Federal Court releases its decision
Safe Food Matters (SFM) has received notice that the Federal Court will not direct that an independent review panel be struck to review glyphosate.
The Court was of the view that SFM needed to “challenge the science relied on by the PMRA in the Evaluations”. We respectfully disagree, and believe that our job was to raise a scientific doubt about the validity of the evaluations Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) conducted. A “valid evaluation” is one that is complete, transparent, current and free from bias and the appearance of conflict of interest.
We believe we did that, by showing that PMRA did not examine the mechanism in plants that allows higher levels of glyphosate to accumulate in the seeds of legumes and cereals when they are desiccated. As such, the evaluation was not complete, and Health Canada cannot with complete impunity say there is no “unacceptable risk” to human health.
The process has …Read More
Federal Court FOLLOW-UP
By Mary Lou McDonald, Safe Food Matters President
Safe Food Matters took action on Health Canada’s review of glyphosate because we believe in the law and our Court system. We think the law is on our side, and we don’t expect we will be disappointed. It was clear to all in attendance that Justice Sandra Simpson took these matters very seriously.
Hon. Simpson has a heavy burden, particularly in the current context where issues about desiccation with glyphosate and dietary exposure are coming under increasing scrutiny. Kellogg’s recently announced they are phasing out use as a “pre-harvest drying agent”, and the short-term EU renewal of glyphosate imposed strict limits on pre-harvest use. New hard science is coming out that it alters the microbiome of the human gut. And numerous class actions are being launched in Canada.
We believe we raised a scientific doubt about the validity of the glyphosate assessment of Health Canada’s …Read More
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 a court lawyer, so we hired Andrea Gonsalves of Stockwoods LLP, a vegan who is passionate about the case. They have kindly agreed on a “not to exceed”.
The goal is an independent review of the basis for the registration of glyphosate, which could lead to a full or partial ban.
At …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 right). “We point out to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (“PMRA”) exactly how this poison is concentrating in certain foods, and all they do is tweak the labels. The feds’ own data shows that label details aren’t followed or enforced. It is not right. They are completely ignoring the issue.”
In …Read More
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 Canada on June 27, 2017. The NOO was filed to object to Re-evaluation Decision RVD 2017-01 of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (“PMRA”) to grant continued registration of glyphosate.[i] A summary of the NOO is below.
Residues exceed legal limits (eg. chickpeas)
Desiccation is occurring on a large scale in North America. …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 data[iv]. The CFIA data[v] revealed violations of maximum residue limits in chickpea and wheat bran samples. There were also violations for kidney bean, rye grain and products, bean flour, chickpea products and flour, and millet. Glyphosate was detected in 36.6% of grain products, 47.4% of bean/pea/lentil products, and 31.7% and …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.
Gluten-free products are relatively high. Organic gluten-free products are much lower.
Rice is not bad, especially from India and Thailand. No mention so far of organic.
Legumes from the US and Canada are contaminated, especially garbanzos/ chickpeas. No mention so far of organic. Chinese imports appear to not contain glyphosate.
…Read More
