26
Feb
Take Action: Ask the Largest Food Retailer to Lead the Way and Stop Selling Food Grown with Pesticides
(Beyond Pesticides, February 26, 2019) Breakfast cereal, apples, applesauce and pinto beans made and sold by Kroger contain residues of toxic pesticides linked to a range of series health and environmental problems, according to a residue study by Friends of the Earth.
This is alarming. Kid-friendly food like applesauce and Cheerios should not contain dangerous pesticides. Kids are the most vulnerable to these pesticides and shouldn’t be exposed to brain-damaging or cancer-causing pesticides when they eat their breakfast or snacks. The connection between pesticides and cancer, learning disabilities, and other diseases is supported by hundreds of studies in Beyond Pesticides’ Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database.
These new tests, which corroborate numerous residue studies, mean that Kroger customers may be purchasing food with the intent of providing safe and healthy food for their families, but end up unknowingly exposing them to toxic pesticides.
Join the national week of action by either delivering a letter to Kroger in person, or sending an email to Kroger Chief Executive Rodney McMullen.
The pesticides found in Kroger’s food are harmful to human health and pollinators. Friends of the Earth found residues of cancer-causing glyphosate, brain-damaging organophosphates, and bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides.
Organophosphates can cause damage to children’s developing brains, including reduced IQ, loss of memory and attention deficit disorders, as well as acute pesticide poisoning in adults and children. They also poison farmworkers and wildlife including pollinators, birds and aquatic organisms.
Glyphosate, aka Monsanto’s Roundup®, is linked to cancer and has contributed to the widespread die-off of monarch butterflies. Monarchs have declined by over 90 percent in the past two decades and are on the brink of extinction.
Bee-killing neonicotinoids have contributed to widespread bee die-offs, which are critical to every one in three bites of food we eat and many of the foods sold at Kroger. Â These pesticides are also associated with endocrine disruption and may lead to changes in behavior and attention.
Kroger should not be selling any food to consumers that is grown with these toxic pesticides.
Join the national week of action by delivering a letter to Kroger in person, or sending an email to Kroger Chief Executive Rodney McMullen
We know Kroger has the power to stop selling products grown with toxic pesticides. Costco adopted a policy to phase out neonicotinoids and chlorpyrifos (an organophosphate pesticide) on the fruits, vegetables and garden plants that it sells. The policy demonstrates that it is possible for supermarkets to eliminate toxic pesticides from store shelves. Kroger has no excuse. It can commit to stop stocking its shelves with food grown with brain damaging organophosphates, Monsanto’s Roundup® and Bayer’s neonicotinoids.
We must shift the market fast if we want to protect public health and save bees and other pollinators. These dangerous pesticides can’t be on supermarket store shelves — especially the healthiest and most affordable foods supermarkets sell.
Please help us to ramp up pressure on Kroger immediately to make sure it doesn’t turn away from the results of this report and takes immediate action.
There’s no excuse for products that contain toxic pesticides being sold to children . Clean up your supply lines. Care about the future instead of your bottom line. Be a human.
February 26th, 2019 at 10:50 amStop poisoning us all!!!!!!!
March 4th, 2019 at 2:36 pmthink about all our kids
March 4th, 2019 at 2:38 pm