What’s behind Whole Foods’ decision to label GMOs in their stores?
By Jon Rappoport
March 11, 2013
Whole Foods has announced that, by 2018, it will label all products in its stores that contain genetically-modified ingredients.
Mike Adams, at naturalnews.com, has written an excellent article covering this development. You should read it.
Whole Foods cites customers’ concerns as a major reason for its change in policy. One picture of the future: by overwhelming popular acclaim, non-GMO products at Whole Foods stores will squeeze out GMO products.
The other picture? At some point, customers will lose interest in the new labeling program and buy whatever they want to eat, regardless of whether it contains GMOs.
Monsanto views labeling as less than ideal, but far better than outright county-by-county bans on growing GMO crops. Several counties in California, for example, have already enacted such bans. That’s the real threat to the Monsanto crime empire.
Monsanto, with its very deep pockets, can sustain an endless propaganda campaign aimed at convincing consumers that GMO food is equivalent, in all ways, to non-GMO. So far, this PR blitz has won over most politicians, as well as a major sector of the technologically-educated class.
So what will happen, up the road, as Whole Foods customers move beyond their initial excitement at being able to tell whether they’re buying GMOs? Will they continue to care? Or will the labels evoke about as much interest as fat and carb content do now?
If Whole Foods’ buying public falls into apathy on the GMO issue, presumably the stores will continue to offer GMO products in profusion, because the cash registers keep ringing.
As Whole Foods bosses calculate their strategies, there is another obvious point that must be hammered home. Again. GMO food is nutritionally polluted, deficient, and, in the case of the Roundup Ready crops, drenched with far more toxic chemicals than would ordinarily be present.
Farmers across America, who have locked themselves into contracts with Monsanto, are now facing disaster, because superweeds that don’t fold up and die under assault from the Roundup herbicide are taking over their growing fields.
So the farmers are doing what are called burndowns. Not once, but several times a year, they’re saturating their land with chemicals stronger than Roundup, like Paraquat, which has been banned in 32 countries. The burndowns are undertaken to kill the march of the superweeds. This means more toxicity in the soil and in the food crops.
To present customers with the choice of buying GMO or non-GMO food in stores isn’t like making a distinction between red tomatoes and orange tomatoes. It’s not even an assertion that GMOs are unhealthy. It’s: “let the customer decide.”
By this logic, selling food containing, say, high levels of mercury, is acceptable because “people want it.”
The trouble, of course, begins with Monsanto and its government-agency allies, who insist, based on nothing, that GMOs are safe and non-toxic. From there, it appears that consumer choice is sane policy.
But it isn’t sane. That’s an illusion.
Yes, we can say that Whole Foods has made a step in the right direction, but that’s only true if its customers will really shun GMOs. And in the meantime, this “let the consumer decide” is a deception.
“Well, we’re in business to make money. We can’t just strip all GMO products off the shelves. We have to bow to the free market, to the customer.”
If that’s really Whole Foods’ position, then let them state it clearly. Don’t beat around the bush while you’re breaking your arm patting yourself on the back.
“Yes, like every other retailer in America, we’re selling bad products. We know they’re bad. They’re called GMOs. Nobody should be eating GMOs, but what the hell are we going to do?”
Of course, this kind of honesty would be a killer in the world of consumerism. It’s also one reason why GMO food has proliferated to this point. It’s a rare company that wants to step up to the plate and speak the unvarnished truth.
“Hey, we sell shit. Lots of it. But don’t blame us. You people want to buy it. You want it, we stock it. That’s the reality.”
Try this one on for size. Do you support the sale of ANYTHING, no matter WHAT it contains? Do you support poison in food, along with a major operation of concealment, so that the majority of the buying public isn’t informed that the poison is in their food? Is that okay? Is that LEGAL?
The answer to the last question is, of course, no. It’s not legal.
Unless corporate and government liars have been able to make it legal by passing the buck of responsibility and selling their souls to foist a clear criminal conspiracy on the citizenry. Which is exactly what happened.
Whole Foods, according to their statements, is betting on the consumer to dictate what the stores will sell. Underneath it all, Whole Foods seems to be saying, “We’re standing here watching you consumers, and we hope you make the right choice. Because a lot of that crap you’re buying now, in our stores, is no good for you. It’s bad. If you wake up and make your enlightened preferences known, we’ll follow and we’ll cheer your decision. But if not, we’ll keep selling you the food that’s bad for you and should be illegal.”
I don’t find myself applauding that position. I don’t find myself feeling warm inside about Whole Foods.
Again, yes, it’s better than nothing. But many things are better than nothing and yet don’t rise to the level of a peace prize, or a medal, or a misty response of heartfelt joy.
One of the two bonuses in THE MATRIX REVEALED is my complete 18-lesson course, LOGIC AND ANALYSIS. This is a new way to teach logic, the subject that has been missing from schools for decades.
