June 06, 2016

Foodwatch: fed up with being fed off!

tags:	#"Round Up", #glyphosate, #gm food, #Health & Food Safety, #monsanto
by:	Deniz Zehra Tavli

Glyphosate is an active substance used in several different herbicides. It is the main substance in a herbicide known as “Round Up“ produced by the controversial multinational agrochemical corporation Monsanto. Where “Round Up” is used, nothing grows anymore. This is why Monsanto also sells genetically modified glyphosate-resistent plants to US-farmers.

In Europe glyphosate is used to prepare the fields before sowing seeds. In the near future the European Union must decide whether to extend its approval for the substance. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. Evidence in samples of urine and breast milk of city dwellers shows glyphosate has already found its way into the food chain.

This result is extremely alarming!

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has reached a different conclusion about the negative health effects of glyphosate. But as long as there is scientific uncertainty regarding the health effects of glyphosate, the European Commission has a legal responsibility to protect consumers from potential exposure to harm. Human health cannot be put at risk. Therefore, the Commission has no basis for re-approving glyphosate.

foodwatch is an independent, non-profit organisation that exposes food-industry practices that are not in the interests of consumers - such as the glyphosate case. foodwatch fights for the right of consumers to know exactly what they are buying and to enjoy good food that is healthy and uncontaminated. The NGO was founded in 2002 in Germany by former Greenpeace director Thilo Bode and has offices in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris.

The food industry, lobbyists and politicians control what will end up on our plates and what we are allowed to know about our food. This has to stop! Support foodwatch as a donor and help them to stop shady lobbying practices of the food industry and fight for consumer rights!