Amazon Facing Down Whole Foods Unionization Efforts

Whole Foods workers are trying to unionize. Previous attempts at unionization have been made by workers at the grocery chain, but these efforts were made before Amazon acquired the company earlier in 2018. The email introducing the unionizing efforts at the store came from a group of workers backed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), a New York-based division of the United Food and Commercial Workers union that also represents workers at other grocery store chains.

The sale of Whole Food Market (WFM) to Amazon also came with a promise from the e-commerce giant to trim labor costs, placing an unknown number of jobs at stake. Workers at WFM see a union as their best option to protect their positions and negotiate for worker benefits.

Many in leadership are well aware of the fact that when John Mackey sold WFM to Jeff Bezos last year, that deal came with an agreement to trim hundreds of millions of dollars of labor from our stores. There will continue to be layoffs in 2019 and beyond as Amazon aims to aggressively trim our labor force before it expands with new technology and labor models…”

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What Do They Want

The demands outlined in the email to Whole Foods employees sound an awful lot like the platform of a progressive politician. These items include a $15 minimum wage, 401k matching, paid maternity leave, and lower health insurance deductibles. The email also mentions a previously available profit-sharing program for all employees, full or part-time, that reach 6,000 hours. Under Amazon leadership, that program is no longer available for all, and this unionizing effort is calling for its reinstatement.

Amazon and Workers

Amazon is not an unknown quantity. The tech company is notorious for their treatment of fulfillment center workers, with horror stories revolving around timed or non-existent bathroom breaks, unrealistic target numbers, and constant surveillance popping up on the internet regularly. Conditions are obviously different at Amazon headquarters and similar locations, but it’s likely that Amazon considers those who work at Whole Foods closer to a fulfillment center employee.

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The company is also pushing for automation in its fulfillment centers and warehouses. Look no further than the Amazon Go store, a cashier-less grocery store that automatically bills your Amazon account for your purchases. Launched in January 2018, the concept allows the Seattle-based retail giant to drastically reduce the number of staff (and therefore costs) involved in running a physical store. There are a total of four stores open in the U.S. (three in Seattle and one in Chicago). Amazon is considering expanding that concept rapidly, with 50 more shops planned for other major metropolitan areas by 2019.

Automation

Amazon currently has over 100,000 robot “employees.” The company has not hidden their devotion to efficiency, and automation has made many aspects of the business smoother and more profitable, like ordering inventory and checking out customers.

That will likely make unionization attempts more difficult for Whole Foods. Amazon is in the process of eliminating traditional grocery store jobs. Where is the bargaining chip for employees of the grocery chain? Then again, they’re asking for a sustainable standard of living from their employer. If one of the world’s largest companies is unable to provide that for their employees, what hope do the rest of us have?

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Foods Most Likely to Contain Glyphosate

Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide in the world and, according to a recent study, it has been found in the urine of 93% of Americans tested. Genetically modified foods like corn, soybeans, canola, and sugar beets contain the highest concentrations of glyphosate, but there’s another source of glyphosate exposure that we should be concerned about. Articles about glyphosate and grains frequently refer to the herbicide as a desiccant. Desiccants are sprayed on crops right before harvest to kill them and dry them out, making the crop uniformly ready for harvest when the farmer needs them to sell the crop – no need to wait for mother nature. These non-GMO grains will likely have high levels of glyphosate sprayed on them. But organic grains have also tested positive for glyphosate.

Although most EPA -registered pesticides are prohibited in organic production, there can be inadvertent or indirect contact from neighboring conventional farms or shared handling facilities. As long as the operator hasn’t directly applied prohibited pesticides and has documented efforts to minimize exposure to them, the USDA organic regulations allow for residues of prohibited pesticides at or below 5 percent of the EPA tolerance.” – USDA

Must Read: How to Avoid GMOs in 2018 – And Everything Else You Should Know About Genetic Engineering

Grains

Non-organic and non-GMO wheat, barley, buckwheat, millet, and oats are frequently sprayed with glyphosate as a desiccant shortly before processing.

Wheat

A few years ago Tropical Traditions did some research on glyphosate levels in wheat. Commercially available conventional wheat products from Canada, Montana, and South Dakota all tested positive for glyphosate. These are not genetically modified crops. “The range was from 0.07 mg/kg to 0.09 mg/kg.” For a GMO crop, “the range is typically between 3.3 and 5.7 mg/kg.”

