Americans need fewer pesticides sprayed on their food, not more. And recently, a special food certification has launched from The Detox Project to help you determine if your groceries are free of the most common pesticide, glyphosate. The Detox Project has just launched a program that will test the food on your supermarket shelves to see how much glyphosate is in the final product. Only the lowest acceptable levels for each product will receive The Detox Project’s Glyphosate Residue Free certification. That’s important, because glyphosate, the chemical in Roundup weed killer, has been linked to a number of dangers. And as the spraying of glyphosate increases in our food supply, it’s important to have a certification that assures us we are eating food without it.
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Why Is Glyphosate Harmful?
Glyphosate, a chemical brought to you by Monsanto, is the most popular herbicide in the world. It’s used in agriculture, forestry, lawns and gardens, and in industrial parks areas to control weeds. In fact, if you go to a hardware store, you can purchase some to spray on your own lawn under the name of Roundup Weed Killer. According to the World Health Organization (PDF), glyphosate is a “probable human carcinogen”. And California has recently added it to their Prop. 65 list of carcinogens. It’s been linked to endocrine disruption, birth defects, tumors, possibly autism, and it’s harmful to healthy gut bacteria and cellular DNA. An August 2015 study found that even low levels of Roundup in rats caused the animals both liver and kidney damage. Unfortunately, it’s everywhere.
Recently, the University of California found glyphosate in 93% of the samples they studied in American participants, higher than the number found in Europeans in past studies. Glyphosate has been found in breast milk, women’s blood, urine, animal organs, air, rainwater and streams. The problem is so bad that Monsanto is facing hundreds of new cancer lawsuits across the U.S. from people alleging that Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Disclosure: The Detox Project is a client of Mamavation. We will be reporting on outcomes of this certification and enlisting your support. We are very excited to help in this endeavor and thank you for any social media love you can give this organization.
Glyphosate Residue Free Certification Can Help Your Family
Glyphosate is everywhere. What’s a mom who is trying to keep her family healthy to do? Well, there is good news! Glyphosate Residue Free certification for U.S. food products will give the consumer an opportunity to avoid this dangerous chemical. This certification will provide an even stronger standard for toxic chemical testing. According the Director of The Detox Project, Henry Rowlands, “Currently the toxic chemical testing standards for both non-organic and organic food are very weak but we aim to change this by testing food products directly from the shelf – consumers have the right to know what toxic chemicals are in the food they buy at grocery stores across the U.S.”
The Detox Project will not grant Glyphosate Residue Free certification to food products that exceed the limits of “laboratory detection” for glyphosate and the substance AMPA, the residue created when glyphosate breaks down. Limits are between 0.1 and 20 parts per billion (ppb) depending on the product. Those standards are the same as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Maximum Residue Limits, and in some cases, even tougher. Because they are testing the actual product from grocery stores, you will know without a doubt that products with this certification are safer for your family.
According to Rowlands, The Detox Project is already working with a wide range of food manufacturers and grocery stores to help your family avoid toxic chemicals in your food.
How Glyphosate Residue-Free Certification Works
Because glyphosate is so frequently found in our environment, including in the water, even diligent manufacturers may have products that are exposed to it. The testing for this new certification is done by Anresco Labs in San Francisco, who will test the product three times per year to ensure the glyphosate and AMDA levels go down.
To help manufacturers who want to acquire this certification, The Detox Project as offered two certifications:
- “Glyphosate Residue-Free” is a certification given to companies that have proven they contain no detected glyphosate residue or AMPA residue down to the lowest possible limits of detection (LOD) – usually 0.01 parts per million (ppm) unless otherwise noted and always below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Maximum Residue Levels (MRL).
- “Glyphosate In Transition” is a certification given to companies that are non-compliant with their standards, but gives them a two-year window to work towards the goal of becoming Glyphosate Residue Free certified. This earmarks them as a brand that is diligently working toward becoming “Glyphosate Residue-Free” within two years.
Why Glyphosate Residue-Free Certification is Important For American Consumers
A 2014 Consumer Reports survey showed that 85% of Americans were concerned about pesticides in their foods. Another survey by Lindberg International in 2013 showed that 71% of consumers worried about pesticides, but were confused by the difference between USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project verified certifications, as well as the “natural” label.
