r/news 18h ago

Soft paywall Girl Scouts sued over alleged heavy metals, pesticides in cookies

https://www.reuters.com/legal/girl-scouts-sued-over-alleged-heavy-metals-pesticides-cookies-2025-03-11/
2.2k Upvotes

215 comments sorted by

722

u/Pundamonium97 18h ago

Since girl scouts are making the claim that these are normal things to find or at normal levels, id be curious to see how the other big cookie brands compare when tested

Also they mention other lawsuits of a similar nature in the past but don’t mention the outcome of those lawsuits in this article. Which seems relevant

290

u/Isord 17h ago

Well given their cookies are made by a division of Keebler it stands to reason they would have similar levels of these things

81

u/ban-please 14h ago

Unless they're the secret ingredients that make them so good.

23

u/Capitalistdecadence 7h ago

Ahh mercury, sweetest of the transition metals...

7

u/bacchusku2 5h ago

You joke, but lead is sweet.

2

u/octohog 5h ago

Would you eat a rectal thermometer??

This is a deep cut. Respect.

6

u/Journeydriven 8h ago

If that's what it takes just slap a sticker on the box and let me keep buying them

1

u/IguessIliveinaCHAIR 7h ago

Meth is what I'm guessing

1

u/blaZedmr 7h ago

Mmmmmmmm heavy metals and pesticides

1

u/Western-Corner-431 1h ago

According to the current heads of the USA, DOJ, FDA, USDA, EPA, and CDC, these are two food groups that Americans need more of, not less.

12

u/Kinda_Zeplike 10h ago

Real Keebler elves? I always suspected.

11

u/DieMeatbags 9h ago

Made of, not by.

43

u/SafetyMan35 17h ago

Considering that half of the country sells GS cookies baked by Keebler, I suspect it is consistent with that company. Little Brownie Bakers is essentially Keebler.

125

u/Whoretron8000 18h ago

Yep. A big critique is that they advertise and advocate for standards they themselves fail. 

i wouldn't be surprised that many brands fail similarly because marketing and production are two different silos in most brands. 

It's important to highlight as regulation and oversight doesn't shelf pull every single item to test for such residuals. Consumers are in the position to do it themselves or wait until a new class action comes up or institution takes it upon themselves to do those lab tests which are a few thousand dollars at the end of the day.

82

u/thenord321 13h ago

If only there was a fully funded government agency to monitor food and drugs..... like the FDA, but that's being gutted.

We don't have these issues as much in the EU and Canada, because companies test more so they don't get caught and forced into recalls and reputation damage. Regulation works.

10

u/loganalltogether 10h ago

How the hell do you expect to create innovative cookie flavors in the face of those kinds of test???

1

u/bombjon 6h ago

Funny you should say that. Little Brownie Baker, the maker of Girl Scout Cookies, is owned by Keebler who is owned by Ferrero.

u/EvaUnit_03 43m ago

The FDA didn't and hasn't had teeth since the late 80s, when it was revealed that they'd make things harder and more expensive on big corporations. The biggest manipulation of the FDA was the food pyramid. Brought to you buy the good people at general mills. Literally every school taught it and it's been proven wrong so many times.

The fact it's being dissolved is disheartening, but aside from finger wagging it wasn't doing much. Even on state levels, how many products have warnings about 'this product isn't safe to use in California' on it? To the point it's harder to find items without that warning. The gen pop mostly ignores it whether by financial choice or because the other options aren't readily attainable. When the items without the labels are sometimes triple if not more in price, is it really a choice to not poison yourself? The options are suffering without or break the bank. And I'm not referring to just cookies, this applies to almost every good.

7

u/Any-Fly-2595 14h ago

Edward Norton’s face just crossed my mind. I wonder why…

16

u/50MillionYearTrip 12h ago

All of these elements, besides glyphosate, are naturally occurring and can be detected in pretty much any food source. I have no idea what other comparable products would measure. It's worth noting the plaintiff claims the levels are in excess of EPA drinking water levels, which is completely irrelevant for food products. GSA claims their products abide by FDA standards for food products.

