Banza Petition
Please sign this petition to Banza:
Dear Banza,
We at Moms Across America, our team and supporters as signed below, are concerned about the health of our families and community. We are writing to you to request that you switch to sourcing your chick peas only from organic or regenerative organic sources and join us in creating a safer food supply for all.
We agree that chickpeas can be a healthy source of protein and nutrients. We love chickpeas and the idea of chickpea pasta! However, we disagree that chickpeas with any (low or high) levels of glyphosate on them are ever healthy.
We also disagree that just because your products or any food company's products test below FDA allowable maximum residue levels for glyphosate or any pesticide, that your products are safe. Hundreds of studies show that glyphosate and other agrochemicals are not safe at very low levels of exposure. To ignore these studies is irresponsible and misleading to the American public. We know you have no intention of misleading the American public and ask you to do better than the FDA. You can find many of the studies here.
We are also concerned that your letter to the public on your website states that glyphosate cooked down to .1 ppm (100 ppb) when cooked, but you do not state for how long that pasta was cooked. A doctor who communicated with you by email reported that your team stated that the pasta was cooked for 15 minutes to achieve that result. We assert that no one cooks their pasta for 15 minutes unless they have forgotten about it; normal cooking time, according to your package, is 6-9 minutes.
In MAA's testing, cooking the pasta in distilled water for 6 minutes, as recommended, showed 161.5 ppb of glyphosate still present. Neither finding, 100 or 161 ppb is safe. Therefore, it is not accurate to state that your food is safe containing these levels of glyphosate.
In addition, if anyone uses your pasta product dry, as in a casserole recipe, the glyphosate (over 2000 ppb from the box we tested) will not be discarded in the water. It will remain in the casserole dish. Also, for any chickpea pizza crust product you sell, one might expect that all glyphosate residues will remain in the pizza crust if the chickpeas are not first boiled. We ask that you inspect these matters and take action to provide safe products.
We know it is not your intention to have glyphosate in your food products, but continuing to allow it is unconscionable. We ask you to join with us in petitioning the EPA to disallow glyphosate as a drying agent on food and feed crops. In the meantime, we also ask that you switch suppliers to organic and/or regenerative organic farmers and require that future suppliers do not spray glyphosate or any other harmful agrochemical on the ingredients you use in any food product.
We hope you will agree to these two reasonable and healthy requests.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Moms Across America and supporters as signed below.
EPA Petition: Glyphosate
Please sign and share this important petition to the EPA by September 14:
To the EPA Pesticide Division:
Moms Across America and our supporters: retail brands, pediatricians, scientists, physicians, health coaches, teachers, farmers, lawyers, and consumers, are requesting that you review the 67 studies that were not included in your review of glyphosate as a carcinogen that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed and revise your decision regarding the license of glyphosate. We request you also review the new studies connecting glyphosate to many reproductive and endocrine-disrupting issues. Hundreds of independent studies have shown that glyphosate is harmful in many ways, not only as a carcinogen. Glyphosate also has endocrine disrupting properties at very low levels and can cause neurological, nervous system, reproductive, sperm, liver, kidney, and organ damage as well as miscarriages.
There is no safe level of glyphosate in our food or livestock feed supply, and you are the only agency that has the authority to change the current reality: harmful levels of glyphosate contaminate school lunches, fast food, baby food, and gluten-free food. In the past, glyphosate has been detected in thousands of food samples and other substances, including oats, chickpeas, beans, wheat, soy, corn, orange juice, wine, beer, eggs, bread, snacks, cereals, honey, and even breastmilk, hospital gauze, feminine sanitary products, childhood vaccines, and sperm.
America has a physical, mental, and reproductive health crisis, and glyphosate is a significant contributing factor to all of these severely critical issues. Your agency must take action now to protect the health and future of our country.
We are asking you to:
- Review all of the studies the IARC reviewed and all new independent studies available today on glyphosate and all health effects.
- Revoke the license of glyphosate.
