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

Grain Mills

Submitted by Doug Haning (not verified) on January 16, 2012 - 9:46am.

You are making sweeping generalizations about grain mills. I visited Bob's Red Mill a month ago. Everything is kept separate and they are doing well. I even saw Bob. He appeared to be happy with an untroubled conscious. I also have several corn products from Sam Mills. The packages clearly state "100% Natural Ingredients" and "GMO Free". No claim to be organic. The claims they do make are certified by the University of Surrey in England.

non GMO grain mills

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 9:11am.

We shop for all our bulk flours & grains at Bobs Red Mill too. He is a lovely man, with a trustworthy demeanor, who I've had my picture taken with. The pre-baked bread we buy is usually Killer Daves, from the Bakery right across the street from Bob's outlet. Their family has been baking whole grain organic bread since the 1950s & we've taken the factory tour. We shop at New Seasons & farmer's markets, never at WF!

Who is this exposing - Whole Foods or Ronnie Cummins?

Submitted by Grace Gershuny (not verified) on January 12, 2012 - 11:17am.

PR Watch's tag line of "reporting on spin and disinformation since 1993" apparently doesn't apply to reports deemed to be from "our" side. Ronnie Cummins is the source of this story, and there are few commentators about the organic world who are more full of spin and disinformation (spoken as a target of that tactic). I can't dissect the story point by point (no time right now), and as usual there are grains of truth in it - but these attacks on "big organic" only work to the detriment of all organic producers and advocates, and bolster the assault waged by the real villains of the food system.

Organic Valley, GMOs, Ronnie Cummins

Submitted by Lynne Mayo (not verified) on January 15, 2012 - 7:22pm.

I have done more reading. Ronnie Cummins, in his article entitled, "What Now? The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto", dated January 28>30, 2011 says,

"..the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it’s time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack."

This what Organic Valley has to say:

"WE STAND UNITED IN OPPOSITION TO GE ALFALFA

"January 31, 2011
"We stand united in opposition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decision to once again allow unlimited, nationwide commercial planting of Monsanto's genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready alfalfa, despite the many risks to organic and conventional farmers."

Would someone please sort this out?

Also, Mr. Cummin’s article is dated a year ago. What has changed, if anything, since then?

Thanks again,

Lynne

GMO Whole Foods article by Ronnie Cummins

Submitted by Lynne Mayo (not verified) on January 15, 2012 - 7:05pm.

Dear Grace G: I was interested to read your opinion. However, to accuse Ronnie Cummins of "spin and disinformation" without providing evidence is akin to spreading spin and disinformation~~. You said "there was no time now" to fill in the details. I hope you find the time in the near future. Otherwise the responsible thing to do, it seems to me, is to wait to level the accusations when you do have time to provide evidence.

I went on to read the full article by Mr. Cummins, and found it researched and informative.

Thank you.

Lynne

huh?

Submitted by Samm Bennett (not verified) on January 12, 2012 - 9:28am.

I don't understand this article at all. Aside from the grammatical error, what does this actually mean:

"In exchange for dropping their opposition, WFM has asking for "compensation" to be paid to organic farmers for "any losses related to the contamination of his crop."

Huh? "Asking"? Asking Monsanto? Oh, yeah, I'm sure good ol' friendly Monsanto will be happy to pay out plenty of compensation, left and right, to all those organic farmers. Uh-huh. And I'm the Pope.

i dont get his either...

Submitted by dirty rooster studio (not verified) on January 17, 2012 - 5:19pm.

i have no clue to what this article means. there are several seperate subjects being reported and they are all jumbled into one bad story. i work for whole foods and we are laughing at this story at the moment. we just want to sell good food that is good for you. but most want to make this all political. just enjoy the good food that we offer. high prices or not. just be happy.

Yeah

Submitted by Whole Foods (not verified) on January 23, 2012 - 1:50pm.

Yeah just eat your GMOs from whole foods and be happy while we laugh at you.

What's not to understand?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 12, 2012 - 4:38pm.

What's not to understand? People tend to have short memory. Forget the grammatical error and focus on what really matters! OBAMA APPOINTS MONSANTO'S VICE PRESIDENT AS SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE COMMISSIONER AT THE FDA! What matters is you can kiss organic food good-bye!

That may be true, but...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 15, 2012 - 1:17am.

Is that Whole Food's fault?