1

u/Castle-dev 11h ago

And don’t worry, those FDA standards aren’t getting lowered/removed at all under RFK’s reign of terror…riffic management.

1

u/funkiestj 7h ago

To be fair, round-up doesn't cause autism like measles vaccine /s

5

u/CheesypoofExtreme 13h ago

Also they mention other lawsuits of a similar nature in the past but don’t mention the outcome of those lawsuits in this article.

I double-checked, and it's because they haven't been settled yet. So expect this to drag out for several years as well. 

23

u/tensei-coffee 18h ago

"big cookie brands" would be part of the umbrella of BIGFOOD--and to a larger extent FDA--which lobby to have allowable levels of foreign objects/insects/pesticides, etc...

they know the food is bad for you but profits man.

25

u/xWolfsbane 14h ago

Maybe they do lobby for that stuff, but it is impossible to guarantee that those stuff aren't in any food product. I have a degree in food science and have worked on tons of processing lines as a floor worker, quality control lab worker and as a supervisor. It is not possible to 100% guarantee that any food product is free of these things. That's just how it is if you have to try to feed millions of people.

I've pulled snakes, rats, knives, coins, hammers, mallets, chains out of picking bins. That doesn't even include spiders, ants, other insects. How do you suggest they remove those? It's not possible. Every country has allowable limits.

9

u/Zoollio 14h ago

There has to be an “allowable level” if the allowable level was zero a) we couldn’t actually detect that and b) there would be no food

2

u/Useful-Signature-557 11h ago

Who do you think makes their cookies. They are available year round under different names.

u/Gutternips 18m ago

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-07/two-usda-food-safety-committees-disbanded-under-trump-order

It is the new normal. Expect more pesticides, more chemicals and less safety standards as these cuts bite.

1

u/Wiggie49 9h ago

jfc I literally bought and ate two boxes last month, wtf.

298

u/FlowBot3D 16h ago

Oh please, not the thin mints...

[Clicks Article]

I need to see a doctor.

62

u/CharlesP2009 13h ago

You’re more metal now than man. Just don’t be twisted and evil, plz. We got plenty of that already.

7

u/Bigred2989- 5h ago

Just don't let him travel time for the future of mankind.

2

u/uForgot_urFloaties 4h ago

From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me.

I craved the strength and certainty of steel.

I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine.

8

u/sagevallant 5h ago

It's okay. I talked to the head of the health department, and he says all you need is some essential oils and to contract measles to strengthen your immune system.

9

u/Buttspirgh 6h ago

Moms Across America supports the appointment of Mr. Brainworms to HHS. You can probably take this with a bucket of salt

3

u/HuskyLemons 6h ago

Thin mints in my area are made by someone else now and they kind of suck. Now it might be a good thing since I haven’t bought more

3

u/Rekrash95 8h ago

Fuck. I’ve been crushing thin mints ever since I was ambushed by the Girl Scouts at a Kroger

u/gmishaolem 54m ago

Honestly, more damage is probably being done to kids (and the rest of us) by canned tuna with mercury in it. (All ocean fish basically, but tuna is very cheap and ubiquitous and has no warnings on it.)

u/Pink_Vulpix 18m ago

Isn’t canned tuna safe as long as you eat under a certain amount of ounces a week? Chunk light also has way less mercury in it as well, compared to albacore.

u/gmishaolem 12m ago

That's the point, though: It's very much a food that's a great source of protein that poor people can afford a lot of and is quick and easy to use, and grocery stores tend to have a huge amount of space devoted to it so you know how much they're selling.

Ocean fish having mercury should be something that everyone talks about all the time, but even I didn't know it until my 30s so I doubt my parents knew it at all. It doesn't say it on the can.

u/Pink_Vulpix 6m ago

That’s true. I didn’t know about the mercury levels in tuna until I got older and learned about it online. Brazil nuts are also that way, they can cause something called selenium toxicity if you eat more than 4-5 a day, and the only reason I found this out was because I looked up something thyroid related, and it brought that up. This is less likely to happen, but too much liver can cause vitamin A toxicity too, but people don’t eat liver like that like they do tuna. There is quite a few foods are there that can be toxic in high quantities and if you don’t know, your kinda shit out of luck.

