Tell the FDA to test all our food for Monsanto’s toxic glyphosate.

The FDA is supposed to annually test food samples for pesticide residues. But it just started testing for glyphosate and is failing to test crops where glyphosate is likely to have the highest levels. The FDA’s weak action on this pesticide means our children and all of us could be exposed to this cancer-causing pesticide in some of our most commonly eaten foods without knowing it.

The FDA is dragging its feet on protecting us from this toxic pesticide. We need your help to change that!

Comments

Dear,

I’m very alarmed by reports that FDA is failing to test wheat or oats for glyphosate, which are  two crops likely to have some of the highest levels. It is encouraging that the agency has started to test some foods for glyphosate including corn, soy, milk and eggs, but it’s concerning that FDA just started testing for glyphosate and is failing to test crops likely to have some of the highest levels.

I urge the FDA to immediately implement all of the Government Accountability Office’s recommendations regarding USDA’s Pesticide Residue Monitoring Programs from its 2014 report.

I recognize that the FDA is supposed to annually test food samples for pesticide residues. Of the food FDA did test, it found that 63 percent of corn samples and 67 percent of soybean samples contained glyphosate.

A growing body of science is increasingly demonstrating the adverse health impacts from glyphosate exposure. In early 2015, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) — the cancer evaluation arm of the World Health Organization — convened a meeting of 17 scientific experts from 11 countries to review the cancer data regarding glyphosate. The IARC experts unanimously voted to classify glyphosate as a probable (Group 2A) human carcinogen.  In 2017, California listed glyphosate as a chemical known to cause cancer. The EPA has calculated that 1-to-2-year-old children are likely to have the highest exposure to glyphosate.

Right now, over 8,700 people with cancer are suing Monsanto. They allege that their exposure to Roundup® is to blame for their illness. One case has gone to trial and Monsanto was ordered to pay $78 million in damages. In addition, recent tests revealed large doses of glyphosate in food commonly eaten by children.

Glyphosate is used in more than 750 herbicide products and applied to fields in the U.S. at over 250 million pounds annually. Apart from significant risks to human health, the U.S. Geological Survey routinely finds glyphosate in U.S. waterways. Ecological data also reports that glyphosate and glyphosate-formulated products are toxic to aquatic organisms and are extremely lethal to amphibians. Independent studies have found concentrations of glyphosate in human urine and breast milk. Recent studies even indicate glyphosate has the potential to be even more harmful in combination with other chemicals.

Glyphosate’s long term impacts are just starting to be apparent with monarch decline serving as just one example.  Glyphosate  is widely used among the monarch’s migration route — virtually wiping out milkweed, the only food young monarchs eat. A recent report found monarch butterflies would need a 5-fold increase to recover from risk of quasi-extinction.

Monsanto’s glyphosate is harming our environment and the very ecosystems we depend on for sustainable food and farming systems. It’s also harming our health and may be widely contaminating our food.

We need action now. I urge the FDA to immediately implement all of the Government Accountability Office’s recommendations from its 2014 report titled: FDA and USDA Should Strengthen Pesticide Residue Monitoring Programs and Further Disclose Monitoring Limitations and start testing wheat and oats for glyphosate.

Sincerely,

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