Whole Foods Market Caves to Monsanto

by PRW Staff — January 28, 2011 - 4:09pm
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WholeFoodsMarketAfter 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.  (A typographical error in the second sentence of this story was subsequently corrected.  We regret this minor error.)

Main Source: 
CounterPunch, January 28, 2011

Comments

genetic engineering is inherent in agriculture itself

Submitted by chris lennox (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 9:08pm.

The nature of the civilization project was clear from the beginning. As the swiftly arriving product of agriculture, the intensification of domination has been steady and sure. It’s telling that humans’ first monuments coincide with the first signs of domestication (R. Bradley in Mither, 1998). The sad linearity of civilization’s destruction of the natural world has been interrupted only by symptoms of self-destruction in the social sphere, in the form of wars. And when we recall with B.D. Smith (1995) that domestication is “the creation of a new form of plant and animal,” it becomes obvious that genetic engineering and cloning are anything but strange aberrations from the norm. - John Zerzan

GM Oh No!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 27, 2012 - 3:07am.

Yeah. It's the norm for fish genetic code to be mixed in with plant code. Happens all the time in nature. Fish and plants have sex, and the plant gives birth to a litter that has both fish and plant code. Some of the offspring go swim in the sea and rivers, and the other brothers and sisters grow to be corn. Perfectly natural. :/

Genetic engineering is NOT the same as Hybridization!

Submitted by Joe Boylan (not verified) on January 24, 2012 - 6:18am.

Sorry Chris Lennox, but your understanding of genetic engineering is way off mark here. GM is an attempt to mess up (and I mean 'mess-up') the genes on the chromosomes present in every cell of an organism by interfering with with them using artificial and very chancy methods. Here is an analogy of the work of a genetic engineer: Imagine a large tree with a thousand sparrows singing in it. You have a blunderbuss or scatter-gun as it is called in the States. Your job is to fire that gun into the tree and try to hit every sparrow you can - in the eye - with each piece of lead shot in the charge from that gun. Well can you imagine the probabilities? Now that is only the tip of the iceberg. The odds for the genetic engineer are far higher because the genes we are talking about are in the millions in each cell, whilst the available 'shot' is minute. It is no wonder that the biggest product of GM interference is surprise.
Nature's way of producing a sub species (called Hybridization)is to 'allow' possibly compatible gene pairing. But nature is pretty resilient and if a pairing is unsuccessful then the product simply dies. Totally different from Genetic Engineering.

Genetic Engineering

Submitted by rob seven (not verified) on January 26, 2012 - 1:10pm.

I think the above quote may be mis-labeled......if it said genetic engineering is inherent in humanity(not agriculture), i could see a point.....we love to screw with things, and our intellect far exceeds our intuitive intelligence, or wisdom, hence we tend to embark on things like nuclear power, genetic engineering, etc, without proper foresight into the costs and outcomes......of course greed, coupled with this tendancy, makes it 1,000 times worse ... and yes, there are still far too many people who confuse genetic engineering with hybridization and other more organic forms of enhanced natural selection..... we are learning, faster than ever, thanks to this innernet thing, and there are signs our intuitive/wisdom capabilities are rising to meet the need....an interesting time to live, for sure.....

whole foods market caves to monsanto

Submitted by Terri Robson (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 2:46pm.

Everyone who is concerned about this onslaught of GMO into our lives without any proof of it's being a better product and will feed the world should look up this site.

www.responsibletechnology.org

This is not a clear picture of the issue.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 15, 2012 - 1:28am.

You are expressing opinion as fact here - much like Fox News.
Now, I am not a big fan of Whole Food or UNFI, but please get your facts straight. Yes, it is true that Whole Foods and UNFI carry products that are not organic. Just about any corn, soy or canola that is not organic is going to be GMO. The people who run the grain mills cannot afford to keep the GMO Grain and non-GMO grain separate and to verify/certify that they are kept separate. And the industrial food producers do not care anyway, so they don't demand it. The only way we can get them to care is to demand labeling of GE/GMO food. Then they will have to deal with keeping it separate, which will be costly to the grain mills, and likely increase our cost. Here is an article that clearly explains the situation, without taking sides:
http://www.fitnessgoop.com/2011/02/the-gmo-battle-does-whole-foods-support-monsanto%E2%80%99s-genetically-engineered-alfalfa/

WholeFoods etc.

Submitted by nutritionaldoc (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 4:29pm.

It is difficult to take you seriously when in the end of your commentary you state..."without taking sides" That was actually amusing as in your opening statement you state..."like Fox News"
Media Matters, Huffington Post and every left swinging outlet regularly provides their biased opinion.

The Problem is not that Whole

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 2:28pm.

The Problem is not that Whole Foods caved in Again! It is simply that our Corporate Run Government still supports GMO at all! Round-Up children need more pharmaceuticals, they will grow better into programmable factory workers (Opps no factories left here in the US) and this is just a small little fractal bit of this back wards system!
Blessings! Love! and Light! to us all! Welcome the New Energies of LOVE in 2012!!!

Whole Foods

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 20, 2012 - 9:51am.

This isn't the first time WF has caved on this issue. I love your excuse but it's not valid for me. This is more reason for me to boycott WF. Thanks for the info.

GMOs

Submitted by Chris Kovacs (not verified) on January 16, 2012 - 11:50pm.

Thanks