"The
reality is that no grocery store in the United States, no matter
what size or type of business, can claim they are GE-free. While
we have been and will continue to be staunch supporters of
non-GE foods, we are not going to mislead our customers with an
inaccurate claim... We have advocated for mandatory labeling of
GE foods since 1992..."
--- Whole Foods Market Internal Company
Memo 1/30/2011
"Whole Foods claim they support mandatory
labeling of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Well, where
are the labels on the vast array of non-organic foods in their
stores that contain genetically engineered soybeans, corn,
canola, cottonseed oil, or sugar beets? Where are the labels on
their so-called "natural" meat, eggs, or dairy products, reared
on GMO grains and animal drugs?"
--- Protester in front of a San Francisco
Whole Foods Market, April 11, 2011
After two decades of biotech bullying by Monsanto and Food Inc.,
a grassroots movement of organic consumers and farmers is rising
up across the United States. Inspired by the success of their
European counterparts in driving genetically engineered crops
and foods off the market, not through an EU ban, but through
mandatory labeling, several thousand protesters took to the
streets on March 26, 2011 in 30 different cities, under the
banner of "Rally for the Right to Know," and "Millions
Against Monsanto."
At the same time, anti-GMO activists have stepped up the pace of
grassroots lobbying, successfully pressuring state legislators
in at least 14 states to
introduce bills calling for mandatory labeling of
genetically engineered foods.
Reflecting widespread public concern over the
health and environmental hazards of GMOs,
recent polls by National Public Radio and MSNBC have found
that more than 90% of Americans support mandatory labeling.
Mandatory labeling of GMOs, of course, is bitterly opposed by
Monsanto and the supermarket lobby, who understand, as a
Monsanto executive admitted,
"If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as
well put a
skull and crossbones on it."
Angered by the Obama administration's recent controversial
approvals of GMO alfalfa, salmon, sugar beets, and corn, and the
compromise or surrender of organic industry leaders, including
Whole Foods, in agreeing to accept the "co-existence," of GMO
and organic crops and foods, organic consumers across the U.S.
have decided to take matters into their own hands.
Spearheaded by the industry watchdog group, the Organic
Consumers Association, and powerful alternative health consumer
networks such as NaturalNews.com and Mercola.com, millions of
health and environmental-minded consumers are starting to demand
that the $60 billion "natural" products industry take GMO
products off their shelves, or at least clearly label them, so
that consumers can seek certified organic and other GMO-free
alternatives.
In an interview at the Green Festival in San Francisco on April
9, Alexis Baden-Mayer, OCA Campaign Director, explained the
strategy behind the Millions Against Monsanto Truth-in-Labeling
Campaign.
"Over 90% of Americans want GE-tainted foods
labeled. Why? So that we can avoid buying these foods. This is
a major reason why millions of us are buying certified organic
products, which preclude the use of GE ingredients, as well as
toxic chemicals and animal drugs. Since the politicians in
Washington apparently prefer to listen to Monsanto rather than
their constituents, we need to put our efforts where we
currently have the most power, in our local communities,
especially at the retail grocery store level, where 50 million
of us are regularly buying certified organic and so-called
'natural' foods.
"What most green consumers don't understand yet, is that most of
the so-called "natural" processed foods and animal products
(which make up 2/3 of the sales of Whole Foods Market) that we
are still buying are GMO-contaminated. Either they contain GMO
ingredients like soy, corn, canola, cottonseed oil or sugar beet
sweetener, or else the animals have been force-fed fed a steady
diet of GMO grains and drugs.
"We need to clean up our act and walk our talk in the green and
natural products sector. We need to tell natural food giants
like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's that you can't claim to support
GMO labeling, and then proceed to sell billions of dollars of
unlabeled GMO food in your stores, greenwashed as 'natural.'
We're protesting this week in front of Whole Foods Market and
Trader Joe's to make our views on GMOs absolutely clear. Like
our banners say: 'GMOs: Don't buy them! Don't sell them! Don't
grow them!' Once we drive GMOs out of our organic and natural
food stores, or at least force retailers to label them, we will
then be able to turn our attention to conventional supermarkets
and do the same thing."
"But this means we've got to build a mass movement of Millions
Against Monsanto. By World Food Day, October 16, we plan to
mobilize a powerful and unprecedented coalition that can
pressure, and if necessary boycott, industry leaders such as
Whole Foods and Trader Joe's..."
Across the U.S. and the world, people are fed up. Moving beyond
ineffectual compromise and co-existence with a greenwashed
business-as-usual and politics-as-usual, more and more of us are
drawing lines in the sand. Nuclear power, genetic engineering,
dirty coal and other out-of-control technologies have revealed
themselves for what they really are: deadly threats to our
survival. Monsanto has deservedly become one of the most hated
corporations on earth. It's time to drive their evil products
out of the marketplace, starting with the green or natural
products sector, utilizing the most powerful tools at our
disposal, public education, agitation, and Truth-in-Labeling.
Get up. Stand up for your rights. Join the Millions Against
Monsanto Campaign.
http://www.MillionsAgainstMonsanto.org
Organic Consumers Association
- 6771 South Silver Hill Drive, Finland MN 55603 To subscribe or visit go
to:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/