268 – The Risk of Glyphosates in Food Supplements – My Interview with Bethany Davis

Are your food supplements free of Glyphosate Chemical Residue? How do you know?

This is an interesting interview for several reasons. We are discussing the risks of glyphosate in food production. We also discuss the very personal story of glyphosate exposure and toxic reactions. Finally we will discuss a new certification for the food and supplement industry: Certified Glyphosate Residue Free. MegaFood is the first supplement company to be certified Glyphosate Residue Free for all MegaFood supplements and actually for the entire company.

Third party certifications are becoming more and more important to the natural products industry. How do you know that the supplements you purchase are what they claim to be? It’s sad but it is the reality that you cannot trust all companies and many products that claim to be pure and wholesome are not. It is easy to confuse unwitting consumers because most they don’t know what to look for. And even if they care about these issues, how can consumers be confident that products are clean? Who will assure the customer and guarantee quality, purity, organic and any of the other issues we care about? The FDA only regulates Good Manufacturing Practices and label claims. So who do you trust?

MegaFood Certifications

This is the growth of the certification industry for the natural foods and supplement manufacturers. This is especially important for a company like MegaFood. MegaFood buys 500,000 pounds of organic foods that they use in their products. These foods need to be certified organic, Non-GMO, vegan or vegetarian etc. We have discussed these in previous interviews and I suggest you review some of these previous interviews. MegaFood is one of the leaders in this movement to provide transparency and trust to the consumers. Many of the best companies in the natural supplement industry are also a part of this movement. Responsible companies do many things better than me-too companies. These third party certifications are the means by which this transparency is verified and trust then has a foundation. Read more on this latest certification.

Read more.

In this interview, Bethany Davis will discuss the new Glyphosate Residue Free Certification. Why is this important to MegaFood and perhaps even more important is why this is critical to our food system? What is glyphosate and what are the risks? Many people are raising the alarm about glyphosates in modern farming practices. Glyphosate is the active chemical in Monsanto’s Round-Up. Glyphosate is used widely in modern farming and is commonly found in many homes. Consumers assume that products they can buy are safe. But are they? Bethany has a personal story to tell in this regard. To learn more go to the risks of glyphosates go to detoxproject.org.

This is a much bigger story than just that MegaFood has adopted this high standard. It is about the risk from glyphosate that we all face as it affects the very foods we grow and consume in the U.S. It is also about the GMO foods that are genetically altered so as to resist the killing effects of glyphosate on food crops. Can we kill the weeds and keep the corn? What are the effects on our soils and the micro organisms that live in our soils. It is not possible to grow healthy foods on dead soil, and this is one of the consequences of glyphosates in the environment.

Here are the main points we will cover in this interview:

  • Glyphosate is a probable carcinogen via the WHO and on the prop 65 California carcinogen list 
  • High glyphosate usage is the US hurts organic farmers (or would be organic farmers) because of drift and its negative effect on soil
  • Glyphosate reduces the nutritional value of food because it’s a mineral chelator, meaning it binds to minerals, making them unavailable for humans
  • Glyphosate is an antibiotic and kills beneficial bacteria in the soil microbiome and the human microbiome
  • Glyphosate Residue Free (GRF) certification guarantees via a lab test that glyphosate residue is not in MegaFood products ensuring your family is safe.

Bethany after casual glyphosate exposure

There is also the personal cost. Bethany has a very personal connection to this story. She was exposed to glyphosates in a public park. These chemicals are commonly used in and around public spaces to kill weeds. When you hear and see what happened to Bethany, it will bring this home in a very real way. Are you and your children exposed to glyphosates in your community? Are you using this product around your home. I stopped using Round-Up years ago as I learned more about the risks. But I can’t control what my neighbors do or even farmers who have fields near our home. The challenge of cross contamination is very real for organic farmers who work very hard to avoid these chemicals and GMO pollens, but it is not easy to do. Bethany talks about the broader issue of food farming in America. Part of the MegaFood mission is to be the change and partner with other responsible companies to move us all forward.

You should listen to my previous interview with MegaFood CEO, Robert Craven. Robert is leading this move towards transparency and is responsible for spearheading a movement in this direction. 

CLICK HERE to listen to more interviews (11 at this point) with MegaFood experts.

About Bethany Davis
Bethany Davis is the Director of Regulatory and Industry Affairs for FoodState and MegaFood products. She is the President for the Coalition for Supplement Sustainability, a group of supplement and ingredient companies that united to support a non-GMO and sustainable supply chain. She is also a member of the American Herbal Products Association Board of Trustees.
With a background in pharmaceuticals, Bethany was drawn to the natural products industry and is deeply engaged with Non-GMO issues, Sustainability and Transparency as they relate to the supplement industry. She holds a Masters of Science in Regulatory Affairs and Health Policy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston, MA and is a voting board member of the Massachusetts General Hospital Partners Institutional Review Board. 

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