IS ROUNDUP WEED-KILLER ON THE MENU AT YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT?
Ronnie Cummings, Organic Consumers Association
Judgment Day Any hopes Bayer-Monsanto had of getting off easy in the latest trial over Roundup weedkiller came crashing down this week. The jury in the Hardeman v. Monsanto trial ordered Bayer to pay Edwin Hardeman $80 million. The judgment followed last week’s unanimous decision by the same jury that Roundup caused Hardeman’s cancer. Meanwhile, jury selection began this week in a third trial, Pilliod v. Monsanto. This time, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, married for nearly 50 years, allege that long-term exposure to Roundup caused them both to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer. The Hardeman trial was considered a bellwether case for the more than 9,000 similar lawsuits coming down the pike, involving cancer victims who used Roundup. How many more trials will it take before Roundup is banned for good? Read ‘Monsanto Exec Reveals $17 Million Budget For Anti-IARC, Pro-Glyphosate Efforts’ Watch this interview with Hardeman’s attorneys Read the Hardeman trial transcript Make a tax-deductible donation to OCA’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign |
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100% Not True?
If you sometimes like to grab a quick meal at your favorite fast-food restaurant, you’ll want to read this new report from GMO Free USA, based on extensive testing of foods sold at 15 popular restaurant chains.
Turns out, a large percentage of fast-food restaurants serve glyphosate-contaminated food—even though they use words like “100% clean,” “superior quality” and “best ingredients” in their advertising claims.
That news is bad enough. But it gets worse. According to the report: The highest levels of glyphosate were detected in “Whole Grain” or “Multigrain” foods, which consumers typically seek out and perceive as a healthier choice. In fact, the highest level of all 44 samples tested by GMO Free USA was detected in a whole grain bagel purchased at Panera Bread—a company that claims “100% of our food is 100% clean.”
The report also singles out the popular Pret a Manger chain, which advertises its food as “free from obscure chemicals”—even though glyphosate was detected in two of the chains menu items. (In September 2018, OCA, GMO Free USA and Beyond Pesticides sued Pret a Manger for deceptive advertising after detecting glyphosate in some of its menu items).
GMO Free USA tested foods from Chili’s Grill & Bar, Domino’s Pizza, Dunkin’ Donuts, IHOP, Le Pain Quotidien, McDonald’s, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Panera Bread, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, Pret a Manger, Subway, Taco Bell, and Whole Foods Market.
Read ‘Eating Out: A Date with Glyphosate’
Make a tax-deductible donation to OCA’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign
Real-ly Wrong
Your tax dollars fund the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a federal agency that bills itself as “the nation’s health protection agency, working 24/7 to protect America from health and safety threats.”
But emails between the CDC and Coca-Cola executives suggest the CDC cares more about Coke’s profits than your health.
According to a study published in The Milbank Quarterly, emails reveal that Coke used its cozy relationship with the CDC “to gain and expand access, to lobby and to shift attention and blame away from sugar-sweetened beverages.”
One of Coke’s most popular advertising slogans was: “It’s the Real Thing!” Too bad the company’s health safety claims aren’t.
Big Dreams
“They told us we were crazy. And sometimes they were right.”
Call them crazy. But John and Molly Chester left their Los Angeles apartment behind to turn 200 acres of land into a diverse and productive farm.
They wanted to believe that everything has a purpose. And by “everything” they meant even the insects that some farmers curse as “pests.” Plants, wildlife, livestock. All living together.
They saw things they’d never seen before. They encountered their share of hardships. But it all just made the dream seem more real.
Watch ‘The Biggest Little Farm’
Let's Go Nuts!
We think of the Midwest, with its rivers, lakes, prairies and fields of grain, as the backbone of America.
But industrial ag, with its GMO monoculture crops, has led to a frightening level of water pollution, eroded soils and a devastating loss of biodiversity.
Agroforestry, a type of farming that incorporates native food-bearing trees into farms, can help regenerate the Midwest.
And the folks behind the Million Hazelnut Campaign believe that planting a million hazelnut trees in the Midwest will go a long way toward cleaning up water pollution, mitigating global warming by drawing down and sequestering carbon, and restoring wildlife habitat.
Want to help? A donation of just $7 will take a hazelnut tree from seed to planting.
TAKE ACTION: Plant a hazelnut tree!
Watch this great Million Hazelnut Campaign video
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Essential Reading
A Mother's Exposure to Pesticides During Pregnancy May Raise Children's Autism Risk
American Farmers Confront a Mental Health Crisis
School Climate Strikes: 1.4 Million People Took Part, Say Campaigners
Over 1 Trillion Trees Need to Be Planted in the Next 10 Years
LA County Halts Use of Popular Weedkiller on County Property