Whole Foods Market Caves to Monsanto

Submitted by PRWatch Editors on

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
Topics: 
Agriculture
Food Safety
Environment

Comments

Anonymous replied on

It not the same! Did you read the ingriedients?!
You can't compare prices of two completely different products
That aren't even close to the same quality!

Elisa replied on

It is really sad that our country is more concerned with politics and who supports who, than being concerned about our neccessities (daily needs- sustinence, clothing, shelter and health) Instead of large interest groups spending millions of dollars on their interest, pay down the debt of the government!

Anonymous replied on

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

Anonymous replied on

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.

soilman2000 replied on

lol...you people crack me up...GMO products have never been proven to harm anyone! It has been proven that non GMO products have!

Anonymous replied on

Other than bullying and buying off farms and farmers, what's important to remember here is that Monsanto genetically modifies their seeds so their pesticide "RoundUp" is effective. It is not effective on non-GMO seeds and other pesticides do not work on the Monsanto seeds. When a crop gets contaminated, they have no choice but to use Monsanto's RoundUp. It becomes a nasty catch 22 that leaves farmers in a bind making decisions they don't necessarily approve of, but really have no choice if they want to continue farming.

And, about those GMO'd foods...doesn't it give you the creeps that conventional tomatoes are genetically modified to include scorpion DNA? This was done to make the fruit more shelf stable and resilient to bugs and bruising during shipping and while on the grocery floor. It's true, what a blessing to have our produce last longer, less wasted money and product. A Sta-Fresh tomato that doesn't rot 3-4 weeks after harvest, however, is a bit unnerving. If you argue that GMO'd foods don't have an effect on us humans and our planet, there are countless ways to counter that opinion. The least of which is hydrogenated oils! Remember when Crisco was every bakers dream? It's not GMO'd (or is it??) but we all know now how awful it is for our bodies, arteries and hearts. It takes about 50 years for researchers to have those results. Hopefully, with the rapid advancement of technology, we'll come to these conclusions faster.

Hip Hip Hooray for the bullying Monsanto Monster? No way.
How do you feel about Soylent Green? It's not too far fetched...

Anonymous replied on

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.

Anonymous replied on

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.

Anonymous replied on

You people have no clue what you're talking about. The point is don't buy conventional food items if consuming GMO products bother you, buy organic. Monsanto can't touch the organic market. The more people buy organic, the more companies realize that carrying conventional products generated by Monsanto isnt profitable thus forcing it out. Growing organics is expensive, you have to pay the labor for workers to actually harvest the food as opposed to spraying it with chemicals that are cheaper but harmful to the crop and the people who consume them. The only way to run a business is to have the consumer pay for what the distributor makes the business pay.

The way whole foods buys is paying extra for the "top of the barrel" products. The further down the barrel you go, the cheaper the product is because the quality of the crop gets lower at the bottom. Because whole foods pays that premium price for premium goods, the consumer then pays that price. Not to mention, unlike Walmart, whole foods doesn't sell toys and clothes and electronics made by paying foreign workers for pennies on the dollar to produce them leaving them plenty of room to take the hit for low prices on products also sold at whole foods. For those companies, it's about image.

The problem with this country is everyone wants something but doesn't want to pay for it. Whole foods hasn't sold out but there a business, in order to stay open and pay there employees they have to remain profitable. Therefore, it's up to the consumer to decide what they want to buy. Whole foods has never made claims that they were all organic. But there are plenty of organics to buy. So buy them and show the market that's what you want. Or go to krogers or Walmart where the employees aren't trained on how to handle organic foods and save a few pennies. Fucking cheap asses... I bet you all have pretty cars and smart phones too. A great way to stick it to the man. Hippocrates.

Anonymous replied on

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-

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