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# Got tested? You probably failed. - Newsletter 052816 from Organic Consumers Association
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/organic_consumers_association_0528161214/
- Published: 2016-05-28T13:08:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T18:11:53.000Z
- Description: OCA's newsletter reports that 93 percent of Americans who sent urine samples to The Detox Project's glyphosate testing project tested positive, with children showing the highest levels. It also covers Bayer's bid to buy Monsanto, which Monsanto rejected while talks continue.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Politics, #vivvo-import

#### TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK

# Got Tested? You (Probably) Failed.

If you participated in the glyphosate test project [launched](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OZfaBp6kevA8ax9IEBYKCn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) last year by [The Detox Project](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=22gX27Zt2yjuqsYLCbYCZH0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) (formerly Feed The World) and OCA, you probably failed.

**A staggering 93 percent of Americans tested positive for glyphosate, according to the test results,** [**announced** ](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=XYOcuZwHkicvN%2Bi8Sk6zD30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)**yesterday (May 25, 2016).**

What makes that figure even more alarming is that many of you who sent in urine samples for testing probably eat more organic than non-organic food. Which suggests that either your organic food has been contaminated and/or you’re being exposed to glyphosate via unknown sources.

Worse yet? Children had the highest levels.

The testing, carried out by a laboratory at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), was the first-ever comprehensive and validated [LC/MS/MS testing project](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=q9Iu1WRHTaoATtUtyAVlZn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) to be carried out across America. According to the results, people who live in the west and mid-west tested higher than those living in other regions of the country.

**It's way past time for the world to wake up and smell the poison.**

[**Read our blog post on the test results**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=PDHSrSHWIypvKmujwzUuGX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Read the Detox Project glyphosate testing press release**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ZHnuBwJnAEUu8DPqrtDi3n0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**TAKE ACTION: Tell the EPA: Don’t Re-Up Roundup!**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=DF5zu039rvK5wgnvFJR5BX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

**Text "Roundup" to 97779 to sign the petition**

[**Support the Monsanto Tribunal**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qEK22GQo9ZAKCTQSPqsHAX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

#### ESSAY OF THE WEEK

# Marriage Made in Hell

The two multinationals that teamed up during the Vietnam War to [poison](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2BwJy0zcfX4t1SyTtIpX2on0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) millions of people with its Agent Orange herbicide—St. Louis, Mo.-based Monsanto and Germany’s Bayer AG—are looking to become one.

**Bayer has announced a** [**bid to buy**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=fPavK%2FbYy10CX0iy0Fh5eWYbbDo5pORm&ref=foodconsumer.org)**Monsanto in a deal that would expand Bayer's GMO and pesticide holdings and add drugs to Monsanto’s global portfolio.**

Monsanto has [rejected](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=PdS2BHz1jM1EkAYeW6C2o30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) the latest bid, but the two are still in talks.

If Monsanto, perhaps the most hated GMO company in the world, joins hands with Bayer, one of the most hated Big Pharma corporations on Earth (whose [evil deeds](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=rTkPulJAHmVBSYh63QpVdX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) date back to World War I and the Nazi era), the newly formed seed-pesticide-drug behemoth would have combined annual sales of $67 billion.

That’s a staggering figure. But here’s another, even more alarming: Combined, the new mega-chemical/seed company would [control](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=33iazy3%2FWrueNn0Vv7lUU30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) 29 percent of the world’s seed market and 24 percent of the pesticide market.

**Is there an upside to the proposed merger, and the recently proposed mergers between agritoxics titans** [**Dow and DuPont**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wvfqDBgrjIMZpZZlekELVX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)**, and** [**ChemChina and Syngenta**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=rtL2Vq26UHOIHRYyXoEBxH0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)**? If so, it could be this. Industries that are thriving generally spin off. Industries that are performing poorly generally merge and consolidate.**

[**Read the essay**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=kXTyCjiZJi2J3nLvzybTYX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

#### ACTION ALERT

# Recklessness Run Rampant

If you’re one of the [two million ](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=NrfOoyRHE6khwtUhhMOLun0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)people who suffered from an antibiotic-resistant infection in the past 12 months, Joe Sanderson, CEO of one of the four largest chicken factory farms in the U.S.—Sanderson Farms—has[*this* ](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=UOlATrDT76XATDyQlxho530vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)to say about that:

“There’s no reliable science that says by using these \[government\] approved antibiotics, that there is going to be any resistance. We have a duty to take care of the animals.”

No reliable science. Except, for starters, a 2013 [report](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dSsGuCPU56JsTTyZJpLRW30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control revealing that 23,000 people in the U.S. alone die *every year* from antibiotic-resistant infections. And a [report](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pVl75QotNQDf0iivh%2BPypn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)commissioned by the UK government estimating that by 2050, the annual global death toll from antibiotic-resistant disease will reach 10 million, and the global cost for treatment will be around $100 trillion.

You may not recognize the Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ: SAFM) brand name, unless you live in certain regions of the country, especially the Northeast and Southeast. That’s where the brand is sold in retail stores like 34 Shaws, Star Markets, Walmart, Lowe's and Piggly Wiggly’s.

