms Across America feels very strongly that breast milk should still be the number one choice for mothers and certainly preferred over GMO soy formula ingredients. We just urge all mothers to eat as organic as possible, especially avoiding meat, dairy, oils and grains that are sprayed with glyphosate at harvest as a drying agent.” 
 
 “What we have found encouraging is that the women who have been eating organic and non-GMO very strictly, for several months to two years, did not find detectable levels of glyphosate in their breast milk.” 
 
 Why Are Glyphosate Levels in Urine Higher than in Europe? 
 
 In 2013 people in 18 countries across Europe were found to have traces of glyphosate in their urine by a test commissioned by Friends of The Earth Europe (4). The maximum levels of glyphosate found in the tests ranged from 0.16 ug/l in Switzerland to 1.82 ug/l in Latvia. 
 
 Shockingly, the new US testing by Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse found maximum glyphosate levels in urine over 10 times higher than those found in Europe. 
 
 From the 35 samples received from across the U.S., 13 samples were above the minimum detectable level. The three highest levels were all found in women, with the highest in Oregon (18.8 ug/l). Other positive results were found in samples from the states of California, Washington, Maryland, Colorado and Hawaii. 
 
 Experts point to the GE Crop industry as being to blame for the results in both breast milk and urine, due to the amount of glyphosate used on ‘Roundup-Ready GE Crops’ in the U.S. 
 
 The U.S. has a high percentage of its farmland controlled by the GE crops industry, with many varieties of GE soybeans, GE corn, GE cotton and others, whereas Europe has only allowed one GE Crop – Monsanto’s MON810 maize – which is still not grown in most EU states due to health and environmental concerns. 
 
 A 2012 study published by Washington State University (5) research professor Charles Benbrook found that the use of glyphosate in the production of three genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops – cotton, soybeans and corn – has increased. Benbrook’s analysis was the first peer-reviewed, published estimate of the impacts of genetically engineered (GE) herbicide-resistant (HT) crops on pesticide use. 
 
 “Most genetically engineered soybeans now moving through trade channels worldwide contain 2 ppm to over 10 ppm of glyphosate plus its major metabolite, AMPA. These are extraordinarily high residues that raise concerns, given that many people are exposed to glyphosate through drinking water, the air, and a variety of foods. I am particularly worried by exposures during pregnancy and through the first years of a child’s life, when the risk of harm to developing organ systems is greatest. More research is urgently needed on glyphosate’s capacity to disrupt normal development,” Benbrook stated. 
 
 Glyphosate in U.S. Drinking Water 
 
 In this initial testing phase 21 samples of drinking water were tested for glyphosate from across the U.S. 
 
 13 of the samples contained glyphosate levels of between 0.085 ug/l and 0.33 ug/l. This is well below the levels found in both urine and breast milk but is still cause for concern, as the European (EU) maximum allowed level for glyphosate in drinking water is 0.1 ug/l. 
 
 Regulatory Bodies Urged to Act – Further Testing Needed 
 
 The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and other regulatory bodies around the world are being urged to act following the release of this initial testing data, to prevent what is a dangerous public health situation. 
 
 Sustainable Pulse Director Henry Rowlands stated, “Regulatory bodies and governments worldwide need to act fast to ban all glyphosate-based herbicides as a temporary measure, while further long-term testing is completed by both them and independent scientists. This is the only way that they can regain the trust and protect the health of mothers, infants and the general public as a whole.” 
 
 “It was a huge mistake by both the U.S. government and the biotech industry to promote and release products without long-term independent studies. What we are now looking at with glyphosate-based herbicides is a similar situation to what we all faced in the 20th Century with PCBs, DDT and Agent Orange,” Rowlands concluded. 
 
 Due to testing results and skyrocketing health issues, as a matter of precaution, Moms Across America calls for a cease and desist of the practice of spraying glyphosate on GE foods and as a drying agent on food crops, increasing the consumption of glyphosate in our food, including but not limited to, wheat, corn, soy, sugar, rice, dry peas and beans and tea. The EPA lists over 160 foods with allowable levels of glyphosate that are unacceptable to mothers. 
 
 Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse are also calling for: 
 
 Adequate long-term independent testing to ensure that glyphosate herbicide formulations as sold and used are not persistent, bio-accumulative or toxic. This testing must include the outcomes most relevant to children’s health. 
 
 The U.S. Congress should supply funding for urgently needed long-term independent research on glyphosate herbicide formulations, including their health effects, how they get into the human body, and current levels of accumulation in people, animals and the environment. Studies performed for regulatory authorisation up until now have only tested the isolated ingredient glyphosate, not the complete formulations as sold and used, even though the formulations have been found in many studies to be much more toxic than the isolated ingredient. Also these studies are funded by the agrochemical industry, i.e. they are not independent. Finally, they are kept secret under commercial confidentiality rules, so cannot be scrutinised by independent scientists and the public. 
 
 PCB Similarities 
 
 This case of finding high levels of glyphosate in breast milk is a re-run of the Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) scandal in the 1970s (6), which ended up in the toxic chemical compound’s production being banned by the U.S. Congress in 1979. 
 
 Before the ban Monsanto, the only North American producer, had marketed PCBs under the trade name Aroclor from 1930 to 1977 and had insisted that it was not toxic. 
 
 It was not until levels of PCBs in breast milk were found to be 10 times those in blood, obtained from residents in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan (7), that the toxicity of PCBs was questioned by regulators, leading to the 1979 ban. 
 
 According to the EPA, PCBs, which were widely used for over 40 years as dielectric and coolant fluids, have now been shown to cause cancer in humans. 
 
 Is it not time that regulators learned lessons from past mistakes? 
 
 Notes for Editors: 
 
 (1) www.momsacrossamerica.com/glyphosate_testing_results 
 
 (2) gmoanswers.com/ask/given-glyphosate-lipid-soluble-and-knowing-its-really-only-ingested-humans-through-gm-foods-how 
 
 (3) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson 
 
 (4) www.foeeurope.org/weed-killer-glyphosate-found-human-urine-across-Europe-130613 
 
 (5) www.enveurope.com/content/24/1/24 
 
 (6) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyl 
 
 (7) link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00454276 
 
 Contacts: 
 
 Zen Honeycutt, Founder and Director of Moms Across America, www.momsacrossamerica.com, 
 
 info@momsacrossamerica.com, Skype: zen.honeycutt. Moms Across America is presented by the non profit CA State Grange and is a national coalition of unstoppable Moms. “Empowered Moms, Healthy Kids.” 
 
 Henry Rowlands, Director, Sustainable Pulse, info@sustainablepulse.com, Skype: henry.rowlands 
 
 Sustainable Pulse ( www.sustainablepulse.com ) is owned and maintained by a group of concerned citizens and scientists. 
 
 Sustainable Pulse provides the general public with the latest global news on GMOs, Sustainable Food and Sustainable Agriculture from our network of worldwide sources. 

 By Will Ferguson, College of Arts & Sciences 
 
 PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University scientists have found that glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, does not accumulate in mother’s breast milk. 
 
 Michelle McGuire, an associate professor in the WSU School of Biological Sciences, is the lead researcher of the study, which is the first to have its results independently verified by an accredited, outside organization. 
 
 Her findings, presented at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Conference on July 23 in Big Sky, Mont., show that glyphosate, the most used weed-killing chemical in the world, does not accumulate over time in human milk. She conducted the study with Kimberly Lackey, Ph.D. candidate in zoology, laboratory technician Janae Carrothers and colleagues at the nearby University of Idaho. 
 
 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is using the study as part of an ongoing review of glyphosate regulations prompted by public concern over a controversial report on the chemical released by the advocacy group, Moms Across America, last year. 
 
 “The Moms Across America study flat out got it wrong,” said McGuire, who is an executive committee member for the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation and a national spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition. “Our study provides strong evidence that glyphosate is not in human milk. The MAA findings are unverified, not consistent with published safety data and are based off an assay designed to test for glyphosate in water, not breast milk.” 
 
 A questionable study 
 
 A large body of scientific evidence shows breast feeding offers unparalleled nutritional and immunological benefits for both mothers and children. 
 
 Taking this into consideration, you can imagine the consternation McGuire, a lactation physiologist with more than 25 years of research experience, felt when a study by activists publicly called into question the safety and healthfulness of breast milk. 
 
