If Whole Foods is going to start labeling things, then how about also labeling the organic and homeopathic junk it sells?
For organics maybe something like: “CONTENTS NOT HEALTHIER FOR YOU OR SAFER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT THAN CONVENTIONAL FOODS.”
For homeopathics, maybe something like: “CONTENTS INCLUDE SUBSTANCES NOT KNOW TO DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN CONVINCE YOU TO PART WITH YOUR MONEY.”
While what you are pointing out is correct, it only applies to a limited number of foods, since what is on the market across the country is predominantly not modified. Mostly what is being referred to as geneticall modified, are corn, soy,and canola. The company mentioned, Kashi, uses a great deal of soy in their grain products. To imply that the entire industry is corrupt is an overgeneralization at the least. Of course, like any business, they are going to try to do what is in their own financial ‘best interest’ , as with Whole Foods. However, if we are going to claim to be really interested in REAL science, and not junk science, then we need to give more careful attention to what is really happening in the organics industry, rather than blowing it off because we see a few weirdos in the pack. Well, maybe more than a few, but that is not the real point. There are many, many people who have indeed improved their health in the use of organic, or even just naturally produced foods. We can’t just sit back and ridicule things we have no actual knowledge of. Nobody really even knows the long term effects of tinkering with genetic structures. If the living things of our world have been as they are for this long and done very well, what makes us think that we can actually do it better? We are only at the very beginning of understanding how the genetic code even works, let alone how to truly improve on what has worked so well since the dawn of life.
Sorry, the article link to the quotes didn’t come through. “Time to fess up: organics have GMOs:” http://www.producer.com/2013/02/time-to-fess-up-organics-have-gmos/
This is marketing and dishonest marketing at that. WF is promoting scares about GMOs, while seemingly offering a safer alternative. In truth, WF is simply using another scare to take advantage of the lack of knowledge of their customer base to convince them to pay more for foods labeled as “organic” or with the “Non-GMO Project Verified” seal.
But WF is blatantly lying to customers. It claims, for instance, that organic foods don’t contain GMOs, when it’s well known in the natural and organic food industry that tests have shown organic and all-natural products contain GMOs and that even products certified “GMO-free” test positive. A report by the Cornucopia Institute, for example, found that many of the so-called natural cereals contained up to 100% GMO ingredients (such as Kashi brand). As the organic program manager with Nature’s Path (who also serves on the Board of Directors of the Non-GMO Project) told leaders of North America’s organic movement at last month’s Guelph Organic Conference, the organic industry has to have an honest conversation with the public about GMOs and that they contain GMOs. The only way to avoid GMOs is to stop eating most everything. He said: “It doesn’t matter how philosophically pure you want to be, it isn’t going to happen….There is no such thing as zero percent of anything. As well, most organic farmers don’t test their seed for GMO before planting, despite the reality that certified organic seed probably contains traces of GMOs…. no one knows the level of contamination in organic crops because testing for GMOs after harvest isn’t a requirement for organic certification.” At the conference, he said customer surveys show that most people believe organic foods don’t contain GMOs and would stop buying the more expensive organic products if they knew they contained GMOs. But, he said “the organic industry must come clean with consumers before it’s too late.”
WF supports the Non-GMO Project, which is a third party label marketing scheme (like those eco-labels to steer consumers to politically correct seafood). It was created by a contingency of organic companies, with the Board of Directors and its Standards Committee made up of executives from organic companies (along with a food activist Executive Director). So, not surprising, the products it verifies happens to include the same organic brands and WF store brand — even including those that actually tested positive for GMOs by outside institutes (such as Kashi).