But that doesn’t mean you, or your kids, haven’t consumed Sanderson’s chicken “products.”

According to the company website, the Laurel, Miss.-based company processes about 3.6 billion pounds of chicken annually, at 11 processing plants in Mississippi, Texas, Georgia and Louisiana. **A lot of that chicken ends up in the more than 100 processed and prepared frozen food items Sanderson sells to restaurants and institutional food service companies, including those that sell food to schools and hospitals.**

**Here’s the thing. Even if you never consume one bite of Sanderson Farms chicken, you’re still at risk—we all are—of getting sick, or worse, from an antibiotic-resistant superbug for which there’s no cure. Unless companies like Sanderson clean up their acts.**

[**TAKE ACTION: Tell Sanderson Farms to end the reckless use of antibiotics in its poultry factory farms!**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=nycFhpmW%2FhzzPH%2ByRYaAb30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Please also fill out Sanderson’s customer service form.**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=3H0JQ0S%2FmuSj9qIKxF6tMX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

**Call Sanderson Farms at** [**1-800-844-4030**](tel:1-800-844-4030)

[**Post on Sanderson Farms Facebook page**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=PdS2BHz1jM3RVV4iIz4vQ30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

#### SUPPORT THE OCA & OCF

# We're Ready

Henry David Thoreau is credited with saying, “It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

By that measure, Monsanto and Big Food are lacking in wisdom. And looking plenty desperate.

Think about it. We’re coming up on four years now since the citizens of California planned, and then launched, a ballot initiative to require labels on GMOs sold in their state. The biotech and food industries spent more than $46 million on that one campaign alone, in order to win by a mere thread.

Then they turned around and spent millions more in Washington State in 2013 (where they were so desperate they illegally laundered campaign donations), and millions more the following year in Oregon.

**But they couldn’t stop the little state of Vermont**. So Biotech and Big Food have spent hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying for a federal bill that, to avoid, they claim, a “patchwork” of state laws.

Of course if that was really what they’re concerned about, all they’d have to do is craft a federal law that meets the same standards as Vermont’s law.

Instead, Monsanto's minions in Congress are scrambling to write a bill that would preempt Vermont and establish some bogus voluntary scheme, or a mandatory scheme involving smartphones and QR codes that gives food companies yet another two years to dither around before they’re required to do anything at all.

**Because their real motive, as we all know, is to keep the words “produced with genetic engineering” off of food products. And they are desperate to do that before July 1, when Vermont’s law becomes official.**

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), whose anti-labeling position is well known by now, is said to have proposed “new language”—likely involving some techno-labeling scheme that would leave people without smartphones, or people living in rural communities with poor (or none at all ) internet service, out in the cold (and in the dark).

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack continues to pretend he’s concerned that a few words on a label will “confuse” consumers—but fancy QR codes won’t, and either way, if Congress won’t make “the tough decisions” required to pass a bill that preempts Vermont, “I’m happy to make them,” he told Politico. Whatever that means.

**This much is certain. Between today and July 1, we face yet another battle in Washington D.C. to protect Vermont’s GMO labeling law. It’s coming. We're ready.**

[**Donate to the Organic Consumers Association**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=NrfOoyRHE6k2NrZeAUN%2Frn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) *(tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education)*

[**Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=o7YA%2BRx013VDyM17yK%2FOR30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) *(non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our GMO labeling legislative efforts)*

[**Support OCA’s Regeneration International Project**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ou%2B%2BN5m%2BZzaOI10xS1sUcn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) *(tax-deductible, helps support our work on organic regenerative agriculture and climate change)*

#### NEW REPORT

# Why Bother?

A [new report](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=yuizYwrQ0DqsTT5FK1H9En0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) on GE crops and technology was met with cheers from the biotech industry, but little meaningful scrutiny by the mainstream media.

Initial media reports boiled down the message to “[GMOs Are Safe](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=cPxvVV1N%2BnvDYQKREOyzC30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)” and even “[healthy](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Gr7wxuyAivHU03npXHanrX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org).” Some even claimed the study “[proves](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=YvVI2nf%2BZogVng7gSKxA8H0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)” the safety of genetically modified crops.

**Aside from the obvious—that the headlines over-simplify the NAS findings in a way that spins favorable for the biotech industry—the media also overlooked the influence, as** [**reported**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=nTQK8Uf6eNe0j92ngj7fYn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) **by Food & Water Watch, of the biotech industry on The National Research Council (NRC), the research arm of the NAS.**

According to F&WW, the NRC takes millions of dollars in funding from biotechnology companies; invites sponsors like Monsanto to sit on high-level boards overseeing the NRC’s work; invites industry-aligned, pro-GMO scientists to author NRC reports; draws scientific conclusions based on industry science; and operates at times as a private contractor for corporate research.

Biased or not, and despite the positive spin by most media outlets, the report’s “conclusions” left plenty of room for doubt on a range of issues, from safety, to improved yields, to damage to the environment. On many issues the committee, made up of 20 scientists and policy experts, couldn’t—or wouldn’t—commit.