For the next five years, as Whole Foods starts labeling GMO products in their stores, they should undertake a full-bore education campaign across America. They should book halls and have their execs stand up and say:
“You know that big sign we have posted on our stores? ‘Nothing artificial, ever?’ That’s bullshit. Listen, for a lot of years now, you the consumer and we the seller have been involved in a scam. It’s called GMO food. We want this to end. We also don’t want to go broke. Help us and help yourselves. Here’s the complete evidence that we’ve been selling, and you’ve been buying, food that is harmful to your health. You and we are in an embrace, in this very bad spiral. We have to get out of it.”
That would be a start, but the chances of it happening are on a par with a flea driving a Mercedes on the moon.
And it wouldn’t begin to address the fact that toxic GMO food shouldn’t, by any reasonable law, be sold at all.
You also might keep an eye on corporate mergers and acquisitions, just in case Whole Foods decides to sell itself to a larger (and more predatory) company. Anything could happen in the next five years.
Here are a few of the largest shareholders in Whole Foods. They’re investment funds: JP Morgan Large Cap Growth Select; Wells Fargo Advantage Growth Inv; Fidelity Growth Company; JNL/Mellon Cap Management; T Rowe Price Growth Stock. Given this array of stock owners, it might be easier to step out into the spotlight and promote GMO labeling than to say, “Look, we’re eliminating GMO products from our stores, they’ll all be gone in a few years, no matter what.”
And what will Whole Foods do if, as they gradually place GMO labels on their products, those products continue to sell about as well as they’re selling now with no labels? Will the company keep pushing its pure agenda, or will it simply acquiesce, and end up with a half-GMO and half-non-GMO inventory, to “accommodate all tastes?”
An analogous question, to put this all into perspective: should drug companies manufacture vaccines with half the vials containing the neurotoxin mercury and half without mercury, so people can choose?
Finally, as food prices escalate (seemingly every week), who are these theoretically enlightened customers who’ll ultimately determine Whole Foods’ GMO policy? Are they, on balance, tough-mindedly dedicated to better health and even activism, or are they are merely following and then abandoning trends: from the $1000 bicycle and the grasshopper helmet and shiny Spandex, to the raw cashew vegan non-dairy ice cream, to the quinoa and kale and chia salad, to the Google Glass, to the gluten-free baby stroller…
Are these the people into whose hands Whole Foods is dropping its destiny? Is this the cutting edge of the non-GMO movement?
Jon Rappoport
The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com
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To me, in this day and age labelling has become nothing more than cigarette packet warnings. “We warned you and you ate it anyway so no lawsuit, bitches”
hey jon it says safari couldn’t open the server when I try and visit your site.. Just today it started I think.. Just a heads up. I search it on yahoo then click a link leading me to the most recent blog but just typing it in my safari engine wont work..
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there was some DNS change for http://www.nomorefakenews.com/. Should be back up by 3/13/2013.
thanks.
Whole Foods is in the spotlight. Wonder why? Notice that the organizations going after Whole Foods support things like the Green Polkadot Box, which sells products from companies that support GMOs. What’s the difference? The difference is that they make money together. The only reason Whole Foods was singled out was because they are an outsider. Not a part of the “in” crowd, IMO. The pot calling the kettle black, but the pot will go on business as usual, while Whole Foods takes the heat, but then again, maybe that is the marketing plan.
Coexistence with GMOs is not possible. The problem is, not many will bite the bullet and call for a complete ban on GMOs. There is terrific infighting between supposed non-GMO activists, which I believe might just be a publicity stunt as well. All of the major players sell, sell, sell. If you notice, the Institute for Responsible Technology has a non-GMO shopping guide site. On that site, it clearly lists Silk as a sponsor. Silk is owned by a company that is against GMO labeling and Mike Adams called for a boycott of Silk. It’s all a big game, IMO, with us paying the price. These organizations do good, but no matter how much good you do, if you are sponsored by the bad guys, then at some point in time, you sell out. Here is a link. Look for yourself: http://nongmoshoppingguide.com/
[…] Jon Rappoport March 11 2013 […]
“In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit. …When loyalty to an unyielding purpose is dropped by the virtuous, it’s picked up by scoundrels — and you get the indecent spectacle of a cringing, bargaining, traitorous good and a self-righteous uncompromising evil.” – Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
WTFoods, will just be a proxy vehicle for people. They will get a large subsidy by the big boys to sell their gmo food for a fraction of the price, that way, what will happen is people will see on full display the 2 price differentials. Also, by being in a store that is (real or imagined) health conscious, people will say ‘well WF has GMO there so it can’t be that bad can it’
This also give washington a lot of time to twist things so bad in law that organic food would be paying all kinds of taxes and licensing fees to shoot up the price, then of course the media will run all the ‘local news stories’ of undercover guys running around finding farms that are not organic but selling as such to take advantage of people. Then people will just give up… because the key factor ‘trust’ is gone. Fear of chemicals etc. and health damage… people don’t care… as long as the game is on, they got some beer, smokes and painkillers or god knows what else.
