Glyphosphate Flavored Honey

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Monsanto's Roundup herbicide is found in the honey of a leading Iowa farm. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested a small amount of food for glyphosate after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. The FDA did not test for glyphosate for the first time until early 2016, although it tests products annually for other pesticides.

A study by FDA chemist Nerong Chamkasem and University of Iowa chemist John Vargo showed that the concentration of glyphosate in the tested products was 653 ppb - 13 times the EU limit of 50 ppb. In some of the honey samples tested, glyphosate was found in concentrations ranging from 20 to 123 ppb. Only a small number of samples did not detect glyphosate or were found to be below the EC cut-off level. Previous reports have shown that glyphosate is found in honey at 107 ppb. This collaborative effort is part of an FDA project to organize and validate a method for testing glyphosate content.

“According to the latest report, there is a sharp increase in the use of these herbicides, which pose a threat to human health and the environment,” wrote Chamkasema and Vargo in their newsletter. Since there is no legal threshold for glyphosate in honey in the United States, any concentration could technically be considered a violation, according to FDA internal communications disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act.

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may soon set this level. The EPA has already set threshold levels for glyphosate for many foods. If glyphosate levels are above the threshold, legal action is taken against food manufacturers. "The EPA is assessing the need to establish a threshold level for pesticides in honey," the agency wrote in a statement. "The EPA investigated the levels of glyphosate in honey and decided that these levels should not be of concern to consumers."

Despite these assurances, at least two lawsuits have been filed over this issue. The Natural Farmers Association and Pesticide Free have filed a lawsuit against the Sioux Honey Association Cooperative, a large Iowa beekeeping group that sells Sue Bee Honey. The group calls its product "American Honey", but the lawsuit says that labeling and advertising Sue Bee Honey as "pure", "100% pure", "natural" and "all natural" are deceitful, misleading and deceiving. … During FDA testing, glyphosate has also been found in Sue Bee Honey branded products.

Similar claims were made in another lawsuit filed in late September against the Sioux Honey Association Cooperative in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Quaker Oats was sued earlier this year for the glyphosate content of oats. The FDA has discovered glyphosate in a variety of oat products, including baby oatmeal. Given that corn is a key crop grown in Iowa, and virtually all corn in the United States is genetically modified and actively sprayed with glyphosate, it should come as no surprise that glyphosate is found in many foods in Iowa and other states.

“This is a chemical invasion, a chemical introduction into our products,” says Darren Cox, president of the American Honey Association. “We have no way to control this. I do not see a place where we should place our bees. We cannot keep bees in the middle of the desert. They need to get their food in the countryside. But there are no herbicide-free places in our countryside.” Sioux Honey Association Cooperative President David Allibone says no one at the FDA has told them about the chemicals found in honey, and he cannot discuss the matter during the lawsuit.

A new lawsuit recognizes that beekeepers face great difficulties. They "are often victims and cannot escape contamination of their hives with pesticides that are sprayed on the fields, in the areas where pollen is collected by their bees," the lawsuit says. “Glyphosate in food is both surprising and alarming,” says nutritionist Mitzi Dulan. “I think more testing needs to be done so that we can arm ourselves with knowledge and then decide what to do. I believe in minimizing the impact of pesticides."

Jay Feldman, chief executive of Pesticide Free, an organization involved in the lawsuit, said regulators should do more to address the issue. “As long as US regulators are allowing Monsanto and other corporations to sell pesticides containing glyphosate in food, we must protect consumers by demanding the truth and fair labeling of products,” Feldman said.