The following originally appeared on Organicconsumers.org.
"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide
policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a
must." — Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011
In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE)
crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's
organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of
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.
In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers
last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and
"seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the
"conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered,
herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of
"conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues
are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and
energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant
genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to
organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and
destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and
guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more
deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa
across the U.S.
In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene
pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on
farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found
that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of
getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather
than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the
soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester
dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates
essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester
climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St.
Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers
"for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."
In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public
oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry,"
even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically
Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling;
and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government
"oversight" of Frankencrops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and
alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its
surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will
most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is
a must."
Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?
According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal
friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact
made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack
was hailed as "Governor of the Year" in 2001 by the Biotechnology
Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign
trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the
fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns
and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are
tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told
me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has
been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The
consolation prize they seek is a so-called "coexistence" between the
biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep
and greenwash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated
genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S.
(and 1/10 of global) crop land.
WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated
themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working
to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project, funded by Whole Foods
and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a greenwashing
effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be
operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically
free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic
production), while failing to focus on so-called "natural" foods,
which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated
with GMOs.
From their "business as usual" perspective, successful lawsuits
against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food
Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers
Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart,
Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers
that organic crops and foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but
surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto's GMOs.
Whole Food's Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called "Natural"
Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs
The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto,
Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they
desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and
crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM's $9
billion annual sales is derived from so-called "natural" processed
foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies
have tested their so-called "natural" products (no doubt WFM's lab
has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they're all
contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which
are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.
Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main
distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather
are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products
disguised as "natural."
Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI
and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called
"natural" food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational
food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the growth of the organic
movement.
Covering Up GMO Contamination: Perpetrating "Natural" Fraud
Many well-meaning consumers are confused about the difference between
conventional products marketed as "natural," and those
nutritionally/environmentally superior and climate-friendly products that are
"certified organic."
Retail stores like WFM and wholesale distributors like UNFI have failed to
educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and
certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the
processed "natural" foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or
else come from a "natural" supply chain where animals are force-fed
GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).
A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of
certain large formerly organic brands from certified organic ingredients and
products to so-called "natural" ingredients. With the exception of
the "grass-fed and grass-finished" meat sector, most
"natural" meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO
grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives,
in CAFOs.
Whole Foods and UNFI are maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural
products at premium organic prices. Organic consumers are increasingly left
without certified organic choices while genuine organic farmers and ranchers
continue to lose market share to "natural" imposters. It's no wonder
that less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while
well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and
"natural" purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all
grocery store sales.
The Solution: Truth-in-Labeling Will Enable Consumers to Drive So-Called
"Natural" GMO and CAFO-Tainted Foods Off the Market
There can be no such thing as "coexistence" with a reckless industry
that undermines public health, destroys biodiversity, damages the environment,
tortures and poisons animals, destabilizes the climate, and economically
devastates the world's 1.5 billion seed-saving small farmers. There is no
such thing as coexistence between GMOs and organics in the European Union. Why?
Because in the EU there are almost no GMO crops under cultivation, nor GM
consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And why is this? Because under
EU law, all foods containing GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled. Consumers
have the freedom to choose or not to choose GMOs; while farmers, food
processors, and retailers have (at least legally) the right to lace foods with
GMOs, as long as they are safety-tested and labeled. Of course the EU food
industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to purchase
or consume GE foods. European farmers and food companies, even junk food
purveyors like McDonald's and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept
expressed by a Monsanto executive when GMOs first came on the market: "If
you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull
and crossbones on it."
The biotech industry and Organic Inc. are supremely conscious of the fact that
North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and
suspicious of GMO foods. Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don't
want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by
out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont – the same
people who brought you toxic pesticides, Agent Orange, PCBs, and now global
warming. Industry leaders are acutely aware of the fact that every single
industry or government poll over the last 16 years has shown that 85-95% of
American consumers want mandatory labels on GMO foods. Why? So that we can
avoid buying them. GMO foods have absolutely no benefits for consumers or the
environment, only hazards. This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Bush,
Clinton, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO
truth-in-labeling laws from getting a public discussion in Congress.
Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently introduced a
bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety testing for GMOs,
don't hold your breath for Congress to take a stand for truth-in-labeling and
consumers' right to know what's in their food. Especially since the 2010
Supreme Court decision in the so-called "Citizens United" case gave
big corporations and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money
(and remain anonymous, as they do so) to buy media coverage and elections, our
chances of passing federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and
Food Inc. are all but non-existent. Perfectly dramatizing the "Revolving Door" between Monsanto and the
Federal Government, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, formerly chief
counsel for Monsanto, delivered one of the decisive votes in the Citizens
United case, in effect giving Monsanto and other biotech bullies the right to
buy the votes it needs in the U.S. Congress.
With big money controlling Congress and the media, we have little choice but to
shift our focus and go local. We've got to concentrate our forces where our
leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level; pressuring
retail food stores to voluntarily label their products; while on the
legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to pass mandatory GMO (and
CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, county, and state levels.
The Organic Consumers Association, joined by our consumer, farmer,
environmental, and labor allies, has just launched a nationwide Truth-in-Labeling
campaign to stop Monsanto and the Biotech Bullies from force-feeding
unlabeled GMOs to animals and humans.
Utilizing scientific data, legal precedent, and consumer power the OCA and our
local coalitions will educate and mobilize at the grassroots level to pressure
giant supermarket chains (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Supervalu, and
Publix) and natural food retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's to
voluntarily implement "truth-in-labeling" practices for GMOs and CAFO
products; while simultaneously organizing a critical mass to pass mandatory
local and state truth-in-labeling ordinances – similar to labeling laws already
in effect for country of origin, irradiated food, allergens, and carcinogens.
If local and state government bodies refuse to take action, wherever possible
we must attempt to gather sufficient petition signatures and place these
truth-in-labeling initiatives directly on the ballot in 2011 or 2012. If you're
interesting in helping organize or coordinate a Millions Against Monsanto and Factory
Farms Truth-in-Labeling campaign in your local community, sign up here.
To pressure Whole Foods Market and the nation's largest supermarket chains to
voluntarily adopt truth-in-labeling practices sign here, and circulate this
petition widely.
And please stay tuned to Organic Bytes for the latest developments in our
campaigns.
Power to the People! Not the Corporations!
Image by divemasterking2000, courtesy of Creative Commons license.
