It’s Girl Scout Cookies Time!

It’s that time of year when those cookies begin to pop up around our neighborhoods like early spring daffodils. You know the ones — those peanut butter patties and thin mints Girl Scout cookies. Did you know those annual treats contain potentially toxic ingredients?

Consumer groups, GMOScience, and Moms Across America (“MAA”), all part of the ever-growing influential MAHA (Make American Healthy Again) movement, say the cookies test positive for heavy metals and glyphosate (“RoundUp Weed & Grass Killer”), a herbicide with demonstrated potential serious health risks. With limited funding, the groups commissioned studies of cookies from three states: “California (a “green” state), Iowa (highest use of pesticides in the U.S.), and Louisiana (runoff from the Mississippi River).” Their December 2024 report (which went viral) showed

• 100% of the samples were positive for glyphosate
• 100% were positive for toxic metals
• 22 out of 25 (88%) of samples were positive for all 5 toxic metals tested
• 76% were positive for levels of cadmium that exceed EPA limits in water
• 24 out of 25 (96%) of samples were positive for lead

Even though these consumer groups reached out to Girl Scouts of the USA (“GSUSA”) for input before they published the study, GSUSA did not respond, nor has it commissioned studies of its own or shown facts to disprove the study’s results.

And, just last week Joe Rogan was shocked to hear about it from his guest, actor Woody Harrelson:

GSUSA itself has been pretty silent until late February, when they gave the members and supporters “an important update,” pointing out that because they comply with regulations from “the FDA, EPA and other relevant health authorities” the cookies are safe. They also say

Meanwhile, left-leaning Snopes.com’s disclaimer seeking to debunk the studies has been repeated even more often across social media. Snopes, unable to deny the actual study results, digs deep into the reasoning that “a 66-pound child would have to eat 9,000 cookies in a day to approach the dangerous levels [of toxins, etc.] as defined by the FDA.”  Their position casts doubt on the studies because of their limited nature and because glyphosate and heavy metals are “found in nature.”

However, the CEO of GMO Science says

MAA is asking GSUSA to:

Do you think the controversy may have anything to do with the fact that this annual spring-time habit is a $1 billion industry?  Do you think GSUSA’s response to the study is reasonable?  Will your family stock up this spring?

Elizabeth Sotallaro

God’s child, Arkansas conservatarian
#TheMoreYouKnow