Sell-out?

OK, I'm not sure about this, but I'm giving you a heads up.

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The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now? By Ronnie Cummins Organic Consumers Association, Jan 27, 2011 Straight to the Source

"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." .... (cont)

Reply to
Billy
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A sell out? More than likely, blackmailed. Threatened with financial destruction by the mega Corp.

Reply to
Nad R

The Seed Saver's Exchange is sounding more and more like Fahrenheit 451. (I am garlic, rutabaga, a few beans, a little kale...)

Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/4 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

Reply to
Gary Woods

what aren't you sure of?

...

they are no longer the organic elite. i'd say this sort of message means they've stepped down (he should resign immediately IMO).

and "sell out" is mild, i'd put it in much stronger terms.

if i shopped there i would boycott. and they wonder why citizens don't trust corporations or the goverment to do the right thing? or why they don't vote...

as a gardener who would like to grow non-GMO items, i think it will mean i'll have to continually source seeds from a different planet for: corn, soybeans, sugar beets and now alfalfa. those bunnies better not start glowing in the dark and getting bigger... got enough of them as it is.

the trouble is. i can't easily replant an alfalfa field to remove GMO contamination. it takes several years to get a good perennial established and those roots go down deep!

this is utterly horrible.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

Does seem a relationship exists to 451. Scary. Got me thinking about changing my "real name" to "Marglobe". Weather here the last month lucky to get above 35 F. for the high. 30 right now.

Reply to
Bill who putters

The Organic Consumers Association. When I've looked at their problem with non-organic sausage casings, or non-organic hops in beer, my impression was that they were being hysterical about small things. I wrote to both businesses, who freely admitted to the charges. Apparently, organic replacements weren't available, and they made no effort to hid this fact.

My feeling was that they were simply grabbing stories from the news, pasting them in their web site, and then asking for money to support their work.

Simply put, I have little faith in the Organic Consumers Association.

Reply to
Billy

Sounds like sledding must be good ;O)

Reply to
Billy

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