Whole Foods Market Caves to Monsanto

by PRW Staff — January 28, 2011 - 3:09pm
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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

Except real salmon will eventually just be extinct.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 12, 2012 - 1:39am.

GMO crops may not have "hurt anyone" directly but it has definitely hurt the eco-system... which hurts everyone. I wish corporations like Monsanto had never played God, it has opened a serious can of worms.

so far with all the farm

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

so far with all the farm animals I have ...it has not been my experience that it is more labor intensive to feed organic feed than non organic feed....there is not more labor administering holistic products than chemical products....However, the cost of organic feed is even more off the charts out here in Hawaii than the already Totally Off the Chart cost of feed for animals and people alike. One way for us all to "take care" is to find a way to grow our own...just like my/some of your grandparents and parents did. It is super frustrating...and yea I have put off that garden, right now we grow bananas and guava's....I've got my seeds...just got to get going and start planting....in the past my friends/neighbors....we share our fruits, vegis, eggs...we trade n barter :-) it is good stuff and we know it is fresh and where it comes from :-)

What does the ancient Greek

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 11, 2012 - 11:21am.

What does the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates has to do with this?

Do you mean hypocrites?

THE GAME COULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT THE PLAYER

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 11, 2012 - 10:41am.

This original quote is ridiculous. Made by those who want to slide for being complicitous in a toxic system that they know is wrong. NO GAME COULD EXIST WITHOUT THE PLAYER. Anyway, whole foods has always had the eye on profit, not community, or they would not be so expensive. It is no surprise to me that the did indeed sell out.

What did Hippocrates do to

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 11, 2012 - 8:56am.

What did Hippocrates do to you?

Disagreed

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 10, 2012 - 10:22pm.

DISAGREED. By not opposing, they are as good as agreeing. Not acceptable. That's all Monsanto needs - a faction of the population who turns a blind eye and a deaf ear, and they have a toe-hold. Demanding non-GMO foods is not enough - we must demand and end to Monsanto's monopoly-

Whole Foods is not selling out...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 10, 2012 - 2:10pm.

Whole Foods has made it very clear that they do not support the USDA’s choice to allow for the introduction for Genetically Engineered alfalfa. However, they were forced to make a decision between total deregulation of Genetically Engineered produce or deregulation with some conditions to facilitate coexistence and protection of non-GE farmers. Read more about it here:
http://www.fitnessgoop.com/2011/02/the-gmo-battle-does-whole-foods-support-monsanto%E2%80%99s-genetically-engineered-alfalfa/
Also, I don't think it should be the resposibilty of a store but the people who should be fighting such monster.

This is a very good point.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 10, 2012 - 6:03pm.

This is a very good point. I'd only take issue with the last sentence. Might be a nice principle, but the system is set up in a way where monied institutions are almost exclusively able to engage government in any meaningful way. Policies enacted by major retail stores, not to mention actions taken by nationwide lobbies, will clearly have more of an effect than everyone writing to their congressmen about it. Good luck trying to organize a boycott around such a technical issue.

Looks like the time to self-

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 10, 2012 - 12:36pm.

Looks like the time to self- sustain has finally made it here :D Let's create a community garden this summer!

Hope we can find seeds...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 10, 2012 - 8:10pm.

IF we can find any non-GMO seeds this year. F---ing Mons@nto has been buying up organic seed companies right and left.

I used to think I didn't believe in the devil... now I think the MonS@nto is the devil.