Although Meta Mate is certified organic and due to our Fair Trust standards we can trace our harvests back to the protected forests where they come from, we are all aware that nothing these days is 100% safe!
Glyphosate, a creation from Monsanto has been in agricultrual use since the late 1970’s and deemed by the World Health Organisation and European Food Safety Authority as damaging to human health. Yet, it continues to be one of the most popular herbicides in use around the world despite several independent studies demonstrating the damaging effects.
Glyphosate is most effective when sprayed on the foliage of crops (it is not typically applied in the soil). And as we all know it is unavoidable that particles sprayed in the air will remain contained in a space.
For the past years environmental activists have been pushing for its ban. In 2017 the EU voted in favor of using Glyphosate for 5 more years, this has been extended to Summer of 2023. The lobby pressure is quite strong in this situation where millions are at stake.
We are part of a living ecosystem where everything is connected. In the summer of 2019 an alarming study was released in Germany stating that there were alarming levels of pesticide residues in the air and Earth.
Similar to how the Japanese authorities tried to nomalize the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima in 2011 by raising the levels of radiation considered to be acceptable, the legislative response to the poisons that we are spraying on our plants and planets is to set standard values when we should be moving towards zero tolerance.
According to Wikipedia The U.S. has determined the acceptable daily intake of glyphosate at 1.75 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day (mg/kg/bw/day) while the European Union has set it at 0.5.[98]
Going beyond Organic has always been one of our highest priorities since the very beginning at Meta Mate. Although Mate was not on the official list of products that could be imported as Bio into the EU when we started, we were always able to assure ourselves and our clients of the pristine origins of our mate due to our Fair Trust policies.
We are however, well aware of the ever growing presence of Soya industry in the region where our Mate grows as well as their incessant use of Pesticides. And unless heavy pressure is put to ban the exports of this cheap cattle fodder we cannot guarantee the safety of our forests and farmers…..
Just as second hand smoke can be damaging to a baby the constant usage of herbicides such as Glyphosate are harming our atmosphere and global lungs such as the Atlantic and Amazon Forests.
Thanks to our partners in Germany for publicizing this information.
External links:
https://www.enkeltauglich.bio/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-Environmental_Sciences_Europe.pdf
https://www.biocompany.de/ueber-uns/engagement/ackergifte-nein-danke.html
https://www.enkeltauglich.bio/studie-pestizid-belastung-der-luft/