What should be happening is organic farmers should be fighting for equal subsidy of the subsidies of the big boys and going to court for that. I don’t like court but that would be a way to go. The other way is to shift the burden to the GMO’s boys to prove their products are safe, rather than forcing defendants to prove they are dangerous. This can be done pretty easily, with the right technique but you will not win this in court, you will have to do it administratively, like we are doing for smart meters, using the real law, not the law they would make believe is real… you can see that at my site google bc freedom document to help prevent smart meter installs and you will get an idea of what i’m talking about…… BTW thanks jon, you are awesome!!!!
It’s tempting to “take them to court” but after 20 years in courtrooms plus 5 more years of real research, I promise that the courts are corrupt.
So many many people choose to eat poison. They know what it is, and they still eat it.
The courts, even if not corrupt, cannot change the consciousness of people that give their children gmo-poison or eat it themselves.
These courts cannot change the farmers who grow this shyte.
But we, as knowing individuals, can change what we do.
NO GMO.
And, no supporting those who support GMO.
Boycott grocery stores. Eat simple, buy direct from farmers that don, ‘t feed GMO. It’s not easy but is possible.
Rastafari
“At some point, customers will lose interest in the new labeling program and buy whatever they want to eat, regardless of whether it contains GMOs”
Why in the world would customers who ,today are very aware of what they are putting into their bodies, one day not care what they are putting in their bodies? I don’t get it. It seems the whole point of this article is based on the ridicules notion that those who are most concerned with what they are eating will one day in the future “lose interest” in knowing what they are eating? Huh?
Did I miss something?
Who really thinks we have 5 years left in this White Western Matrix?
2018? wow whole paycheck way to go. look it is a landed gentry crowd who can afford to shop at whole foods, so what they do will have minimal impact on overall sales of gmo foods, and the public’s access to them. i managed a small health food store back before whole foods even existed. most of those companies whose products we carried have been sold to coke or kraft or some other conglomerate. money always wins no matter the arena, and with airborne movement of gmo seeds it will not be long before organic has very little meaning. the game is over and whole foods will do what the investment capital tells it to do. they are not good guys in all this, they are wise capitalists. what did you expect, food purity for your money?
There is also the issue of undisclosed ingredients. Even organic products one would assume would not have undisclosed ingredients, sometimes do. I bought an apple oatmeal from Nature’s Path and when I realized it tasted odd I wrote the company and asked if there were any undisclosed ingredients, to which they replied (their) ‘supplier uses a proprietary recipe’.
That is doublespeak for bs and putting crap in your food, while you pay for organic and the assumption it’s an honest product. And of course I told them this and assured them I would never buy any of their products again.
Same thing with ‘proprietary’ labeling in supplements, that hides the amounts. The other ripoff is vitamin makers using gmos, and stearates which block absorption. I’m an old pro in this area, the health industry has been usurped by scammers. And the sheeps just buy, assuming they no longer have to think, just because the store has a brand name.
Meanwhile these stores are stocking more and more product from the big evil – odwalla and evolution are owned by who? is it coke or some other big corp I can’t remember. Dumb people who buy without asking questions are making it hard for the rest of us.Buy from small companies, not front companies that are really big biz. Buy organic only.
Think, the FDA just made it legal to put Aspartame in milk, with NO labeling.
For people who Think, email companies, be clear, ask if there are undisclosed ingredients, or gmos if it doesn’t say organic.
As for whole foods and other so called health stores, I believe their gmo games are to distract from the even bigger situation, if you catch my drift. Seriously, 2018. lol.
You’re a good human Jon, know that I do my part, It’s a group effort or failure. Thanks.
Jon – Great site! I tried to post this on Facebook via your share link and Facebook blocked it, saying it was dangerous or unsafe. I filed a complaint with them and am awaiting a response.
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Thanks. Yes, see …
http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/update-a-perspective-on-facebook-shutting-down-my-links/
Isn’t it true that some time in ancient history man created government for one purpose only, to protect individual rights. Shouldn’t they protect each of us from predatory corporations, ie corpses with no soul? If they are protecting our enemies then they gotta go, and soon or we’ll be done. GMO’s are an extinction level event.
I have been organic, since I was 13 years old and now 56. Never had any fast food and only eaten high quality foods. I know my stuff. Well, I find this has gotten corrupt just like everything, that is worth something in life. I find it easiler than most to rummage through all this mess than the people just finding health food. I believe I am right in saying that at least for now the things they have not GMO’ ed are the expensive healthier things, but give them time they will find a way to do so. LOL
An example would be Goji Berries……….
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