Summary of Health Canada Court Case: Glyphosate
Hello! Here is a short summary of our Federal Court case.
Health Canada in April 2017 approved the registration for glyphosate use in Canada until 2032 or later.
Safe Food Matters and 7 other groups filed notices of objection in late June 2017.
In January 2019, Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) under Health Canada rejected all the objections.
SFM and our President, Mary Lou McDonald, decided to take the last legal step possible: asking the Federal Court to review the legal basis for the rejections.
Mary Lou is a retired lawyer. She drafted and filed the notice of application in February 2019.
But she is not …Read More
Going to Court!
SAFE FOOD MATTERS Going to Court Over Roundup/Glyphosate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, February 12, 2019 – Safe Food Matters Inc. filed an application in federal court yesterday, challenging the re-registration of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide. In 2017 it filed a notice of objection (“NoO”) to the re-registration decision and asked that an independent review panel be established. Eight NoOs were filed in mid-2017, and all were rejected on January 11, 2019.
“We have no choice but to go to Court on this issue” said Mary Lou McDonald, President of Safe Food Matters (and also a challenger in her own …Read More
To the PMRA – We Object!
On December 17, 2018, Safe Food Matters (along with Friends of the Earth Canada, Prevent Cancer Now and Right On Canada) objected to Health Canada’s re-registration of #glyphosate and called for immediate action by Canada’s pesticide regulator, #PMRA.
See our letter below.



Objecting to Glyphosate Desiccation
Glyphosate is being sprayed on crops to kill them for harvest, and the poison gets right into the still-growing seeds and beans: the food we eat. High and illegal levels in “healthy” foods like chickpeas result from this “desiccation” technique.
Health Canada just renewed the registration for glyphosate for another 15 years, and only tweaked the labels for spraying. It didn’t examine the effects of desiccation, and the tweaks won’t change desiccation exposure. Labels won’t work, aren’t followed, can’t be enforced, and Health Canada’s own law even admits it.
These points were made in a Notice of Objection (“NOO”) filed with Health …Read More
Glyphosate in our Food II: Highest Levels in Legumes & Cereals because of Farming “Dry-Down”
For those concerned about pesticides in our foods, the link between harvesting practices and staggering high levels of glyphosate in common “healthy” cereals and legumes may come as a shock. Glyphosate, the active chemical in Roundup® and other pesticides, is considered to be “probably carcinogenic to humans”[i], a cause of non-hodgkins lymphoma, toxic to aquatic life,[ii] and a cause of milkweed decline.[iii]
High levels of glyphosate are present in many common foods, but so high in cereals and legumes that Canada’sf or importing countries’ legal limits are exceeded, as revealed by data from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and other …Read More
GLYPHOSATE IN OUR FOOD
There is glyphosate in our food, including infant cereal. Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world.
Tony Mitra, a retired engineer living in Vancouver, asked the CFIA for test data on glyphosate, and they provided it this year. The CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) has been testing the food in Canada for only about 2 years.
Mr. Mitra has found (so far):
Infant cereals are contaminated, except for Nature’s Path Organic and imports from Germany, Poland and Switzerland.
Wheat and its products are contaminated. Bran is extremely high on a relative basis. Organic is better in all wheat cases.
…Read More
Past Events
Farm to Fork On Common Ground
September 24-25, 2016
Presented by Toronto Non-GMO Coalition/Safe Food Matters and Historic Fort York.
Farm to Fork On Common Ground celebrated the harvest season and national Organic Week with a festival of safe and healthy food, music, arts, and community. Featuring an Ontario organic farmers’ market, organic beer and wine, dozens of Non-GMO and organic food vendors, well-researched speakers, soulful music, Indigenous artists and elders, food workshops, environmental defenders, and of course food safety and seed freedom educators.
Celebrate Farm to Fork ~ Toronto GMO-Free Festival
May 20, 2017
Presented by the Toronto Non-GMO Coalition/Safe Food Matters and the David …Read More