**Instead the experts produced a 400-page report full of equivocations, and of recommendations the committee knows will be ignored, but little in the way of clarity.**

[**Read OCA’s analysis of the NAS report**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=6v0kikcMMEonN6Ov0gIgAX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Read the NAS press release**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=rTkPulJAHmWghjVBZEuE4n0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

#### VIDEO OF THE WEEK

# They Came, They Marched

From New York City to Long Beach, Calif. From Canada to Mexico, and beyond. We, the people, turned out once again to March Against Monsanto.

[**News reports**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iNMaZt95Ra9vvcJi4kWP6X0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) **said hundreds of thousands of protestors turned out, in nearly 50 countries.**

There were speeches and live music. Good food and good fun. Banners, and posters and even life-sized puppets.

OCA staff participated in marches in Chicago, New York City, Boulder, Colo., Mexico City and Minneapolis, where OCA International Director, Ronnie Cummins, called on the crowds to boycott Monsanto and the factory farms that make Monsanto so profitable by buying up its GMO crops.

In Chicago and Boulder, marchers were heckled by the pro-Monsanto “March Against Myths” folks who still cling to the hope that Monsanto can prevail over the rising tide of protests and damning evidence that its products are destroying life itself.

In Orlando, Fla., marchers [protested](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=OlwoioENj%2FT8NfjwIGgfHn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) Monsanto’s Roundup. In Toronto, marchers[denounced](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=FA7Utyq5ZRaYGYDFkvUQwn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) their government’s recent [approval](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=B8iQvBo78bLsIO9gzi9WMn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) of GMO salmon.

In Wichita, Kan., 14 farmers turned out to talk to the crowds about what they believe to be the dangers of GMO animal and poultry food.

**If you didn’t get a chance to participate last week, that’s OK—**[**we need you**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=3mRNw9MJlioIg%2Fj4T1RAMH0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) **onOctober 16, World Food Day. That’s the day the** [**Monsanto Tribunal**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xYOLIDSFrnx3AG2SoMBYan0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) **wraps up in The Hague, Netherlands, and the day we hope to turn out the largest crowds ever for a World Food Day March Against Monsanto.**

[**Watch scenes from the Mexico City March Against Monsanto**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=GBcVTMqsBv6r8wkpIFypKX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Watch scenes from the Orlando, Fla. March Against Monsanto**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=kXHciHpmKym4Gnd6pO1BSn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**More on global marches**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=gRhTh839R4qISAspzyXoDH0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**TAKE ACTION: Organize a Monsanto Protest on World Food Day!**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=tosebmC7tFjRxcPc15zTmH0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

#### FAIR WORLD PROJECT

# Every Bite You Take

Who profits from the meals you eat?

Every bite of food you take is a vote for either small-scale farmers who use organic, regenerative practices that also combat global warming, or a vote for corporate agribusiness giants like Monsanto.

Every purchase you make is either a vote for the companies whose practices help build a fair supply chain, from the fields all the way to your local grocery store, or a vote for those companies who source their products from a supply chain rife with worker injustices.

It’s no secret our current food system is broken, dishing up plate after plate of unhealthy food. Food grown using methods that pollute our waterways, kill our soil and make us sick.

Thankfully, there’s a growing movement that aims to support the small-scale farmers who grow 70 percent of the world's food: the fair trade movement.

**OCA’s** [**Fair World Project**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=8H%2BJeThefO7jVgjwtdZZon0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org) **created a video highlighting the impact our choices have all around the globe. Watch the video to learn more about fair food. Then enter to win a year's supply of products from mission-driven companies like Alaffia, Alter Eco, Dr. Bronner’s, Equal Exchange, Farmer Direct Co-op, Guayaki Yerba Mate, Maggie’s Organics, or Theo Chocolate.**

[**Watch the video and enter the contest**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qkW%2BLoPemrHZhLLaLAx0XH0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Contest rules**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=TlaEvukPywa4kLoMPHt9w30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

#### LITTLE BYTES

# Essential Reading for the Week

[**Why U.S. Dietary Guidelines Are Inappropriate for Most Americans**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=HfKmUhlIhu%2Bwz0uk1f%2BEZ30vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Glyphosate ‘Revolution’ Growing — Consumers Want Answers**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ZoIOBmULCkQFCC3%2FTmQ7rn0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**People’s Assemblies for The Future of Our Food & The Future of Our Planet**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=tvjnoCumRNu7k3nUU2F2pH0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Minn. Farmers Warned Not to Plant Monsanto's Latest Roundup Soybeans**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=sonz7qUpoyboJhCOlRtO8n0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Across Africa, the Worst Food Crisis since 1985 Looms for 50 Million**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5sID%2FxPhHImBm9kOITqdnH0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Short Film Reveals Fluoride's Side Effects**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=o6LNChx3IxDbF5fh1t40JX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)

[**Your Clothes Could Make You Sick**](http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=gWv9je6zcsJdknqDpfvgEX0vO4HhbRAM&ref=foodconsumer.org)