- Until the license is revoked, immediately disallow glyphosate from being used as a drying agent or pre-harvest weed killer on all agricultural crops. The EU has recently banned pre-harvest spray with glyphosate to minimize dietary exposure. We are asking you to do the same.
Thank you for taking action to protect the American public's health, not the corporations' profits.
We hope you appreciate that when you reflect on your legacy one day, it will be one of courage, commitment, and integrity.
Thank you.
Baby Formula Petition
Please join us in our immediate and unified action to hold our tax-supported regulators and policy-makers accountable.
Please demand baby formula be added to the Baby Food Safety Act. If this is not done now millions of babies will continue to be damaged by the levels of toxic metals currently found in baby formula.
Please also insist that this outrageous preemption below be removed from the Baby Food Safety Act.
If the act passes with this preemption, all previous food safety laws in any state will be nullified. The American public will also not be allowed to be informed about food testing and any contaminants in any food.
Please cut and paste the letter below, add 1-3 sentences at the top to personalize it and increase the chances of it being read, and send it directly to your Senator and Representative today!
Find your Senator and Representatives’ emails and telephone numbers here.
Dear Senator___________ or Representative ___________,
I am writing to ask for your support in making baby food and formula safer for our babies. Will you support the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 and insist that baby formula is included? Please authorize the FDA with the ability to do their job and protect human health. Baby formula is often the ONLY food a baby consumes for the first six months of their lives and must be monitored for heavy metals. Our babies ARE our future and they are the most vulnerable. If swift action is not taken, babies from both sides of the aisle will continue to be severely impacted and their mental, physical, and reproductive health issues will affect the future of America.
Will you also please insist that the following preemption in the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 is removed?
"Preemption of State and local requirements regarding food ingredients and contaminants in food, including infant and toddler food
No State or political subdivision of a State may establish or continue in effect with respect to contaminants in food, including infant and toddler food, food pouches made with fruit or vegetable puree or juice, and juice, any requirement that is different from, or in addition to, or not identical with any requirement under this section, and relates to contaminant sampling and testing, contaminant limits, disclosure of contaminant test results, contaminant labeling, contaminant warnings, or any other matter related to contaminants in food."
This preemption disallows any previous state laws regarding contaminants in food and prevents the public from knowing this important information. It is similar to the Farm Bill preemption that disallows states from restricting or banning pesticides. A new bill, such as the one in Iowa, SF 2412, will stop farmers from suing chemical companies for health effects such as Parkinson’s disease, which has been closely linked to paraquat,rotenone and other agrochemicals. These bills and preemptions are extremely dangerous to public health. Americans must have the ability to be informed about the contaminants in any and all foods. All of our loved ones and community members, from all political parties are affected.
Poison is not partisan.
GMOScience, The New MDS, and Moms Across America, a national educational nonprofit dedicated to empowering mothers and others to create healthy families and communities, today announces the results of testing for five toxic metals in 20 infant formula products. Samples included organic, non-organic, and plant-based as well as animal product formulas sold by four of the major infant formula producers in the United States and globally. Two samples of each product were tested, for a total of 40 samples.
Concerning findings include:
- 100% of the 40 samples tested contained toxic aluminum and lead.
- 80% of samples had lead levels higher than the EPA allowable levels for drinking water.
- At 41,000 ppb, aluminum levels in a goat's milk baby formula were 4000 - 40,000x higher than other metals in the formulas tested and exceeded the FDA's maximum safety level for aluminum in a preemie.
- The highest aluminum level detected was 200X higher than EWPA allowable levels in drinking water.
- 57% of the samples tested positive for arsenic, 55% for mercury, and 35% for cadmium.
- Levels of mercury in four samples measured above the limit allowed by the FDA in drinking water.
- Levels of cadmium in both samples of one formula were nearly twice the level allowed in drinking water.
- Six of the 20 formulas were positive for all five toxic metals in both samples.
