80% of Americans test positive for chemical found in Cheerios, Quaker Oats that may cause infertility, delayed puberty: study

Four out of five Americans are being exposed to a little-known chemical found in popular oat-based foods — including Cheerios and Quaker Oats — that is linked to reduced fertility, altered fetal growth, and delayed puberty.

The Environmental Working Group published a study in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology on Thursday that found a staggering 80% of Americans tested positive for a harmful pesticide called chlormequat.

The “highly toxic agricultural chemical” is federally allowed to be used on oats and other grains imported to the US, according to the EWG. When applied to oat and grain crops, chlormequat alters a plant’s growth, preventing it from bending over and thus making it easier to harvest, per the EWG.

“Just as troubling, we detected the chemical in 92% of oat-based foods purchased in May 2023, including Quaker Oats and Cheerios,” the nonprofit organization said in a report published alongside the group’s findings.

General Mills, which makes Cheerios, and PepsiCo, which makes Quaker Oats, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Another particularly concerning data point: After testing for the presence of chlormequat in urine collected from 96 people between 2017 and 2023, the EWG’s tests “found higher levels and more frequent detections of chlormequat in the 2023 samples…which suggests consumer exposure to chlormequat could be on the rise.”