December 4, 2020, the California Department of Agriculture (CDFA) has issued an immediate statewide quarantine and removal of sale of AGRO GOLD WS organic fertilizer due to the presence of Glyphosate and Diquat, which are not listed on the label.

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world, predominately used in agriculture directly on our food/feed crops, and has been the subject of tens of thousands of filings of lawsuits for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, so far totaling to a $10 billion payout. Diquat is a highly toxic chemical known to cause tremors, convulsions and respiratory issues.  It is also highly toxic to birds and livestock such as cows, and detrimental to earth worms and honey bees.  These two highly harmful chemical herbicides have no place in organic products (or any products), and consumers who purchase these products have a right to be outraged by their presence.

The CDFA document reads, "Effective immediately, the California Department of Food & Agriculture’s Fertilizing Materials Inspection Program (FMIP), pursuant to its authority under the Food and Agricultural Code, Division 7, Chapter 5, Article 10, is issuing an order of statewide quarantine and removal from sale for the product AGRO GOLD WS manufactured by Agro Research International LLC. The product AGRO GOLD WS is labeled and registered as an organic fertilizing material, but has been found to contain both Diquat and Glyphosate. Sale and use of this product thus poses a public health risk because the product was found to contain synthetic herbicides not disclosed on its label. This product has been distributed within a co-packed box, also containing the product WEED SLAYER, an organic herbicide."

Meanwhile... Monsanto/Bayer gets to keep selling glyphosate herbicide, without a cancer warning on their label, continuing the poisoning of animal feed and their manure, waterways, and drift and soil contaminating organic products. These products include not only the fertilizer, but the food and feed crops that uptake the fertilizer, and the animals and their meat and milk that absorb the chemicals.

To be fair, due to the widespread consumption of non-organic, conventional, and GMO grains which are often sprayed with glyphosate as a drying agent, we would expect that all fertilizer for conventional food would have these chemicals in them. No one should be consuming these chemicals for any reason!

We believe the contamination should be stopped at the source! 

When I was a consumer representative alternate on the California Organic Products Advisory Committee, I spoke up on behalf of the concerns of moms from Moms Across America. The contamination of our organic food can be a life-threatening situation for families with children with autoimmune issues and allergies. We were deeply concerned about glyphosate contamination in organic food, and we asked for glyphosate testing to be conducted of organic food products and fertilizer in California, in order to identify the sources and work toward solutions. We, along with our advisors, expected the contamination of organic food products to be happening via the "organic" fertilizer, which likely comes from animals fed GMOs and/or glyphosate-sprayed grains.

We received complete pushback - the members of the advisory committee were too concerned about the livelihoods of the farmers growing organic to conduct any testing (even though they would remain anonymous). Any testing proposals (which would merely be advisement to the CDFA) that I presented were denied and eventually I left the advisory board to focus on our Moms Across America Gold Standard. Eventually, however, it appears that the CDFA did find it important to test fertilizer for glyphosate and other herbicides and we are certainly glad they did.

Consumers do not have to wait for a governmental advisory committee or agriculture department to take action, however. We can act now.

Ask your fertilizer company where they get their manure or soil amendments.

Are the animals fed GMO grains sprayed with glyphosate? Has the supplier tested the product for glyphosate and other chemicals?

Have they made a request that those animals be fed non-GMO organically grown grains?

Inquiring minds (who want safe, organic food) need to know.

Thank you for your partnership in creating healthy communities!