The FDA concluded many years ago that babies and young children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of food contaminants because of their small bodies and rapid cellular growth. In 1962, the FDA launched the Total Diet Study, recently published in July 2002, analyzing 910 foods, including only four infant formulas. Two of the four formulas contained toxic metals, including uranium. In April 2021, the FDA announced its “Closer to Zero” plan, wherein it committed to proposing allowable levels of lead in various baby foods by April 2022, levels of inorganic arsenic by April 2024, and cadmium and mercury sometime after 2024. None of those deadlines, however, have been met, and all of them have been removed from the Closer to Zero website. To date, the only actionable limits the agency has set are for one toxic metal only (inorganic arsenic) in one type of baby food product (infant rice cereal).
The FDA cited findings of nearly 400 childhood lead poisoning cases in fall 2023 linked to recalled cinnamon applesauce pouches. A coalition of 20 Attorneys General led by New York’s Attorney General Letitia James issued a letter to the FDA on February 15 of this year to call on the federal agency to protect babies and young children in the United States from lead and other toxic metals in baby food. That letter followed an October 2021 petition and subsequent June 2022 petition, asking the FDA to issue specific guidance to the baby food industry to require testing of all finished food products for lead and other toxic metals. It has been over two years! Action must be taken now!
Moms Across America, GlyphosateFacts, and GMOScience presented the new baby formula test results and science from Stephanie Seneff and others in meetings with congressional representatives and the FDA in Washington, DC from April 29 to May 2. They were informed by Jim Jones, Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods at the FDA, that the agency is waiting for Congress to pass legislation that would mandate testing for lead and other harmful chemicals in food. On May 9, US lawmakers introduced the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024, which, with Congressional approval, would allow the FDA to regulate and enforce limits on levels of heavy metals found in baby food and potentially formula.
Please support the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 and insist that baby formula be added to the bill so that the FDA may regulate and monitor levels of heavy metals in both baby food and baby formula and that the preemption is removed.
Thank you.
Signed with Gratitude,
Your constituent _______________
Thank you for taking action to protect our babies and our future!
Tell the EPA To Listen to the American People, not Chemical Corporations!
After Moms Across America filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to the EPA for all communications between Bayer/Monsanto: memos, calls, emails, and meetings to the EPA regarding glyphosate between 2020 to the current time, we received a call back saying that the request was too large. They had "a few hundred thousand communications, and it would take them until 2024 to review" (redact) and return those documents to me. Might we please reduce the request?
A few HUNDRED THOUSAND communications just regarding glyphosate (one chemical!), just from Bayer (one company!) over two years? What could they possibly say about a chemical that is clearly unsafe? Apparently, a lot. If we assume only 200,000 communications, that means Bayer communicated with our US EPA 275 times a day!
The overwhelming number of communications shows us, the American people, the gravity of the influence the chemical corporations have over our regulatory agencies.
My response after legal counsel?
I told her that the volume of communication was exactly my concern - I believed the American public deserved to know just how much communication was and what was said. However, in consideration of timing, I will agree to narrow the request to communications, just to emails to the Pesticide Re-Registration Review Board and the Head of the EPA. And, I said, how about I make it easier for you - just send us the documents without redaction, don’t bother with that!
She balked but stated that they "have to review and redact CBI"- (Confidential Business Information) to protect the sensitive business information of the company. Then they have to go to the company and make sure they agree. I got heated. Do you know what is sensitive? My son’s health, after being exposed to glyphosate in his food. Do you know what I did not agree to? My son having the levels of glyphosate in his urine of a farmer - even though he has never touched a bottle of Roundup! Do you know what he has to live with every day while the chemical companies make profits off of poison? His whole body now has Ehler’s Danlos syndrome and Electromagnetic Sensitivity. He will likely not be able to go to college here in the USA because his immune system has been impacted by toxins like glyphosate, and he is now sensitive to wireless radiation! His whole life has been altered and affected and you are telling me you need to protect the company? When are you going to protect the people?
She explained that she is only doing her job blah blah blah...but I impressed upon her that she is there - on the INSIDE and she has a responsibility to speak up. She can speak to the Pesticide Review Board, to the Head of the EPA - she can say WE CAN DO BETTER. She has that opportunity. We are on the outside.