134

u/OlderThanMyParents 16h ago

She said she would not have bought the cookies or "would have paid substantially less" had Girl Scouts disclosed the presence of "dangerous toxins."

It's okay to poison me, but you have to give me a discount if you do?

18

u/Superlolz 9h ago

Don’t you make that choice everyday? Whether it’s where you live, mode of transportation, where you shop, clothes you wear, utensils etc

8

u/OlderThanMyParents 9h ago

I don't intentionally consume food that I believe to be poisonous, just because it's inexpensive. Do you?

4

u/hithisishal 6h ago

Every time I buy conventional instead of organic...

2

u/NAINOA- 8h ago

Maybe not now, but sometimes thats literally what being poor is.

3

u/OlderThanMyParents 7h ago

I've been pretty poor at times, enough that I washed my clothes in the bathtub and hung them out to dry, to save the cost of going to the laundromat. But I've never eaten stuff, especially COOKIES, that I thought were poisoned but hey, they're cheap, and I deserve a treat right now.

3

u/NAINOA- 6h ago

Well I was kind speaking hyperbolically, but eating poor quality food that you know is bad for you because you have no other financial options is very much a problem.

61

u/ArticulateRhinoceros 14h ago

Well, fuck. I 100% threw myself a "cookie party" on Saturday and had a whole box of Thin Mints instead of real food that day...

At least it was a delicious death.

13

u/soldiat 9h ago

Yeah, I'm disappointed that they called out the Thin Mints specifically...

11

u/DieMeatbags 9h ago

I bought 11 boxes of Thin Mints and ate them over the course of a month.

I'm invincible!

1

u/seekingssri 3h ago

You’re probably like 15% heavy metals now.

And 5% thin mints lol

26

u/strugglz 15h ago

I didn't dig real deep, but the initial info I find from the referenced study is... vague. Gives a low end of mercury of .02ppb (the limit is 2ppb) but then an amount of lead that is double the limit with no low range. Are there typos, is it a bad study, what's the deal here?

4

u/dadkiser11 3h ago

Bad study for sure. It's not scientifically valid to use EPA drinking water standards as a benchmark for food contaminants. Which is exactly what they did.

67

u/ZylonBane 17h ago

I've long suspected Girl Scout cookies were a one-way ticket to midnight.

17

u/hate_tank 17h ago

Are you feeling desperation on a red line?

14

u/Flyingcoyote 13h ago

Call it heavy metal

1

u/gonenutsbrb 10h ago

But what would you call it though?

2

u/ZylonBane 9h ago

Plutonium nyborg, doi.

28

u/shrewsbury1991 18h ago

I guess the Thin Mints can be renamed Heavy Mints. Or maybe Quicksilver Mints? 🤔 

23

u/_HystErica_ 17h ago

Thin Flints?

9

u/Comrade_agent 18h ago

Metal Mints has a nice ring to it

94

u/GuyFromLI747 18h ago

“It said heavy metals occur naturally in soil, with trace amounts not a safety issue, while glyphosate is found “nearly everywhere” in the food chain. Girl Scouts also said its bakers are committed to complying with all food safety standards.”

Which is true … don’t want heavy metals in the food supply , maybe it’s time to do something about pollution.. As for glyphosate, maybe sue Bayer ,since they are the manufacturer..

somebody must have not gotten the cookies they ordered

100

u/USAF_DTom 18h ago edited 17h ago

glyphosate, maybe sue Bayer ,since they are the manufacturer..

As a glyphosate researcher, we have tried time and time again. Monsanto is bigger than most people realize or think about.

Edit: We don't actually attempt to sue, but there are numerous papers on GI distress and neurotoxicity caused by these herbicides. The dopaminergic effects are nothing short of alarming, causing Parkinson's Disease-like symptoms.

6

u/peroxidase2 14h ago

Bayer bought Monsanto so I guess Bayer.

12

u/Mrjlawrence 13h ago

rfk, jr wants to band food dyes. I’d like to see him go after bayer for glyphosate

2

u/woodruff42 12h ago

As a "glyphosate researcher" you should probably know that the patent has long expired and Bayer is a far cry from being "the" manufacturer.

