ESSAY OF THE WEEK Another Monsanto Handout: EPA Set to Raise Limits on Glyphosate In another glaring example of how Monsanto has the U.S. government in the palm of its Roundup Ready-covered hands, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to raise – yes, raise – the limits for glyphosate residue allowed on fruits and vegetables sold in the U.S. stores. Glyphosate is the key ingredient in Roundup, Monsanto’s widely used broad-spectrum herbicide. The deadline to tell the EPA what you think of its new ruling is July 1. The new EPA ruling is incomprehensible in light of the barrage of new studies revealing how much more dangerous glyphosate is than we originally thought. Monsanto’s story has always been that Roundup is harmless to animals and humans. Not so, say scientists who point out the many ways in which glyphosate causes widespread systemic damage to human health. One recent study found traces of the poison in the bodies of people in 18 European countries. And far more glyphosate is used in the U.S. than in Europe. Unless the EPA changes its mind, and decides to protect us rather than Monsanto, flax oil, canola oil, soybean oil and olive oil will be allowed to contain glyphosate residues of over 100,000 times the concentration known to cause cancer. And that’s just the half of it. Read the essay View the EPA Regulation TAKE ACTION BY JULY 1: Tell the EPA to Lower the Allowed Limits for Monsanto’s Roundup! TRAITOR BOYCOTT Are the ‘Traitor Brand’ Parents Hiding Behind the GMA? We knew Monsanto and the rest of the pesticide-makers would top the list of corporations bankrolling the campaign to quash the next ballot initiative to label GMOs, I-522 in Washington State. But we were hoping that with your help, the “Traitor Boycott” would persuade the “Traitor Brand” parent companies to stay out of the fight. So far, they have. Or have they? The money to fund the NO on I-522 campaign has started rolling in, and topping the list of donors is the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA). The GMA spent $2 million to defeat California’s Proposition 37 GMO labeling initiative. On May 5, the GMA made its first contribution of $472,500, to NO on I-522. Will the junk food trade association stop there? Or will it donate more, maybe even more than the $2 million it gave to the NO on Prop 37 campaign, to build another anti-labeling war chest? Will the “Traitor Brand” parent companies, like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, General Mills and other junk food manufacturers, funnel their donations through the GMA this time around, rather than face another round of wrath from consumers? Time will tell, but this we do know: Every single one of the “Traitor Brand” parent companies is a member of the GMA. It’s time to take to the phones and facebook pages and twitter accounts. It’s time to hammer the parent companies about belonging to an association that’s hell bent on keeping consumers in the dark. And it’s time to remind their natural and organic subsidiaries, the “Traitor Brands,” that we won’t be buying their products until their parent companies pull out of the GMA and donate to the YES on I-522 campaign. Download your wallet-sized boycott guide Download a poster-sized boycott guide Sign the boycott pledge Order printed copies of the boycott guide or poster+
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 16:23:43 +0000