Glyphosate is not allowed to be sprayed on organic wheat, which Tropical Traditions also tested for glyphosate. They were contaminated, with a range “from 0.03 to 0.o6 mg/kg, just slightly lower than the conventional grains we tested.” Organic rye and organic millet tested clean at the time. But this was from December 2015. We’re guessing the situation has only gotten worse.

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Oats

EWG tested more than a dozen brands of oat-based foods. Glyphosate was found to be present on most of the oat-based foods tested, including organic products. Another recent study of glyphosate an oat products found that 5 of 16 popular, organic oats or oat-based products contained glyphosate residue.

Barley, Buckwheat, Millet, Flax, Sorghum

Traditionally these crops dry out and are then ready for harvest. A combine harvester is used to harvest the grains. Farmers used to own these, but now farmers are much more often renting them.

When they come by with the combine, you have to be ready. There ain’t no ‘this is ready, need you to come back next week for that section.’ No. You’ve got to have your whole field ready. That’s why they spray. If it’s a real organic farm, like one that ain’t bullshitting, you need to own your own combine. But that’s getting more and more rare.” – Anonymous farmer

According to Tom Ehrhardt, co-owner of Minnesota-based Albert Lea Seeds, sourcing grains not desiccated with glyphosate prior to harvest is a challenge. “I have talked with millers of conventionally produced grain, and they all agree it’s very difficult to source oats, wheat, flax, and triticale, which have not been sprayed with glyphosate prior to harvest,” he says. “It’s a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell policy’ in the industry.” – Non-GMO Report

Along with wheat and oats, glyphosate is used to desiccate a wide range of other crops including lentils, peas, non-GMO soybeans, corn, flax, rye, triticale, buckwheat, millet, canola, sugar beets and potatoes. Sunflowers may also be treated pre-harvest with glyphosate, according to the National Sunflower Association.” – EcoWatch

Quinoa, amaranth, wild rice, sorghum, and spelt are also likely candidates for glyphosate desiccation, but we don’t see any testing be done on them. Regardless, contamination from drift is likely a problem for all grains, and pretty much all foods grown outside.

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Legumes

Like grains, beans pods aren’t all dried and ready at the same time, a serious inefficiency if you’re selling large quantities of beans like chickpeas, lentils, peas, and white beans. But the need for uniform drying at the same time has also made legumes a target for glyphosate desiccation. Monsanto (now Bayer) recommends using Roundup as a desiccant for lentils and dry beans, and the CFIA found that roughly 47% of beans, lentil, and pea products tested had glyphosate residues.

Nuts

Technically, peanuts should be in the legumes category. From an eating standpoint, they’re more like nuts. They’re also one of the most heavily herbicide/pesticide-treated crops, and a study of the popular Skippy brand natural peanut butter found that the product contained 11.7ppb (parts per billion) of glyphosate.

Almonds are another potential source of glyphosate exposure, especially once they’re processed into almond milk. A screening of glyphosate usage levels released in 2015 by the Environmental Protection Agency reported that 85% of almonds farmed in the U.S. were treated with glyphosate.

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Canola

Canola seeds are harvested and crushed to create canola oil and canola meal. Canola crops are almost always genetically modified and contain high levels of glyphosate.

Sugar

This section could easily be titled sugar beets. After all, 95% of sugar beets grown in the U.S. are genetically modified to withstand Roundup. Glyphosate is used on both sugarbeets and sugarcane extensively. Sugarcane is hit with a double dose of the chemical, both as an herbicide and as a ripening method. Glyphosate is the only sugarcane ripener approved for use in the United States, so any sugarcane grown in the U.S. likely comes with glyphosate residue.

Wine

10 out of 10 wines tested positive for glyphosate

An anonymous supporter of advocacy group Moms Across America sent 10 wine samples to be tested for glyphosate. All of the samples tested positive for glyphosate — even organic wines, although their levels were significantly lower.” – Healthy Holsitc Living

What About Bob’s Red Mill?

On their website Bob’s Red Mill addressed the concerns on January 6, 2015:

The majority of our conventional wheat is grown close to home in the Pacific Northwest, where growing seasons are typically longer and the practice of desiccation is as such rarely used. We’ve been told desiccation is not a practice used by our individual farmers.”

But on September 5th of this year, Sustainable Pulse reported:

Bob’s Red Mill is facing a federal class action, filed in San Francisco Friday, after the world’s most used weedkiller, glyphosate, was discovered in both its organic and non-organic oats.