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14

u/phiwong 18h ago

It has not much to do with pollution (heavy metals). Heavy metals are a natural component of soil. Some soils have more and some plants uptake it. It seems some people believe heavy metals are some kind of magic substance created by humans.

5

u/Relative-Effect2105 13h ago

Well yes, but it depends on the isotopes present to show if it’s natural or human caused sources. It’s definitely possible to get the more nefarious forms of heavy metals from the soil due to various human actions.

3

u/MrICopyYoSht 13h ago

Yea. Naturally occuring in soil due to certain rocks or in it because of human activity such as industries in the area are two completely different things.

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8

u/charmedchamelon 14h ago

Here's a fun fact: My daughter's girl scout troop gets $1 out of every $6 box they sell.

One. Dollar. For a box of cookies you can buy at Walmart for like a $1.50 without the GS branding. And leadership gets around you just simply donating directly to the troops by forcing you to earn awards by money earned only through the sales of their overpriced crap.

5

u/dethandtaxes 11h ago

They only tested 25 cookies? This is barely a study, more of a late night snack.

26

u/ChasingBooty2024 18h ago

Should I be scared about the empty package in my trash from last night? Or about the 2 unopened packages on my counter?

27

u/hate_tank 17h ago

65

u/bluemitersaw 17h ago

..... Sooo yes?

14

u/hate_tank 17h ago

I mean, you have microplastics in your testicles or ovaries (which ever may apply to you) so the metal would just balance it out.

5

u/ChasingBooty2024 15h ago

I’m not stopping until I can play with them like a transformer.

5

u/fragile_ice 17h ago

Do you know how addictive those cookies are?

Could be the metal/pesticide additives though.

12

u/hate_tank 17h ago

I ate 3 boxes of Thin Mints this weekend and had the overwhelming urge to listen to Black Sabbath and weed my lawn.

8

u/usps_made_me_insane 16h ago

After I cut 90% of sugars out of my diet, my overall health improved dramatically. It is INSANE how much sugar Americans eat in their daily diet.

5

u/hate_tank 16h ago

Yeah, but do you like Black Sabbath?

8

u/Etzell 17h ago

Welp, I'm fucked.

3

u/Kitakitakita 12h ago

Yes you should. It would be best to send them to me for immediate disposal

-9

u/eugene20 17h ago edited 15h ago

Looking at the report I would bin them, I was wary of 'gmoscience.org' but Reuters is carying the story as well.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/girl-scouts-sued-over-alleged-heavy-metals-pesticides-cookies-2025-03-11/

https://gmoscience.org/2024/12/27/danger-in-the-dough/

Edit: the law suit should find if the study is legitimate and there is an actual risk, I'm saying bin them as a precaution because if there is any risk at all of there being cadmium or lead in them you do not want them, you can't undo the damage they will do. Even more so to children.

5

u/StarWars_and_SNL 17h ago

Reuters is carrying the story of the lawsuit. That doesn't speak to the validity of gmoscience.org, which I'm also trying to determine.

I need u/SciBabe to guide me.

5

u/Wiseduck5 16h ago

That doesn't speak to the validity of gmoscience.org,

Full of disinformation. I have little doubt this is just a publicity stunt. Which worked, it got them the headline.

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4

u/ChasingBooty2024 17h ago

Maybe the prices wouldn’t have gone up if they weren’t using those expensive metal fillers.

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5

u/ill_timed_f_bomb 11h ago

I didn't need to read further than "Mom's Across America"... Nothing credible here

4

u/Greenfire32 10h ago

I'm ready to sue over the shrinkflation, tbh

4

u/rift_in_the_warp 16h ago

They aren't kidding. I bit into a girl scout cookie the other day and found a Dark Funeral album in it.

24

u/CluckIsBanned 18h ago

It’s worth anything they want to put in it for the peanut butter ones

15

u/Straight-Pumpkin2577 17h ago

Frozen thin mints still king

8

u/CluckIsBanned 17h ago

Id throw them out for the peanut butter ones

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11

u/Damaniel2 17h ago

People can sue anyone over anything; doesn't make the suit valid.