In fact, neither USDA Organic certification nor Non-GMO Project certifications ensure that foods are completely glyphosate free by the time they reach your shelf. The Non-GMO certification does not test for toxic chemicals, and USDA Organic certification doesn’t check contamination of the final product. And, the Glyphosate Residue Free certification has a lower limit for glyphosate residue than USDA Organic. Here is one example from The Detox Project:
- Sugarcane (molasses) allowable glyphosate residue maximum:
USDA Organic (maximum 1,500 ppb) vs. Glyphosate Residue Free (maximum 20 ppb)
EcoWatch also reports that in early January 2017 the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) dropped their plan to sample corn syrup around the country to test for glyphosate.
Glyphosate Residue-Free Certification Is a Game-Changer
The USDA is not looking out for consumers who want pesticide-free foods, but these new certifications will allow families to determine which brands care about the safety of their products. That can make a big difference in your family’s exposure to glyphosate! Foods that are Glyphosate Residue Free certified will give you the confidence that you’re buying your children foods that are free of the most commonly found pesticide. Brands would be smart to jump on board to gain the trust of moms who want to feed their children safely.
At Mamavation, we welcome this new certification to help safeguard our families from this deadly toxin. We look forward to seeing what brands sign up to be certified Glyphosate Residue Free. Your children will benefit when you find this new certification while shopping for safe foods for your family!
What Can You Do to Help?
If you would like to see companies getting “Glyphosate Residue Free” certified, simply tell them. Because this certification just launched, the first step is to create awareness for it. If you are as excited as we are, simply tell your favorite brands you would like to see them get certified. Feel free to show them this post and these images of what the certification looks like. As moms, we are a powerful voice of change. This is one area where we can get together to make our families and communities safer. Thanks for your help and support!
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This is very unnerving because you spend all this money going to buy , what you think is clean organic foods. I have to read labels because of nut allergies and I look for everything. I read Feeding You Lies and I memorized those cheat sheets and yet, even though a bottle is certified NON GMO, USDA ORGANIC , it still could be poisoning my kid and I. I don’t think there should be a legal amount of acceptability for any chemical that we knows kills or injures people. They are aloud to have lead paint on cribs! As long as it’s below a certain level. No. I think the USDA is allowing more bad food practices to continue and actually are enabling much of it. We need to have glyphosate removed from foods and from use all together. There’s natural ways to fertilize that WORK! I do it every year when I grow food crops. Natural works better than those chemicals do. Reading this just makes me start to wonder , is any of my food safe? Thankfully , I use many of the product brands already listed on detoxproject. But there’s others that I’m now thinking, is it safe? Many big food companies like Coca Cola, Conagra and so on are buying these organic companies and then ruining the products but, we don’t know anything has changed. Blake’s is perfect example. Conagra Foods bought Blake’s Organic and then stopped making certain products and now I barely see the brand anywhere. I see foods in the organic aisle at target and giant that say , made in China on the packaging. There’s no reason that our food doesn’t come from here. I get we can’t grow bananas all year and certain things must be grown somewhere else. But, I have bought organic strawberries made hydroponically and those were delicious. I just want to be able to eat with ease and not worry about everything my child eats not being safe. Portland Organic Ketchup, is that brand safe? I believe there’s Portland Organic Ketchup and Beaver Brand Ketchup made in Oregon. Do you think those are safe?
Very informative and helpful post.
Thanks for stopping by!
Really helpful post you added with resources. Thanks your post.
Is this coming to Canada and world as well or only in USA?
If brands from Canada wanted to get certified, I’m sure they could!
Yes this is a very useful post for a women also a family. For our conscious mind this post is very helpful to us. Here i will share with you a very important necessary things that will be very helpful for you baby’s carrying anywhere very safety.
This is fantastic. I will be contacting my favorite grocer and asking that they make this a priority in what they allow. They already ONLY sell organic produce, but this would be a step up.
Yes!! Let them know. This works when the consumers take action! XXOO