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Avoiding Glyphosate

There is no bubble strong enough to protect you from glyphosate in 2018. Even a diet consisting entirely of organic products will have considerable levels of glyphosate residue due to pesticide/herbicide drift. Not all of us are able to dedicate the time and money needed to extensively research every single thing we eat. Other options include growing all of your own food or getting really good at detoxing. We also recommend shopping at your local farmer’s markets and finding farmers that care as much about this issue as you do.

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Flu Shot Effectiveness Lessens After 28 Days

In exchange for a shot that most recently rendered a mere 1 in 10 who people who receive it protected, you get an increased risk of actually getting the flu and exposure to side effects like headaches, fever, sepsis, convulsions, asthma, other respiratory problems, and paralysis. While many of those side effects can lead to permanent issues, a new study from the Kaiser Permanente Northern California finds that the vaccine’s ability to protect you from the flu may not be so long-lasting. The risk of getting the flu rose by 16 percent twenty-eight days after getting the vaccine, and that risk continued to increase throughout the flu season.

Related: Influenza Vaccine – A Comprehensive Overview of the Potential Dangers and Effectiveness of the Flu Shot

The Study

Published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, the Kaiser Permanente study looked at 44,959 individuals who had tested positive for the flu from September 2010 to March 2017. Subjects had been given the inactivated flu vaccine. Those who had been tested 42 to 69 days after being vaccinated had 1.32 times the odds of testing positive for any variation of influenza than those tested within 14-41 days of receiving the shot. Patients tested more than 5 months after their shot had 2.06 the odds of testing positive for the flu.

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The Pressure

The pressure to get the flu shot (or any vaccine) is intense. Many employers, especially in the healthcare field (go figure), require it, and advertisements and media proclaiming the importance of protecting yourself and the others around you from the flu are everywhere. If you’re in a situation where the flu shot becomes a must, it’s imperative you don’t treat it as actual protection from the flu. In fact, the first thing you need to do after getting the shot is getting the preservatives used in the vaccine out of your system.

Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

The System

The flu shot is not about the flu. If it was, they would have dropped it a long time ago. It seemed like every article released about the vaccine last year included a quote from a carefully selected expert, designed to communicate to you how important it is to get the flu shot…in spite of this article you finished reading about how ineffective it is. This latest study is no different. Researchers concluded that health care providers should carefully consider the timing of the shot during flu season.

But let’s face it. If anything, the manufacturers of the flu vaccine will cite this study as a reason to vaccinate people more than once during flu season. Twice the profit and twice the protection! What could go wrong…??

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Air Pollution Causes People to Lose A Year of Education

Air pollution leads to people losing the equivalent of one year of education, says a new study conducted in China. Developing countries are more likely to have poor air quality, and 95% of the world’s population is breathing unsafe air. This has resulted in an estimated 6.5 million premature deaths worldwide from air pollution in 2016. We’re aware of the toxic effects of air pollution on our health and environment, but this study looks at some of the more subtle side effects of unsafe air. A year’s worth of education is what people are losing on average. Xi Chen at Yale School of Public Health in the US, a member of the research team, said,

Polluted air can cause everyone to reduce their level of education by one year, which is huge…But we know the effect is worse for the elderly, especially those over 64, and for men, and for those with low education. If we calculate [the loss] for those, it may be a few years of education.”

The Susceptible

In addition to the elderly, at-risk populations include children, men, low-educated people, and individuals with mental disorders. This study also identified how air pollution impacts cognitive ability. Subjects were more likely to lose language ability, rather than math ability. Longer exposure also meant a greater decrease in these abilities and a greater likelihood of developing dementia and mental illness.

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China

China is notorious for their poor air quality. More than half of the people that die from air pollution every year, more than three million people, live in China and India. The government has been focused on improving their air quality, closing down 500 factories, forcing 300,000 older cars off the roads, and reducing coal consumption by a whopping 30 percent. But that is likely not enough. Less than three years ago, the smog and air pollution in Beijing was at eight times the level considered healthy by the World Health Organization.

Can We Fix It?

Air pollution is a serious health hazard. Like many of the emerging causes of disease, it is a problem of our own making. Factories in all of their forms (industrial and farmed) have permanently altered our atmosphere and left billions worldwide at an increased risk of physical conditions like heart disease, emphysema, cancer, and asthma, among others. Studies have previously confirmed that air pollution can affect cognitive performance, but now the link between the loss of overall intelligence and air pollution has been drawn.

