Director’s Letter
5月 2024

親愛なる友人、

The trees, bushes, and bunnies are bursting with life on our farm. May brings a flurry of flowers and a saturation of fresh, green, grassy pastures. The new growth invigorates my family, friends, and fellow activists. Life is what we work every day to protect.

This past week we were in Washington DC, meeting with our Senators and Representatives representing mothers and parents everywhere – requesting their partnership in creating healthy communities by providing access to safe, nontoxic nutrient-dense food.

We exposed the truth about the food supply through the testing we have conducted. Last year we tested school lunches and then the top 20 + 1 fast food brands from across the country and found glyphosate in 93%-100% of them, heavy metals in 100%, and veterinary drugs in hormones in 10-60% of the samples. Vitamin and nutrient density was so low that one could not truly call it food. The lab owner stated “The testing revealed that there are actually more toxins than nutrients in American school lunches and fast food.”

We shared additional recent testing on General Mills LOADED Trix flavored cereal, (a red and blue colored wheat pocket with creme frosting inside) revealed 8 different pesticides, glyphosate 174 X higher than what has been shown to cause sex hormone changes, and liver and kidney disease in rats, and heavy metals 200% (arsenic), 400% (cadmium) and 1,650% (aluminum) higher than what the EPA allows in drinking water. It is irrefutable that all of these dyes, chemicals, and heavy metals directly contribute to mental, behavioral, physical, and learning disorders in our children and families.

We were encouraged that the Senator and Representative aides were mostly receptive and willing to pursue the next steps. We were surprised that the Republicans were even more receptive than the Democrats. The FDA was also willing to pursue including baby formula in the Closer to Zero policy that has been presented to Congress for mandate approval to regulate heavy metals in baby food. We think baby formula should be included too!

What else is the US government doing about cleaning up the food supply? They are facing many challenges from the US corporations.

We are deeply concerned that corporations are only pushing harder to make more profits with their toxic treadmill of chemical cocktails. Recently the Center for Food Safety shared that Bayer-Monsanto is requesting approval for a new GMO corn seed called “Vaporizer”  that will be resistant to 5 different toxic chemicals 2,4 D (in Agent Orange) Dicamba, glufosinate, quizalofop, and glyphosate. The approval of this seed would double the damage to farms from toxic chemicals and likely greatly increase the exposure and harm to consumers/livestock through consumption of this corn. 

The impact of GMOs does not just extend to humans and livestock. Marine life is being harmed as well. New reports show coral reefs face adverse metabolic impacts after exposure to the weed killer glyphosate and insecticide imidacloprid, according to a study led by scientists from the University of Vienna in Austria and published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Unfortunately, Bayer has asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to re-approve the dangerous pesticide dicamba for use on genetically engineered (GMO) cotton and soybeans.

Other countries are pushing back on GMOs, however. The French National Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) has published a new paper on the risks of new GM plants. Its devastating findings threaten to derail the attempts to weaken the regulations around new GM plants, GMWatch recently reported.

We are also happy to see that the Philippine Supreme Court issued a cease-and-desist order on the commercial propagation of genetically modified (GM) Golden Rice and GM eggplant in the country.

What can Americans do? Moms Across America urges our network to contact your Senators and Representatives and tell them you will only vote for people who will put the health and safety of the American people before the profits of the corporations. Profits from poison is not a business model that supports the future of America as a global superpower.

We also encourage everyone to educate their families on the importance of eating whole foods, not highly processed. Give your children fruit instead of candy, vegetables instead of cookies and chips, and cook whole healthy foods, organically grown and non-GMO as much as possible. This may mean altering your budget to allow more for food and less for electronics, expensive vacations, or new clothes. The food is much more important. Your children will be happier and do better in school when they feel good. It’s worth it!

We look forward to sharing more news in the next two months about further testing we are doing with the organization GMOScience.org. We will have results on gluten-free food, baby formulas, and Girl Scout Cookies. We hope to continue to raise funds to do testing every month. Clearly, Moms need to take matters into their own hands! Moms Across America deeply appreciates your partnership in being able to continue our work. As we work to get more organic food in schools, better access to locally grown, organically grown produce in our communities, and better regulations on grains/livestock feed/seed oils that are NOT toxic, we ask that you stand with us with a donation in any amount possible for your family. We will never stop fighting for a cleaner food supply for all of America and beyond. 

ご協力ありがとうございます！

敬具、

禅ハニーカット