After 12 years of battling to stop Monsanto's genetically-engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's organic farmland, the biggest retailers of "natural" and "organic" foods in the U.S., including Whole Foods Market (WFM), Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm, have agreed to stop opposing mass commercialization of GE crops, like Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa. In exchange for dropping their opposition, WFM has asked for "compensation" to be paid to organic farmers for "any losses related to the contamination of his crop." Under current laws, Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not subject to any pre-market safety testing or labeling. WFM is abandoning its fight with biotech companies in part because two thirds of the products they sell are not certified organic anyway, but are really conventional, chemical-intensive and foods that may contain GMOs and that they market as "natural" despite this. Most consumers don't know the difference between "natural" and "certified organic" products. "Natural" products can come from crops and animals fed nutrients containing GMOs. "Certified Organic" products are GMO-free. WFM and their main distributor, United Natural Foods, maximize profits by selling products labeled "natural" at premium organic prices.
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Another one bites the dust...
Whole Foods Market Caves to Monsanto
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How ironic. I have already once forsworn shopping at Whole Paycheck after its CEO made that Dog-awful statement about health care, then after a year returned to occasionally shopping there. But it will be easier for me to quit this time, because for a few months I've felt that rationally I can't afford their prices.
Whole Foods is no bad store. But the corp behind them and its CEO especially are a real piece of work. (Not a piece of shit; shit is organic...)
On visiting the linked article, I found that the comment thread contains material that throws considerable doubt on the accusation against WF.
Apparently the accusation came from a dispute between WF and the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) over whether WF, which carries both organic and nonorganic foods, could be said to comply with OCA's hard-line standards on the matter. According to WF, WF has had no contact with Monsanto on any issue whatsoever. The rumor started by OCA may well be bogus.
As something of a foodie myself, I've had occasional dealings with foodie crazies, and many of them are not amenable to changing their opinions even if the underlying facts on which their opinions are based are shown to be questionable. IOW, there is no way OCA would retract and/or apologize even if they're wrong about it. This attitude would be bad enough even if the accusation were based solidly in fact; as it stands, their apparent my-way-or-the-highway approach tends to discredit them.
I will (in theory) continue to shop at WF. The only thing stopping me, for most of a year now, are the outrageous prices.
[CAPTCHA text: "faricali" ... I think an Italian girlfriend served me some of that back in my meat-eating days...]
Thanks, Steve. I look at the ex-Monsanto execs in Obama's administration, the strong-arming of European farmers and distributors by US diplomats supporting Monsanto, Monsanto's slow but steady genetic modification of our food supply and I tend to believe everything bad that's printed about Monsanto.
How long will it be until we find out that Round-up resistant weeds are attacking innocent bystanders?
Please see The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved about genetic drift in heirloom canola plants exposed in the wild to Roundup Ready™ varieties. The stuff is unquestionably dangerous. We may one day depend on seed banks to restore heirloom varieties, just as France once depended on California to restore its own destroyed wine grapes.
Lovely. At least Norway is storing all the known plant seeds for after the man-made zombie holocaust...
I want to move to Norway. I read this morning that they tie with Finland for the best score on Reporters Without Borders' global press freedom index. The U.S., between 2010 and 2011, fell from a score (low is good) of 20 to a score of 47... below just about every other Western industrialized democracy. I have liked the Norwegians I've met; they did not deserve their reputation as a dour lot. If only it weren't so cold there...
I miss being the good guys... Will Norway take us?
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