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China has already put programs in place to combat air pollution. That will provide crucial intel into whether or not air pollution can be effectively dealt with for ourselves and the next generation.

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Glyphosate Found in the Majority of Oat-Based Products

Environmental Working Group (EWG) tested 45 products with conventionally grown oats and found glyphosate in 43 of them. They also tested 16 different products using organic oats. The products tested included breakfast cereals like lucky charms and cheerios, granola, and snack bars in addition to whole oats and instant oats. While the organic samples better,tter , five of the samples registered positive for glyphosate. Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, Quaker Simply Granola, Giant Instant Oatmeal, and Quaker Dinosaur Eggs Instant Oatmeal had particularly high levels of glyphosate. A glyphosate risk assessment found that children are likely to have the highest levels of dietary exposure to the chemical, and this study from EWG is a wake-up call. Alexis Temkin, Ph.D., a toxicologist and the author of the study, says,

Parents shouldn’t worry about whether feeding their children healthy oat foods will also expose them to a chemical linked to cancer. The government must take steps to protect our most vulnerable populations…”

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Glyphosate and Health

Roundup has been in all of the news lately, as a California jury recently ruled that the herbicide was the cause of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It makes sense that the legal victory came in the state of California, where glyphosate has been listed as a cause of cancer on their Proposition 65 list since July of 2017. The court case will likely prove instrumental in the continued investigation of how Roundup impacts human health, but this far from the first time the herbicide has been linked to cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as probably carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, in 2015, a categorization Monsanto (and now Bayer) has been vigorously arguing ever since. The herbicide has also been linked to a plethora of other health concerns like Alzheimer’s, birth defects, respiratory illness, Parkinson’s disease, reproductive issues, and several conditions linked gut disruption (obesity, Irritable Bowel Disease, Colitis, and Leaky Gut).

Over the Threshold

In 1985, the Environmental Protection Agency labeled glyphosate as a cancer risk. That categorization was reversed in 1991, and since then the government organization has become one of Monsanto’s most important assets. The EPA has expressed nothing but support for the weed-killer since 1991. The agency disagreed with the IARC’s findings, issuing a rebuttal a year later. Email correspondence between a high-ranking official at the EPA and Monsanto employees detailing the official’s efforts to squash glyphosate investigations emerged in 2017. The EPA’s has also imposed exceptionally lenient safety standards on glyphosate, as the federal agency’s safe levels of exposure to the herbicide are 60 times higher than the state of California’s.

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Collateral Damage

The EPA, especially considering the business-friendly, environmentally ambivalent Trump administration, is not likely to care about the damage glyphosate has and is doing. EWG president Ken Cook says,

We will petition the Environmental Protection Agency to do its job and end uses of glyphosate that resulted in the contamination we report today…But we very much doubt our petition will be acted upon by President Trump’s lawless EPA. So we’re calling on the companies to make these iconic products with clean ingredients.”

It will be difficult. This study shows that even organic products can have glyphosate on them…because it’s everywhere. Taking on the world’s most-used herbicide is a daunting task, and consumer dollars will be a big part of how businesses choose to handle it.

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With 8,000 Lawsuits Pending, Bayer Claims No Buyer’s Remorse Following Monsanto Verdict

Bayer is dealing with the fallout from the 289 million dollar verdict against its new acquisition, Monsanto. Now that a jury has found the world’s most popular herbicide, glyphosate, guilty of causing a California man’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the German pharmaceutical company faces increased scrutiny from regulators, shareholders, and the public. The number of lawsuits in the U.S. increased dramatically by the end of July.

Bayer finalized their Monsanto deal on July 7th, and the company has spent much of that time putting out legal and financial fires. Since the verdict, Bayer share prices have dropped over 10 percent. Monsanto’s reported yearly income in 2017 was over 2.2 billion dollars, but the impact of their recent court defeat on the company’s overall income could be huge. It remains to be seen if Bayer will regret the 66 billion dollars they paid for Monsanto.

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The Floodgates Open

Bayer has experienced a significant uptick in complaints brought against them in response to the recent jury decision. In the U.S., the number of lawsuits jumped from 5,200 to over 8,000. Some legal analyst were expecting the number of lawsuits to be higher, but it’s clear that Bayer’s transition will not be a smooth one from a legal standpoint. The news doesn’t seem to bother Bayer CEO Werner Baumann, who outlined the companies’ response to these complaints.

