Your Favorite Girl Scout Cookies Are Facing A Lawsuit For Controversial 'Dangerous' Contaminants

Girl Scout cookies have brightened America's pantry shelves for over a century, in which time they've become a trusted and cherished member of the snacking community and been made into a line of cereals. However, a recent lawsuit has cast doubt over the safety of the beloved desserts. This lawsuit asserts that certain Girl Scout cookies contain heavy metals and pesticides that could be dangerous to consumers.

The proposed class-action lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn, New York, cites a December 2024 study commissioned by Moms Across America and consumer groups that tested 25 cookies from California, Iowa, and Louisiana, including 13 different varieties. One-hundred percent of the tested cookies in the study contained glyphosate, a common pesticide used to control weeds and grasses, with Thin Mints a particular offender, at levels 334 times the recommended safe intake level. The effects and toxicity of glyphosate on humans is somewhat debated — the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization, called it "probably carcinogenic to humans" in a 2015 study, while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded it was likely not carcinogenic in an assessment of its own.

The Moms Across America study also found that 100% of the cookies were positive for at least four of the following toxic metals: aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury, and 88% contained all five. Twenty-four of the 25 cookies were positive for lead, and 76% had cadmium levels exceeding EPA limits. 

This lawsuit casts a pall over Girl Scout cookie season, which had already featured the discontinuation of fan favorite Girl Scout S'mores and Girl Scout Toast-Yay! cookies. It's another blow for the Girl Scouts of the USA, which discontinued the wildly popular Raspberry Rally variety of cookies after an ill-fated foray into e-tail that created a resale market out of the Girl Scouts' control.

In a response to the lawsuit posted on its website, the company defended its cookie program, which it names the "largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world." In the post, it claimed that all ingredients and processes follow FDA and EPA regulations and call its cookies "safe for consumption." It added that glyphosate and heavy metals are found naturally and that trace amounts can be found in many other foods, despite remaining within safe limits for consumers, though this contradicts the lawsuit's claims that the amounts found were far in excess of generally agreed-upon limits.

The lawsuit notably does not mention any adverse health impact on any consumers but rather cites violations of consumer protection laws while calling for damages of at least $5 million. Girl Scouts of America are not the first to face such a lawsuit, as Hershey and Trader Joe's each faced a similar suit in 2022 after harmful levels of cadmium and lead were found in their dark chocolate; however, Hershey's lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, and Trader Joe's was dismissed in part.