Organic Wines Uncorked: New Study Finds Glyphosate Increases Risks for Pregnant Women and Babies

Friday, April 7, 2017

New Study Finds Glyphosate Increases Risks for Pregnant Women and Babies

A new study being released today at the Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN) conference in Washington, D.C. says that higher glyphosate levels in pregnant women's urine correlated with shorter pregnancies and lower birth weights.

The study, conducted by Dr. Paul Winchester, of Franciscan Health Indianapolis, is only a preliminary one, due to the small sample size of 61 pregnant women, but the disparities between the glyphosate exposure levels appears to be statistically significant.

To learn more, read Carey Gillam's piece today in the Huffington Post here.

CEHN also launched an online site today that explains glyphosate risks and pathways as well as preventive measures. You can find it here.

I haven't been able to locate a link with more detailed data showing the distributions associated with the graphs above, but I'm still hunting. Stay tuned. (Or email me if you find a link).

For more on Dr. Winchester, you might want to read this profile from the Indianapolis Business Journal. He's also profiled here.

Last year California wine grape growers used more than 700,000 pounds of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) on vineyards.

Here are some highlights of glyphosate use on wine grapes in leading counties. The numbers featured are the number of pounds applied to wine grapes, per 2014 California State Dept. of Pesticide Regulations reports.

Northern California

Napa: 43,000
Sonoma: 76,000

Central California

Madera: 88,000
San Joaquin (including Lodi): 93,000
San Luis Obispo (including Paso Robles): 42,000
Santa Barbara: 24,000

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Wines We Cover

We publish information about wines grown from certified organic or Biodynamic vineyards that are generally made with sulfites (which are usually added in small amounts to preserve the wine).

That includes these certification types:

ORGANIC WINE CERTIFICATIONS

• Made with Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites (i.e. a normal range)

Winery: certified organic facility

Labeling: front or back label

• Ingredients: Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: up to 350 ppm of sulfites (same as for any non organic wine)

Labeling: back label only

BIODYNAMIC® CERTIFICATIONS

• Biodynamic Wine

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; no additives of any kind

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back label; Demeter logo may appear

• Made with Biodynamic Grapes

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native or organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; limited number of additives permitted

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back

Note: unlike organically grown wines, for which there is a category called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes," wines sourced from biodynamic grapes may not make any biodynamic claim on the bottle label. Bottle labeling is reserved for Demeter certified wines only.

SULFITES IN CONTEXT

According to U.C. Davis, the average among all wines in the U.S. (as well as globally) is 80 ppm.

WHAT THE USDA CALLS ORGANIC WINES

Unlike any other nation, the U.S. oddly imposes a no sulfite restriction on wines in order for them to be called Organic Wine. These wines are also called NSA or NAS wines (which stands for "No Sulfites Added" or "No Added Sulfites.")

From the above description, one can see that there are in fact three types of organically grown wines:

1. Organic Wine (less than 15% of all organically grown wine)

2. Made with Organic Grapes

3. Ingredients: Organic Grapes

The vast majority of wines from organic grapes are labeled Made with Organic Grapes, Ingredients: Organic Grapes or are blended with nonorganic grapes and unlabeled.

Fine winemakers do not generally make wine without sulfites and a number of large wine retailers like BevMo do not sell wine in the category of "USDA Organic Wine."

With rare exceptions, this blog does not cover what the USDA calls "Organic Wine."

We are hopeful that the USDA will revise the categorization of organically grown wines and make NSA or NAS wines a category of their own.

This would put the U.S. in accord with the rest of the world, where "Organic Wine" means a wine from certified grapes made within limits on sulfites (generally under 100-150 ppm).

Organic Wines Uncorked

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Friday, April 7, 2017

New Study Finds Glyphosate Increases Risks for Pregnant Women and Babies

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