Magma Plus® and Veggie Magma®

Tested Free of Pesticides and Herbicides

January 29, 2007

INTRODUCTION
It is recognized by scientists and public health officials worldwide that pesticides, herbicides and other synthetic agri-chemicals pervade our environment and pose a health risk to humans everywhere.  Pesticides and herbicides are widely used in food production to destroy organisms that harm food crops. Many pesticides may leave residues in or on treated fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other foods and these residues are often absorbed   readily into our circulation and can eventually be taken up in all tissues of the human body, including the brain.  Many are preferentially stored within our fat cells, where they typically accumulate more readily than they are eliminated by the body’s natural detoxification system.  Therefore, consumers have a right to know the levels of pesticide and herbicide residues and all other toxic materials in foods and supplements so they can minimize their intake.

Green Foods Corporation, along with other concerned companies in the natural food and supplement industries, supports and practices organic and sustainable farming methods.  All of the produce we grow for use as ingredients in our products is certified organic.  For all other ingredients we purchase from other growers and raw material vendors, Green Foods requires documentation as to the raw material’s safety and purity.  While many of these ingredients may not be available as organic due to practical, seasonal, and economic reasons, they need to be free of detectable levels of contaminants including residues of pesticides and herbicides.
In October 2006, in order to assure our customers that Green Foods products are pure and do not contain residues of pesticides or herbicides, we sent Magma Plus (Lot 6816) and Veggie Magma (Lot 6706) to Silliker Laboratories in Cypress, California, for testing.  These products were chosen because they contain 58 and 18 ingredients, respectively.  Each product was tested for levels of 158 individual pesticides and herbicides including persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that the May 2004 Stockholm Convention targeted for complete removal from the environment. These POPs include aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, PCBs, and hexachlorobenzene. 

TEST RESULTS and CONCLUSIONS
The results from Silliker Laboratories showed that neither Magma Plus nor Veggie Magma contained detectable levels of any of the 158 chemicals they were tested for.  In addition, previous research by Durham et al at the University of California, Davis, demonstrated the remarkable ability of our barley grass juice to break down various organophosphate pesticides when both the barley grass juice powder and the pesticide were mixed in a solution together. So not only are these two products free of detectable levels of pesticides and herbicides but their barley grass juice content may help protect against pesticides consumed in the diet.

1. 1. CDC's Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals
       Spotlight On Organophosphate Pesticides
2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
       Persistent Organic Pollutants
   
3. Durham, J., Ogata, J., Nakajima, S., Hagiwara, Y., and Shibamoto, T.
       Degradation of organophosphorus pesticides in aqueous extracts of young
       green barley leaves (Hordeum vulgare L). 1999, J. of the Science of Food
       and Agriculture, Vol. 79: 1311-1314.