Friday, January 20, 2017 Here is a new update on our never ending story of struggle for disclosure of truth - regarding glyphosate. First was the question of if glyphosate is safe for use either in agriculture or for our ecosystem. One side, those that support the technology and the molecule, keep insisting that it is safe and that serious science based analysis has been conducted repeatedly in many studies. On the other side, there is this valid accusation that no such study has ever been conducted transparently and independently. Furthermore, the data and observations from these non-transparent and non-independent tests based on which the Government concluded that glyphosate may be safe, has been kept hidden from the people in every country on earth. Without disclosure of test records, observations and independent study, there is no proof that the molecule is safe. Instead evidence is being suppressed. Hence there is genuine reason to be suspicious of glyphosate’s safety, and Government's transparency and commitment to the welfare of its citizens. There are many other biocides whose details are also hidden from the people, but glyphosate, being the most used weed killer in our food web, deserves particular attention. Then comes the issue of how much of this herbicidal molecule has gotten into our food, drink, soil, water and nature. For Canadians, this has been a difficult quest, because not only data was unavailable, but laboratories offering such tests were few and far between and only tested soil and water. Labs would not test food or people for contamination by this molecule. Things have begun to change. Labs in Canada are now offering service for testing various foods for glyphosate. Testing of body fluids and tissue, either of human or wildlife, is still not available to the common man in Canada. Testing for glyphosate is not cheap, even when labs are available. Furthermore, it aught not to be the responsibility of the people to spend money to find which components of their menu may contain herbicides such as glyphosate. Providing safe food is part of the Government’s responsibility, especially when it approved the use of glyphosate in agriculture. Since the Government appears unwilling to provide proof that glyphosate is safe, it aught to be the same Government’s responsibility to disclose how much of this herbicide is currently present in various foods that are available for the people - so the people can make informed choices on what to eat and what to avoid. Sadly, no nation that we know of, had made such efforts to test public food en mass and make the data available - so far. Enters Canadian Food Safety Authority (CFIA) that reportedly tested over seven thousand samples of food collected from Canada from 2015 onward, comprising both domestic and imported food, for presence of glyphosate and its first metabolite AMPA. And to my good fortune, CFIA has sent me copies of those tests, while it prepares to publish a report on it in a few months. The data received by me is not in an editable electronic form, but in printed paper and image based pdf, which need to be transcribed, either by optical character recognition software, or by manual retyping, in order to prepare for an analysis of the results using computer software. Work is ongoing to this end. Over a thousand such records have been transcribed while proof reading and correction of mistakes are undertaken. Periodically the data is being put up online along with analysis done along with observations and musings. The data so far transcribed answers a few very relevant questions, but raises as many new ones. One of the most relevant food item that appear to be missing from the records so far, is conventional wheat and its most common byproduct - bread. Why standard wheat and bread have so far not been tested is a puzzle, since these are among the most staple of foods. There are other puzzles too - such as absence of all brand name identification of the tested sample. So, even if certain kinds of grain, or flour or drink is found to have high glyphosate, it may be quite difficult for a consumer to decide which product brand to avoid and which to favour, based on its glyphosate content. It is hoped that wheat and bread will turn up later in the records. I remain apprehensive of the results since we know non-GMO wheat is heavily desiccated with glyphosate before harvest, and this is likely to show up in the grains and the flour as well as in bread. Another item that is so far missing, is Canola oil. We know almost 95% or more of it in Canada are RoundUp ready and is expected to be laced with glyphosate. But, Canola Oil has so far not been found in the test data. In fact, no cooking oil or any food item with description containing the word “oil” has been found so far. These are being talked about on blog: http://www.tonu.org/2017/01/08/cfia-glyphosatetest/ But one thing is does highlight, is the continuing need for : 1) Our struggle to get the hitherto hidden safety documents on glyphosate to be disclosed by the Canadian Government. 2) Our efforts to get local municipalities to start testing locally grown and available food for glyphosate and to let the results be known to people, including the brand names and stores/ sources where these food samples were received from. The first one is raised through two petitions. The first one is: https://www.change.org/p/minister-of-health-disclose-safety-test-records-of-glyphosate?recruiter=16360852&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive You are already in this petition and looking at my update on it. It has over 23,000 supporters. A second petition has also also been raised by me on the House of Commons e-petition platform: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-413 This petition has collected over 1,600 signatures and been closed and awaiting to be presented to the members of parliament at the House of Commons sometime soon. Both the above petitions demand that the Government through Health Canada makes public all safety test data and records based on which it deemed glyphosate to be safe for Canadian agriculture and environment. The third petition, also raised by me, is at: https://www.change.org/p/let-our-government-test-food-for-glyphosate?recruiter=16360852&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_term=des-md-share_petition-no_msg This one is based on multiple government servants across the lands in Canada, USA and farther afield, to start testing local food for glyphosate. It has so far generated just over a thousand signatures. I hope this one will not only get more support, but also more grassroots efforts to push our municipalities to test local foods, and fill the blanks that are left from the CFIA reports, such as wheat, wheat flour and wheat products such as bread, and cooking oils such as Canola as well as brand name foods in items which are already showing up high glyphosate content, such as lentils, chickpeas, garbanzo and processed foods. The attached video is a 16 minute talk on the evolving analysis of the CFIA food test results, and focusing on wheat and lentils. Thank you.