Demand Kroger stop selling food grown with cancer-causing Roundup!

Toxic pesticides like neonics and Monsanto’s Roundup®, are a key contributor to the devastating decline of bees, butterflies, and songbirds. What’s worse, these pesticides are used to grow the food we eat -- they’re harming our health and putting kids at risk.

As the largest traditional grocery store in the U.S., Kroger has the power to change our toxic food system. But it’s dragging its feet. So we need your help demanding Kroger to do more for bees, butterflies, and our health.

Comments

Dear Mr. McMullen,

I urge Kroger to help protect bees, butterflies and other pollinators by strengthening its recently announced updated pollinator protection policy. The new commitment to encourage suppliers to move away from pesticides is a good start, but I’m concerned that these commitments were not strong enough, were not time-bound and did not commit all of your company's suppliers to eliminate pollinator-toxic pesticides, including neonicotinoids, glyphosate and organophosphates like chlorpyrifos.

As one of the largest food retailers in the U.S., it’s important that Kroger show leadership in making its supply chain safer for farmers, consumers and pollinators by establishing a time-bound commitment to phase out these pesticides from it’s food and beverage supply chain. As part of this commitment, I urge your company to increase USDA-certified organic food and beverages to at least 15 percent of overall offerings by 2025, prioritizing local, regional and domestic producers.

A strong and growing body of science demonstrates that use of toxic pesticides including chlorpyrifos, glyphosate and neonicotinoids must be phased out of agriculture as quickly as possible to protect human health and the environment. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world and is linked to cancer. In fact, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment added glyphosate to its Prop 65 list of substances known to cause cancer. Currently there are over 18,000 people suing Monsanto because they believe their exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup® caused their cancer.

Of the cases considered so far, a jury ordered Monsanto to pay over $2 billion to a married couple that developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Further, a federal jury found Monsanto’s Roundup® to be a “substantial factor” in causing Edwin Hardeman’s cancer. Monsanto must now pay him $80 million dollars in damages. Last year, a jury in San Francisco found Monsanto to also be responsible for Dewayne Johnson’s terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer and was ordered to pay him $289 million in damages, which was later reduced to $78 million. Glyphosate is also a key driver of monarch butterfly declines and has been linked to bee and other pollinator declines.

Chlorpyrifos is a toxic pesticide that is linked to brain damage, attention disorders and delayed motor development. Farmworkers and people living in agricultural communities, particularly children, are disproportionately affected by this toxic pesticide. Whenever chlorpyrifos is sprayed, it can pollute the environment and have detrimental effects on bird, bee, fish and amphibian populations. The chemical has been banned for home use since 2000. The EPA proposed to revoke all uses of chlorpyrifos in agriculture after finding that no levels of exposure are safe, but the Trump administration reversed the decision. In 2018, Hawaii became the first state to ban chlorpyrifos. In April of this year, the New York legislature passed a bill banning chlorpyrifos. In May, California announced a ban and is moving forward with a plan that includes $5.7 million to support farmers to transition to safer alternatives.

Neonicotinoids are the world’s most widely used insecticides and are linked to pollinator decline. In September 2017, the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides released a follow-up meta-study on neonicotinoids and other systemic insecticides. Scientists concluded that neonicotinoids represent a major worldwide threat to biodiversity and ecosystems and called for an immediate stop to agricultural uses of systemic pesticides. Further, recent studies have shown that songbirds lose weight and delay their migration when exposed to neonicotinoids. 75% of farmland bird species are in decline.

The science is clear that these pesticides are harmful for people, pollinators and the planet. I urge Kroger to further its commitment to pollinator protection by making a firm, time-bound commitment to phase out bee-toxic pesticides in its food and beverage supply chain, prioritizing neonicotinoids, organophosphates and glyphosate, while working with its suppliers to transition to safer alternatives and increase offerings of bee and people-friendly organic food, giving preference to food grown by domestic farmers.

Thank you,
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