The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, has released a study, recently published on-line in The Lancet Oncology, that places glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, in the second highest category for cancer risk of “probable carcinogen.”  As noted by Maria Rodale in her must-read  Organic Manifesto (Rodale, Inc. [distributed to the trade by Macmillan], New York, New York, 2010),  Monsanto’s Roundup is the most widely used weed killer in America since 91% of all soybeans, 85% of all corn, and 88% of all cotton are grown from Monsanto’s Roundup Ready GMO (genetically modified organism) seeds.  She succinctly sums up the concern: the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosphate, “gets inside plants we eat and can’t wash off.”

In Organic Manifesto, reviewed earlier on this website, Maria Rodale set forth a convincing argument that “We must remove chemicals from the process of growing, harvesting and preserving food.”  Pesticides are poisons manufactured to kill insects, rodents, fungi and weeds, but as Rodale notes “Traces of all of these chemicals can be detected in virtually each and every one of us.”  Besides the consumption of foods tainted by pesticides which “can’t wash off,” she also explains that 60% of the fresh water in the United States is used for agricultural purposes, and “the chemicals used in agriculture leach through the soil and into waterways and poison our drinking water, accounting for two-thirds of all water pollution.”

Maria Rodale’s conclusion that “chemical pesticides have been linked to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and reproductive and developmental defects” is now bolstered by the study of the International Agency for Research on Cancer which concluded that glyphosate is a “probable carcinogen.”   (In addition, malathion and diazinon were also classified by the study as “probable carcinogens.”)

This study has also prompted Mark Bittman’s recent op-ed in the New York Times (March 25, 2015), Stop Making Us Guinea Pigs.  Mr. Bittman makes a strong case that the burden should be upon Monsanto to prove that its Round-up is “safe to use” and that “its time to mandate that the corporation-not the taxpaying public- bear the brunt of determining whether it should still be sold.”  According to Mr. Bittman, “There is a sad history of us acting as guinea pigs for the novel chemicals that industry develops.”  As noted by Maria Rodale in Organic Manifesto, more than 80,000 new chemical compounds have been introduced since World War II, with many used in agriculture:  “There are 3,000 so-called high-production-volume chemicals, meaning that more than 1 million pounds of each are produced or imported in the United States each year,” including 4 billion pounds of organophosphate pesticides used annually in the United States.

Further concerns about health problems caused by Monsanto’s Roundup are raised by Cornucopia’s Farm and Food Policy Analyst, Pamela Coleman, PhD, in her recent article in the organization’s newsletter titled Gut-Wrenching, New Studies Reveal the Insidious Effects of Glyphosate.  She cites a recent article in the scientific journal Entropy that “available evidence” suggests that glyphosate “may interfere with the gastrointestinal (GI) tract bacteria” and predispose humans to serious health problems.

The Organic Consumers Association now has a petition with over 50,000 signatures “to tell the EPA to ban glyphosate.”  Click here to add your name.

Mark Bittman also argues persuasively in his op-ed that it is now time that we “finally start labeling products made with genetically engineered food.”  As Rodale has noted above, the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosphate “gets inside plants we eat and can’t wash off.”  By labeling genetically engineered food, consumers will have the ability to avoid this “probable carcinogen” by choosing not to purchase such food.

Frank W. Barrie (3/27/15)

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revised the grading of maple syrup, effective March 2, 2015, to eliminate the grading of syrup as Grade B.  Instead, Grade A maple syrup will now include four new color and flavor classes: (1) US Grade A Golden, delicate flavor; (2) US Grade A Amber, rich flavor; (3) US Grade A Dark, robust flavor and (4) US Grade A Very Dark, strong flavor.

The new and voluntary standards were sought by the International Maple Syrup Institute, which represents maple syrup producers in the U.S. and Canada.  According to the Institute, the revised grading standards will permit uniform standards across the U.S. and eliminate confusion for consumers resulting from different grading systems in different states.  Canada has adopted similar uniform standards.

The four color categories, ranging from golden to very dark, are based on the percentage of light transmission through the syrup, as measured with a spectrophotometer.  Sugar content of the sap drops late in the season producing stronger flavored and darker syrup, which according to the AMS, has become more popular of late for table use and cooking.  In the past, this stronger, darker syrup was labeled as Grade B for reprocessing and not intended for retail sale.  With Grade B syrup eliminated, syrup to be used for reprocessing or to make other products will be classified with a new “Processing Grade” designation.  Very dark maple syrup, with strong flavor, may now be categorized in its own (and new) Grade A color and flavor class.

In American Terroir Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields (Bloomsbury USA, New York, New York, 2010), Rowan Jacobsen celebrates great American foods “that are what they are because of where they come from.” He points out that the only suitable terroir in the world for maple syrup is the Greater Northeast, described as a triangle running from Michigan to New Brunswick (Canada) to West Virginia.  The North American Maple Syrup Council is an international network of associations representing sixteen commercial maple syrup producing states and Canadian provinces.   Canadians Bryan Exley and Merna Brown of Dunvegan, Ontario, whose Stonebriar Farm produces hand-crafted maple products (available year round), maintain the website Sugarbush Info that has listings of over 500 maple syrup producers (sugarbushes) in the United States and Canada.

Like wine or coffee, the taste of maple syrup can range tremendously in flavor and consistency according to Rowan Jacobsen, who rhapsodizes over his discovery of maple syrup produced by Vermonter Paul Limberty’s Dragon Fly Sugar Works, which is “rich, creamy and sweet but not cloying” as if “somebody had melted a pad of sweet butter in it.” The revised standards for grading maple syrup, with the four color and flavor classes, provides a running start in searching for a special tin or bottle of maple syrup to enjoy on your pancakes or waffles.

If you have the good fortune to be able to try various samples of maple syrup, before deciding on your purchase, so much the better: perhaps at the National Maple Syrup Festival to be held soon, for four days beginning March 5, 2015, in the small town of Nashville in Indiana’s Brown County or at the 49th Annual Vermont Maple Festival to be held in St. Albans (Franklin County, VT) in the northwestern corner of the state for three days starting April 24, 2015?  Sugarbush Info has listings for 13 maple syrup festivals in Canada and 14 in the United States.

(Frank W. Barrie, 3/01/15)