Children and glyphosate exposure: what has been measured

Parents often ask how much glyphosate children are exposed to. This page covers what has been measured or estimated, and by whom: a national CDC urine survey, EPA's dietary exposure estimates for children, Canadian testing of infant foods, and a study of pregnant women. It is about exposure and measurement only. It does not cover health outcomes, and ByeGly makes no health claims. For what agencies have concluded, see Where agencies stand.

What "exposure" means here

• Exposure means glyphosate reached a person, for example through food or water. It is often measured in urine.
• CDC's framing. CDC says: "The presence of glyphosate in a person's urine indicates exposure; it does not by itself mean that the chemical causes disease or an adverse effect."¹
• CDC says people can be exposed "through diet, skin contact, and breathing in particles from the air."¹

CDC: national urine data, NHANES 2013-2014 (published 2022)

CDC scientists measured glyphosate in stored urine samples from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a national survey. The results were published in Environment International in 2022 (Ospina et al.).²¹

• Who was measured. 2,310 urine samples from a representative subsample of people aged 6 and older. Children under 6 were not included.²
• How often it was found. The weighted detection frequency was 81.2%. Levels ranged from below the detection limit (0.20 μg/L, micrograms per liter) to 8.13 μg/L, with a median of 0.392 μg/L.²
• By age. The authors report that glyphosate concentration "decreased from age 6–11 until age 20–59 and increased at 60+ years." For children aged 6 to 11, the median was 0.526 μg/L.²
• Food and fasting. People who had not eaten for more than 8 hours had lower levels. CDC says this suggests "that food is an important source of contact with the chemical."¹²
• The authors' summary. The data "suggest that over four-fifths of the U.S. general population ≥ 6 years experienced recent exposure to glyphosate."²
• CDC calls it "the largest evaluation of glyphosate exposure of its kind in the United States."¹

EPA: dietary exposure estimates for children

EPA sets tolerances (legal residue limits) for glyphosate on food. When it does, it estimates how much people, including children, could take in from food and drinking water. In a 2013 tolerance rule, EPA reported the following.³

• The extra factor for children. Federal food law tells EPA to apply "an additional tenfold (10X) margin" for infants and children, which EPA calls the Food Quality Protection Act Safety Factor (FQPA SF), unless reliable data support a different factor. For glyphosate, EPA reduced this factor to 1X, saying reliable data supported that choice. EPA's listed reasons included that its database of studies on glyphosate's effects was complete.³
• Children aged 1 to 2 had the highest estimated exposure. EPA estimated that chronic exposure to glyphosate from food and water "will utilize 13% of the cPAD for children 1-2 years old, the population group receiving the greatest exposure." The cPAD (chronic population-adjusted dose) is the reference point EPA compares long-term dietary exposure estimates against.³
• The assumptions behind the estimate. EPA assumed residues at the full tolerance level and that 100% of each crop was treated. It used food consumption data from NHANES/What We Eat in America, 2003 to 2008.³ EPA describes its drinking-water modeling assumptions as "conservative (protective)."³
• Updates. EPA is updating its human health risk assessment for glyphosate. As of November 11, 2026, EPA's glyphosate page (last updated August 26, 2026) says "with completion anticipated in late 2026,"⁴ while an EPA and HHS news release dated September 23, 2026 (page last updated October 22, 2026) says "with completion anticipated in early 2027."⁵ See Where agencies stand.

Canada: infant foods in the CFIA survey, 2015-2016

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) tested infant cereals and infant foods sold in Canada as part of its 2015-2016 glyphosate testing.⁶

CFIA says no infant food samples "were found to contain residues exceeding Canadian limits."⁶ For the full survey, see What residue testing has found.

A study of pregnant women in Indiana (2018)

Researchers measured glyphosate in urine from 71 pregnant women in Central Indiana, published in Environmental Health in 2018 (Parvez et al.).⁷

• 93% had levels above the detection limit of 0.1 ng/mL (nanograms per milliliter).
• The mean was 3.40 ng/mL, with a range of 0.5 to 7.20 ng/mL.
• Levels were higher in women who lived in rural areas and in those who drank more than 24 ounces of caffeinated beverages a day.
• None of the drinking water samples collected from participants' homes had detectable glyphosate.
• The authors note the cohort was small and regional, with limited racial and ethnic diversity.⁷

A diet study that included children (2020)

A 2020 study of four U.S. families (16 people, adults and children) measured urinary glyphosate on five days of a non-organic diet, then five days of an organic diet. For the children, mean urinary glyphosate fell by 70.85%. See Practical ways to lower glyphosate residue in what you buy for details and who funded and ran the study.⁸

What this page does not cover

• Health outcomes. The studies above measured exposure. This page does not report on health effects, and none of these numbers is a health finding.
• Children under 6 in national data. The CDC NHANES glyphosate data cover people aged 6 and older.²

Sources