(NaturalNews) The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) is scheming to criminalize state-by-state GMO labeling laws in a deviously evil effort to keep consumers ignorant of what they’re eating. Remember, the GMA is the same organization that got caught running an illegal money laundering scheme in Washington state, secretly funneling money from big food manufacturers into a campaign to defeat GMO labeling initiative I-522.
Now the GMA is pushing legislation at the federal level to not only outlaw GMO labeling laws at the state level, but also to get the FDA to declare GMOs as “natural” so that foods made with GMOs can claim “all natural” on their labels. A petition filed with the FDA by the GMA states, “GMA will be filing a Citizen Petition early in 2014 that asks the FDA to issue a regulation authorizing foods containing ingredients derived from biotechnology to be labeled ‘natural.'” (SOURCE)
“Monsanto and giant food companies are scheming behind the scenes to introduce a bill in Congress that would kill mandatory state GMO labeling efforts and replace it with a gutted version of a bill to preempt states’ rights and give the illusion of serious regulation,” reports Food Democracy Now, which also calls the plan “devious” in nature.
How evil can they get?
With these anti-transparency, anti-consumer, anti-American actions, the GMA now firmly puts itself in the same evil camp as Monsanto itself. Because the right to know what we are eating is a fundamental human right, the GMA’s actions clearly define it as an anti-human rights group. In the history of human rights violations, we’ve seen a long list of evil efforts to silence certain groups of people and keep them ignorant: Women were denied the right to vote, slaves were denied the right to “personhood,” and in the Holocaust, Jews were denied the right to life itself. Now the GMA joins that haunting history of human rights violators by insidious working to deny all people the right to know what they are eating.
The GMA solely represents the profit interests of dishonest, deceptive food manufacturers who sell toxic poisons, not the interests of food consumers, and it has a long established history of using deceptive tactics to make sure its members can continue to hide their toxic poisons in their food products.
The GMA is, in essence, a “pro-poison” industry group that wants consumers to unknowingly eat more poisons in their food. The GMA should not merely be ashamed of itself; it should be publicly exposed as an evil food industry group whose actions, if successful, may result in hundreds of millions of Americans being harmed by unknowingly eating unlabeled poisons in their food.
Your help is needed to stop this group from achieving its truly evil aims in Washington. Here’s what you can do to help:
Tweet this story, Facebook it, email it, share in whatever way you can. The GMA needs to be halted by a barrage of active consumers who rise up and shout, “ENOUGH! We demand to know whether the products we buy contain GMOs!”
After all, the right to know what we eat is a fundamental human right. Don’t let the anti-human rights “GMA” group keep you in the dark over what you’re eating. We must not let evil prevail in this fight for food transparency!
BTW, Natural News Labs is the only organization in the world now testing and openly publishing heavy metals test results for foods made by the members of the GMA. To see those results right now, visit: http://labs.naturalnews.com
Mayor Billy Kenoi signed Bill 113 on December 5, 2013. Below is the message he sent to the Hawai’i County Council:
Aloha, Chair Yoshimoto and Members:
On Nov. 19, 2013 the Hawai’i County Council adopted Bill 113 Draft 3 adding a new article relating to Genetically Engineered Crops and Plants, and on Nov. 21, 2013 delivered the bill to me for my consideration. After careful deliberation and discussions with members of my administration and the public, I am signing Bill 113.
Our community has a deep connection and respect for our land, and we all understand we must protect our island and preserve our precious natural resources. We are determined to do what is right for the land because this place is unlike any other in the world. With this new ordinance we are conveying that instead of global agribusiness corporations, we want to encourage and support community-based farming and ranching.
The debate over this bill has at times been divisive and hurtful, and some of our hard-working farmers who produce food for our community have been treated disrespectfully. We are determined to protect every farmer and rancher. Agriculture on Hawai’i Island will continue to grow with county assistance, investment and support. That commitment includes initiatives such as the public-private partnership to improve and expand the Pa’auilo Slaughterhouse to support our grass-fed beef industry, and the launch of the Kapulena Agricultural Park, the largest agricultural park in the state on 1,739 acres of county-owned land. It also includes support for innovative training programs to grow the farmers of the future, and to train veterans to engage in agriculture on Hawaiian Home Lands, and the introduction and advancement of Korean Natural Farming as a sustainable method of producing healthier crops and livestock. It includes completion of the first-in-the-state Food Self-Sufficiency Baseline Study of Hawai’i Island to measure the island’s progress toward food self-sufficiency.
We are determined to reunite our farming community to create a stronger and more vibrant agricultural sector. It is time to end the angry rhetoric and reach out to our neighbors. Our farmers are essential to creating a wholesome and sustainable food supply on this island, and they deserve to be treated with respect and aloha. We must turn now to a meaningful, factual dialogue with one another.
With my approval of this bill, our administration will launch a year of research and data collection to investigate factual claims and to seek out new directions that farming in our community should take. This work will include an expanded database detailing the locations of both organic and conventional farms, the crops that are grown, more accurate estimates of the revenue earned from these enterprises, and the challenges our farmers face in meeting food safety and organic certification requirements. We will work with our farmers and our ranchers to carefully monitor the impacts of this bill over the next year to separate speculation and guesswork from the facts.