 The Moms Across America and Sustainable Pulse study claimed that traces of glyphosate were found in three out of 10 breast milk samples submitted for analysis. 
 
 The findings, which were published on the Moms Across America website, garnered national media attention and quickly led to a good deal of public concern about the safety of glyphosate, a product widely used for weed control for over 30 years. 
 
 Independent regulatory and safety assessments of glyphosate conducted by scientists at organizations like the National Institutes of Health (http://aghealth.nih.gov/), the German Agency for Risk Assessment (http://www.bfr.bund.de/en/the_bfr_has_finalised_its_draft_report_for_the_re_evaluation_of_glyphosate-188632.html) and the Georgetown University School of Medicine (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10937404.2012.632361#abstract) have found no consistent effects of glyphosate exposure on reproductive health or developing offspring. 
 
 Women studied in ag communities 
 
 In McGuire’s research, she and her colleagues collected milk and urine samples from 41 lactating women living in or near the cities of Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Wash. The area is a highly productive agricultural region where glyphosate is routinely used in farming practices. 
 
 Ten of the women reported living on or directly adjacent to a farm or ranch, 23 of the women described their personal diet as conventional and 5 had personally mixed or applied glyphosate sometime in the past. 
 
 Milk and urine samples were analyzed for glyphosate and glyphosate metabolites using high sensitivity liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods specifically optimized for the task. 
 
 The study detected neither glyphosate nor any glyphosate metabolites in any milk sample, even when the mother had detectable amounts of glyphosate in her urine. 
 
 Urinary glyphosate levels were either non-existent or extremely low and not of concern, McGuire said. Additionally, no relationship was found between subjects who self-identified as consumers of conventionally grown foods instead of organics and urinary glyphosate levels. Nor was there a difference between women who lived on or near a farm and those who lived in an urban or suburban non-farming area. 
 
 Analyses of the milk samples were conducted in Monsanto laboratories in St. Louis and independently verified at Wisconsin-based Covance Laboratories, which is not affiliated with the WSU/UI research team or Monsanto. 
 
 “In conclusion, our data – obtained using sophisticated and validated methods of analyses – strongly suggest that glyphosate does not bioaccumulate and is not present in human milk even when the mother has detectable glyphosate in her urine,” McGuire said. “These findings emphasize the critical importance of carefully validating laboratory methods to the biological matrix of interest, especially when it is as complex as human milk.” 
 
 Contact: 
 
 Will Ferguson, WSU science writer, 509-335-3927, will.ferguson@wsu.edu
– Scientists say a potentially cancer-causing chemical used in Monsanto's popular herbicide Roundup doesn't pose a risk to babies via a mother's breast milk, despite an earlier study claiming that was in fact the case. Washington State University researchers set out to discover whether glyphosate could be found in breast milk after a Moms Across America-Sustainable Pulse study last year identified traces in three out of 10 breast milk samples, per a press release. WSU lead author Michelle McGuire analyzed breast milk and urine from 41 women in or around Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman, Wash., agricultural areas where glyphosate is often used. Ten said they lived on or next to a farm or ranch and five said they'd mixed or applied glyphosate. However, none of the women's breast milk contained traces of glyphosate, even when detectable but "extremely low" levels were found in urine, researchers say. Researchers say they found no differences between women who lived on or near farms and those who didn't, or those who ate organic food versus conventionally grown food. "The Moms Across America study flat out got it wrong," says McGuire, who presented her findings at a biology conference yesterday. "The MAA findings are unverified, not consistent with published safety data, and are based off an assay designed to test for glyphosate in water, not breast milk." Some of McGuire's samples were analyzed in Monsanto labs; others were verified at Covance Laboratories, a lab with no links to WSU or Monsanto. MAA and Sustainable Pulse are disputing many of the assertions laid out in the release, writing, for instance, that Covance is "a service contractor for Monsanto on feeding studies with genetically engineered plants." They also cite a month-old German study of 16 women that found 0.210 to 0.432 nanograms of glyphosate per milliliter of breast milk; a maximum 0.100 nanograms is allowed in drinking water, the Local reports.