We are not communicating with the EPA 275 times a day.
But we can do better too. Will you speak up today and tell the EPA they need to listen to the American people and DO THEIR JOB - protect us and revoke the license of glyphosate?
Please speak up with us today - for all the children, bees, wildlife, marine life, pets, and humans on the planet that deserve a safe environment.
Thank you
Dear Michael Regan and EPA Pesticide Re-Registration Review Board,
I am appalled to learn through a Moms Across America FOIA that the chemical company Bayer has communicated a few hundred thousand times to the EPA about glyphosate over the past two years. This overwhelming amount of communication is undue influence, potentially even harassment, and is in excess. This amount of influence from private industry is pressuring the EPA to take Bayer’s desires, their profits more heavily into consideration than the desires and safety of the American people.
I am writing to request that you listen to the American people.
We have been asking you for years to stop allowing the spraying of glyphosate before harvest for any reason, as a weed killer or drying agent, specifically on food and feed crops.
Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of individual Americans and supporters of Moms Across America, Organic Consumers Association, Beyond Pesticides, Friends of the Earth, Center for Food Safety, Pesticide Action Network, Children’s Health Defense, and many more have asked you to revoke the license of glyphosate completely.
Glyphosate has been shown to be a carcinogen, and endocrine disruptor, causing liver and kidney disease at very low levels of exposure, to androgenize baby girls and damage the sperm of males.
Your failure to listen to us and protect the American people is killing us, our pets, soil quality, wildlife, and marine life.
You can right this wrong.
You can revoke the license of glyphosate.
Now.
Signed,
Your bosses,
The American Tax Payer
Open Letter to Food Producers: We Need You to Do a Better Job Than the FDA!
Dear Food Producers,
During the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, economic uncertainty, and unequal access to healthy food, we need more integrity and safety in our food supply, not less. Whenever there are job losses and lack of insurance many families are less likely to call an ambulance or get hospital care during a food allergy reaction, increasing the risk of death.
The recent decision by the USDA to not regulate GMOs, CRISPR, gene editing, or Pharmaceutical and Industrial Chemical Producing (PMPIs) plants are of dire concern to us.
In addition, the FDA’s announcement to allow food companies to switch out food ingredients, even temporarily during the COVID-19 situation, such as sunflower and canola oil, can have immediate, life-threatening, allergenic health effects. Allowing unlabeled ingredients, no matter what they are, destroys the long-term integrity of our food supply, both nationally and internationally.
Our government has failed to regulate the food supply and protect the health of the American people and people around the world. If actions are not taken by food producers, our health, the integrity of our food supply, and international trade relations, will be threatened. We ask for your partnership in rectifying this situation.
This is the time for food producers to do better than the FDA, not only because people will find out who did the right thing, but because it is the right thing to do.
We ask for food producers to make a public statement and respond to Moms Across America by June 19 regarding the following requests and your company's commitments:
Read moreBayer, Birth Defects, and Toxic Baby Food
A few weeks ago, breaking news was that 95% of baby foods tested, 168 samples, by Healthy Babies Bright Future (HBBF), were found to contain heavy metals. 1 out of 4 contained all 4 of the heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. What did not make the news was WHY. And HOW we can stop this unthinkable poisoning of our babies. Then news of Maui residents suing Monsanto for chemical exposure and birth defects broke. Once again, our babies, the future of our country, are being harmed by chemical companies but our government refuses to hold Bayer/Monsanto accountable for these tragedies.
Revoke Roundup
Have you heard about Glyphosate/Roundup in our water, urine, breast milk, honey, sanitary products, food, beer and WINE?
Even organic wine?
Enough is enough!
The widespread contamination of glyphosate MUST STOP.
Please join us with a strong message to the EPA that they must revoke the license of glyphosate!
Sign petition on Care2.org now!
Please share!
Thank you!
Zen and MAA Team
