05/17/2019 / By Ethan Huff
Mark your calendars for May 23. For this is the day that a coalition of environmentally-conscious, human health-focused, integrity-driven American food companies is planning to march on Washington, D.C., to demand that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally take action to stop the pre-harvest spraying of food crops with Monsanto’s toxic glyphosate herbicide.
Stonyfield Organic, One Degree Organic Foods, Ben & Jerry’s, Grandy Oats Real Granolas, PCC Community Markets, Patagonia Provisions, Lundberg Family Farms, MegaFood, and Mom’s Organic Market, and Clif Bar, along with many members of the public, will join one another in solidarity to hand-deliver a petition to the EPA explaining, among other things, that the continued use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest drying agent is massively contaminating America’s food supply with a known cancer-causing chemical.
As announced by Sustainable Pulse, the petition also highlights how the EPA’s outdated stance that glyphosate is “safe” flies in the face of more up-to-date findings by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a division of the World Health Organization (WHO), that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen.
On May 23 at Freedom Plaza, located just around the corner from EPA headquarters, these food companies and their allies in the fight for health freedom will hold a rally with live music, speakers, and plenty of free samples before marching over to hand-deliver their petition, along with more than 80,000 public comments from members of the public who also support the demands made in the petition.
“We joined EWG and the other companies in petitioning the EPA in order to reduce the permissible levels of glyphosate in oats,” reads a statement issued by Ben & Jerry’s. “All of us, food companies and consumers alike, have an interest in reducing the amount of chemical pesticides and herbicides used broadly in agriculture and we believe this would be an important first step in doing just that.”
MegaFood, another of the companies marching on the EPA, and a Glyphosate Residue Free-certified brand, also issued a statement about how this upcoming march is aimed at not only getting the EPA to do the right thing concerning glyphosate, but also to increase general awareness and transparency as it concerns the safety of food and dietary supplements in the United States.
“… many people [don’t] know that many crops are desiccated, or dried with glyphosate just prior to harvest, thus resulting in higher residues on food we eat,” the company stated, adding that more and more people are waking up to the truth, thanks to this petition.
“… it’s an opportunity to show people how important their voice is and how to create change through engagement. Advocacy is a part of MegaFood’s makeup and we believe that if you have a voice, you use it. And if you have a company, you use it to stand for changing things for the better.”
Keep in mind that pre-harvest spraying of glyphosate on food crops is an “off-label” use of this highly toxic product, meaning it was never lawfully approved for such a purpose. This means that people are unwittingly consuming food products like oats that are saturated with glyphosate in violation of its approved use as a weedkiller.
“People don’t think they are serving herbicide to their kids with these staple foods,” MegaFood further explains.
“There are other safer ways to dry crops, just ask an organic farmer. This specific practice is hard to defend, in my opinion, and if our petition is heeded, it will result in a meaningful change for consumers and their families. There are additional completely unnecessary uses of glyphosate as well, and you may hear from us on those in the near future.”
For related news, be sure to check out Glyphosate.news.
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Tagged Under:
activists, agriculture, Ben & Jerry's, Clif Bar, desiccate, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, food crops, food safety, food supply, Freedom Plaza, glyphosate, Glyphosate Residue Free-certified, Grandy Oats Real Granolas, harvest, herbicides, illegal, Lundberg Family Farms, march, MegaFood, Moms Organic Market, Monsanto, One Degree Organic Foods, Patagonia Provisions, PCC Community Markets, petition, pre-harvest, Roundup, Spraying, Stonyfield Organic, toxins, unlawful, Washington DC
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