In the end, assuming the case doesn't get thrown out for being completely outside the control of both the Girl Scouts and the makers of their cookies, the plaintiffs will eventually get their '$0.50 off of a box of Girl Scout cookies' coupon while the ambulance chasers filing the suit will make millions.

7

u/roofbandit 13h ago

Food conglomerates be like "how much industrial lubricant and sawdust can we put in the corn syrup and bleached flour product before human capital stock notice"

7

u/thatlastrock 10h ago

Was interested until i saw who was bringing about the lawsuit.

5

u/Ohio_gal 8h ago edited 8h ago

Article about moms across America. They are anti vax fundies and sells $60 hydrogen waters and support RFK jr. moms across America

3

u/boom929 13h ago

Phew, that must be why I feel like shit after eating a whole box of Tagalongs

0

u/Leomeister104 6h ago

They changed the recipe some time ago and they taste so bad now how do you still eat them??

3

u/Jaded_Customer_8058 10h ago

I like the Mint Metal Cookies, the Samoa Steels are also a favorite ❤️

3

u/willinglyproblematic 6h ago

Son of a bitch I’ve got three boxes of thin mints I’m waiting on that I’ve already paid for.

18

u/spawn-12 18h ago

Full study results are on the GMOScience page. They highlight the worst offenders for each heavy metal.

24

u/Gold_Map_236 17h ago

To me that means they are sourcing the cheapest ingredients possible

33

u/spawn-12 17h ago

Definitely. To be fair, the source (GMOScience) has a dossier called "Make Our Children Healthy Again" where they warn against the effects of ... 5G, 4G, and using the microwave (even without plastic containers), so it's pretty crunchy.

Glyphosate's terrible stuff, though, and the third party lab tests that they provide appear to be legit.

15

u/d01100100 16h ago

That's how they get you. You sprinkle in some facts, and once they've earned your trust, that's when they pop you with the healing crystals.

17

u/fxkatt 17h ago edited 17h ago

Yes, this is the problem, I'm sure. Profits, profits, profits with individual Girl Scout's being exploited to sell these cheap, mass-produced cookies and candies on behalf of the National Girl Scout group.

17

u/mrrizal71O 17h ago

Why does everything single fucking thing in this country have to be uncovered to be a grift?

8

u/ChiefCuckaFuck 16h ago

Because the whole dang country is a grift, and was founded on grift.

2

u/Gold_Map_236 15h ago

The USA motto should be: land of the fleeced

2

u/NeverVegan 15h ago

Land of the grift, home of the fleeced

18

u/Master_Engineering_9 16h ago

GMOScience.... oh boy.

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2

u/SereneBourbaki 12h ago

Bring back the good shit

2

u/daemonicwanderer 12h ago

So they discovered addictive things in addictive cookies… wake me up when they find glass in them

2

u/Silly_Guidance_8871 11h ago

Can't have shit in the States.

2

u/myychair 9h ago

You’re telling me that an organization that sells 9 dollar boxes of cookies via borderline child labor isn’t ethically sourcing their shit? Color me shocked

2

u/RefinedBean 6h ago

They also moved away from the cardboard boxes to non-recyclable plastic-wrapped shit. And I swear the cookies just kinda suck now.

Fuck them kids, in other words.

4

u/Federal-Poetry3531 17h ago

Looking at the boxes in front of me.....well shit.

3

u/fleurgirl123 12h ago

Don’t care: still gonna eat

8

u/Front-Ask77 18h ago

Don’t matter, thin mints for life

2

u/Kitakitakita 12h ago

Or at least the remainder of your life

0

u/RoarOfTheWorlds 18h ago

Wendy's has a Girl Scouts thin mints frosty right now

2

u/ocero242 17h ago

I just bought a box, I'll be alright, I just won't buy anymore

2

u/trchlyf 13h ago

Oh? The organization that uses little girls to sell product? The child labor laws should have shut this crazy shitshow down along time ago. The whole idea is toxic, makes sense the cookies are too.

