B Corp MegaFood and Partners Ask EPA to Limit Use of Herbicide
Almost every week there is more news about the herbicide glyphosate’s effect on the environment and people: a concerning study, a testing-based exposé, a cancer lawsuit. Just last week, a California jury awarded $2 billion in damages to a couple stricken with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This week, testing results show that pea protein (even organic brands) has been found to have concerning traces of glyphosate residue.
As a Certified B Corporation that holds the Earth as a major stakeholder, how do we react to news like this? B Corps are assessed for their standards on environmental and social issues and balancing profit and purpose. It is not hard to see from the current news cycle that those things are out of alignment in our country. So how can B Corps like MegaFood and others concerned with glyphosate use make an impact? First, we need to better understand glyphosate.
MegaFood is part of the community of businesses that have used a third-party verification of their impact. Use the free B Impact Assessment to evaluate your company’s impact on all stakeholders, including the environment, your workers, your community and your customers.
As the most popular herbicide in the world, glyphosate is used for conventional and GMO farming, on parks and playgrounds, at schools and downtown areas, and on home gardens to kill weeds and to dry crops for a speedier harvest. But glyphosate’s environmental effects include harm to soil health and a reduced ability to grow nutrient-dense food.
At MegaFood, our mission is to change the world starting with food, so the recent glyphosate news hits us hard. We know we have to do something; we know we want to practice what we preach and use our business as a force for good. So we have banded together with many other B Corps and petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to restrict certain uses of glyphosate to keep our food and families safe.
Since October 2018, we have been campaigning and gathering consumer signatures in support of this petition. Our action couldn’t be more timely. And it’s working. In a rare move, the EPA responded by opening a comment period based on our petition during the same month that we are having a public rally in support of the petition. (P.S. You’re invited!) This represents an opportunity to make a meaningful, measurable impact. Our goal now is to encourage as many comments to the EPA as we can, making the best case for restricting the use of this toxic chemical.
So what about next week’s news cycle? We hope that a highly attended and successful rally, combined with ample comments of support, will help flip the script on glyphosate and deliver some good news on the topic.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
Taking Action for Environmental Good When the News Is the Opposite was originally published in B the Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