We will vigorously defend this case and all upcoming cases.”

Nothing to See Here, Folks

Baumann’s statement regarding lawsuits is nothing new. Consider the statement obtained from by a Bayer spokesperson after the court decision.

Bayer is confident, based on the strength of the science, the conclusions of regulators around the world and decades of experience, that glyphosate is safe for use and does not cause cancer when used according to the label.”

Now check out this statement from Monsanto in an article about a 2009 study that found Round-up contained an ingredient responsible for cell death.

Roundup has one of the most extensive human health safety and environmental data packages of any pesticide that’s out there…It’s used in public parks, it’s used to protect schools. There’s been a great deal of study on Roundup, and we’re very proud of its performance.”

According to the people that manufacture and make money off of it, Roundup and glyphosate are safe because they’ve always been safe.

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New Coach, Same Game Plan

The verdict for Dewayne Johnson has been a welcome victory for the people who have been yelling about the harmful effects of glyphosate for years. It also comes at a time when the company is more vulnerable than usual. But Bayer has made it clear they have no intention of disrupting the practices that continue to make money.

Are 8,000 lawsuits in the U.S. costly enough for them to reconsider the damage their products do?

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Your Wild Salmon May Actually Be Farmed…Or Trout

Salmon season isn’t coming to a close on a high note, as August saw a massive farmed salmon escape, and the Chinese government decided it is acceptable to sell rainbow trout as salmon. Both incidents point to a breakdown in the quality and health of the salmon available to the consumer. Escaped farmed salmon mean more diseases affecting wild salmon, and China has basically sanctioned mislabeled fish. Eating fish is more fraught with issues than ever before.

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Farmed Salmon Escape

Between 2,000 and 3,000 farmed salmon escaped from their enclosures off the coast of Newfoundland in Eastern Canada when a rope came undone. Cooke Aquacultures didn’t notify local authorities of the breach, which was only noticed when fishermen noticed farmed salmon in their catches. The company has pledged to work the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to recapture the escapees. The lack of transparency has others expressing concerns as to how many breaches have actually occurred. According to Atlantic Salmon Federation coordinator, Steve Sutton on CBC Radio’s The Broadcast,

It raises the question of how many times have other escapes happened where nobody has seen the fish and nobody knows the difference…This is a public resource, public waters. They should be required to report these things to the public as soon as they have the information.”

This isn’t the first time Cooke Aquacultures has experienced a significant breach. The company is responsible for a 2017 spill that resulted in more than 100,000 Atlantic salmon escaping into the Salish Sea near Washington state. It’s hard to know exactly how many salmon have escaped since the inception of open aquaculture pens, though aquaculture firms are required to report any losses. Still, this doesn’t always happen, and Cooke Aquacultures doesn’t seem to have a procedure in place for notifying the authorities quickly and effectively. Will we start seeing stricter enforcement of policies now that GM salmon is on the market?

Trout or Salmon…Who Cares!

In other salmon news, the Chinese government has given the ok for rainbow trout to be labeled and sold as salmon. This makes sense from a biological standpoint, as both fish are part of the salmonid family (this family includes over 200 different species of fish). The similarities don’t extend to other key issues identified by scientists and consumers – salmon is a saltwater fish, and rainbow trout is a freshwater fish. Freshwater fish have a higher likelihood of parasites, especially when served in raw applications like sushi.

This dicate also leaves the door open for more instances of incorrectly labeled fish, a serious issue faced by seafood regulators worldwide. According to the advocacy group Oceana, one in five fish is labeled incorrectly. Often times a cheaper fish is substituted for a more expensive one, although there have been cases of people distributing endangered or protected species for consumption.

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Is It Too Late?

None of this bodes well for the continuing quality of the seafood we consume, especially salmon. Salmon used to be one of the simple fish. Good quality, wild-caught Pacific salmon was a safe, healthy option that came with fewer ethical or environmental concerns than other popular seafood choices. But it’s no longer simple.

Salmon doesn’t need to actually be salmon. Salmonids can be substituted for one another. We also can’t be sure it’s the species we think we’re getting as thousands of farmed Atlantic salmon escape yearly, crowding out and endangering wild salmon. Salmon escapes are likely to become even more serious issues now that genetically modified salmon is on the shelves.

So here’s a question. Why are we still eating seafood?