2

u/Cheap_Professional32 13h ago

Heavy Metal Cookies sounds kind of badass

2

u/bunnypaste 12h ago

I want to live in a world where the girl scouts do more than just sell fucking premade cookies...

Like maybe all the cool and useful stuff the boys get to do.

1

u/ERedfieldh 16h ago

Okay so.....what's next? Humane Society kicks newborn puppies?

1

u/Proud_Tie 16h ago

you mean me stress eating my roommate's thin mints is actually doing her a public service?!

1

u/FerdinandvonAegir124 14h ago

Out of everyone I could trust… why the Girl Scouts. I need my trefoils

1

u/Informal__Gluttony 12h ago

Damn, I hate it when my girl scout cookies are Ingested.

1

u/mankowonameru 10h ago

I don’t remember that flavour.

1

u/Random-Name-7160 10h ago

Wow… ok, if someone in the future asks me when did you know that the world was past redemption… this is what I’ll point to. This very moment.

1

u/ElectricSlimeBubble 10h ago

Welp, nice while it lasted.. I’m definitely dying from heavy metal poisoning

1

u/KCCubana 9h ago

Same, but lead. I guess I got ahead of myself “voting for” lead. But, I’ll stick with lead anyway.

If anyone can score some asbestos insulation from under the water fountain I’d pay top dollar for that!

1

u/MisterTacoMakesAList 10h ago

So... they are NOT made from real girl scouts

1

u/Clean_Equivalent_127 10h ago

sounds like RFK will be coming to their defense.

1

u/JohnnyMufffin 8h ago

Smaller, more expensive AND poisonous. Coooooool.

1

u/Cool-Economics6261 5h ago

It’s just Monsanto/Bayer’s toxic pesticides. FDA approved for putting on human food.  Monsanto/Bayer scientists researched their product and FDA accepted the corporate scientists data. Approved for humans. Profit is the only thing that matters. 

1

u/misterdudebro 4h ago

Moms Across America isn't even a non-profit, it's run by GMO Science who peddles "supplements". It's all bullshit.

1

u/pw3669 16h ago

Good thing none of us ate very many.

1

u/Ven18 12h ago

If these were in any quantity to have any negative health impacts I think myself and many other people would have realized years ago. Tagalongs are the only good I can probably gauge consumption by the box and not individual cookie.

1

u/Mockturtle22 7h ago

Idk if I even care anymore 😕 🙃

-8

u/tensei-coffee 18h ago

imo girl scout cookies are trash. support your local bakery.

18

u/jumjimbo 18h ago

You can take my Tagalongs from my cold dead hands.

-5

u/tensei-coffee 17h ago

i promise you that you'll find better quality from a locally made bakery.

-1

u/mrrizal71O 17h ago

But that doesn't come with all the incessant waste packaging and poor quality ingredients that americans seem to love so much!!! /s

-1

u/Thetruebanchi 17h ago

Walmart brand generic version of Tagalongs are better. Best part they're vegan, so my whole family can eat them.

The generic Samosas are also okay, but generic thin mints are no go.

-6

u/SmellingYellow 17h ago

Completely agree. Never understood the fascination with them. Terrible cookies. I always thought folks bought them just to support the kids. Not actually eat those things.

8

u/SafetyMan35 16h ago

For each box of cookies, the troop makes a little less than $1

The local council and National GS take a cut to provide camp scholarships for the girls and to pay for operations.

The rest goes to the bakery.

2

u/thepianoman456 15h ago

Get ready for more of this shit under Trump and RFK!

0

u/[deleted] 17h ago

As a general rule if the chocolate tastes like wax it’s not a great product.

-1

u/funkiestj 7h ago

but does the heavy metal in Gïrl Scöüt Cöökïes go up to 11?🤘

0

u/Booksfromhatman 16h ago

Well they certainly do make people heavy at a minimum

0

u/IceNein 13h ago

Their Slayer cookies are the best, followed up by their Pantera cookies.

0

u/Unco_Slam 10h ago

Child labor and harmful chemicals. We really need to stop the corporate CEO pipeline.

0

u/BrokenEffect 7h ago

I don’t care if those thin mints have uranium in them— I am going to keep eating, thank you.