Today our communities expect that government will be as cautious as possible in protecting our food and water supplies. We all want to minimize impacts to the environment while also producing abundant, affordable food for local consumption. This ordinance expresses the desires and demands of our community for a safe, sustainable agricultural sector that can help feed our people while keeping our precious island productive and healthy.
Front Groups Exposed—50 Industry Groups Form a New Alliance to Manipulate Public Opinion About Junk Food, GMOs, and Harmful Additives
May 29, 2013
By Dr. Mercola
The United Nations established the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1962. Usually referred to as “Codex,” it consists of approximately 170 member countries that set food guidelines and standards for the world.
Over the years, Codex has been embroiled in controversy for a number of reasons, but now our investigations show that Monsanto―one of the world’s largest producers of genetically-modified seeds―is behind a significant number of front groups that control Codex policy.
Most recently, more than 50 industry trade groups formed a new alliance called Alliance to Feed the Future. These groups represent multi-national food, biotech, and chemical companies that generate hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of revenue each year
Alliance to Feed the Future claims its purpose is to “balance the public dialogue” on modern agriculture and large-scale food production and technology. Or, in other words, they aim to become the go-to source for “real” information about the junk being sold as “food”
The Kellen Company is instrumental in creating and managing front groups for the processed food and chemical industries. These front groups are specifically created to mislead you about the product in question, protect industry profits, and influence regulatory agencies
If you think it’s tough sorting truth from industry propaganda and lies, get ready for even tougher times ahead. More than 50 front groups, working on behalf of food and biotechnology trade groups―Monsanto being the most prominent―have formed a new coalition called Alliance to Feed the Future.
The alliance, which is being coordinated by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), was created to “balance the public dialogue” on modern agriculture and large-scale food production and technology, i.e. this group will aim to become the go-to source for “real” information about the junk being sold as “food.”
The groups comprising this new alliance represent multi-national food companies, biotech industry, and chemical companies that generate hundreds of billions of dollars worth of revenue from food related sales every year.
On the upside, this alliance and many other industry-sponsored front groups masquerading as non-profits and consumer protection organizations are becoming increasingly exposed for what they really are, and I will point out several of them in this article.
Michele Simon, JD, MPH, policy consultant with Center for Food Safety recently published a report titled: Best Public Relations Money Can Buy: A Guide to Food Industry Front Groups1 also reveals how the food and agricultural industry hide behind friendly-sounding organizations aimed at fooling the public, policymakers and media alike.
Many Industry Front Groups Are Created to Dominate Codex Discussions
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, conceived by the United Nations in 1962, was birthed through a series of relationships between the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) as well as the American FDA and USDA.
The Codex Alimentarius itself is a compilation of food standards, codes of practice and guidelines that specify all requirements related to foods, whether processed, semi-processed, genetically engineered, or raw.
Its purported purpose is to “protect consumers’ health, ensure fair business practices within the food trade, and eliminate international food trade barriers by standardizing food quality.”
There are a number of different working groups that meet regularly to establish food standards of every imaginable kind. For example, the Physical Working Group on Food Additives recently held meetings in Beijing, China. The 45th session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) ended on March 22.
On the agenda were discussions about aluminum-containing food additives. Are they safe or should they be eliminated from the worldwide Codex standards? The National Health Federation (NHF), the only health-freedom group allowed to speak at the meeting, dished out harsh criticism on the additives, calling for their removal. In a Facebook update, the NHF wrote:2
“The usual Codex suspects (the delegations of Australia, the United States and Canada) plus the trade organizations of the International Food Additives Council (IFAC) and the International Council of Grocery Manufacturers Associations (ICGMA) were the industry apologists for keeping aluminum in food additives.
In dishing out scorching criticism of aluminum’s proponents, NHF came under return fire from Australia, IFAC, and the Chairman.
IFAC – which does not seem to disclose any of its members… along with its sidekick ICGMA, cried out constantly that the ‘Industry’ just could not make it without aluminum food additives. Their members spraying equipment ‘might overheat and catch fire,’ IFAC lamented.
When NHF suggested that this was a not a genuine issue; that the industry could easily innovate its way out of this ‘problem’ and create non-overheating equipment, NHF was criticized by the Chairman for suggesting that IFAC might not be telling the truth.
By the end of the day, the success of the EU and NHF could be tallied by numerous uses of aluminum food additives that the Working Group will suggest be discontinued to the full Committee meeting… although there were also many food-additive uses that stayed in place (albeit usually at reduced levels), no thanks to the interventions of Australia, the U.S., Canada, IFAC, and ICGMA.”
Who’s Behind the International Food Additives Council (IFAC)?
to read more, go to: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/29/codex-front-groups.aspx?e_cid=20130529_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130529
Ronnie Cummins on Turning the Tide Against Monsanto
October 13, 2013
By Dr. Mercola
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUDeKapnhVs
Story at-a-glance
Between October 18 and November 5, Washington State voters will mail in their ballots for the people’s initiative 522, “The People’s Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act.” Your support is urgently needed
Mounting peer-reviewed research reveals a wide variety of health hazards associated with consuming genetically engineered foods and the chemicals that accompany these crops
Part of the original industry rationale for using GE crops was that they could be sprayed with less toxic herbicides, such as Roundup—which was touted as harmless and biodegradable
Now, mounting research reveals that Roundup may actually be one of the most toxic chemicals ever to enter our food supply
49 percent of American farmers are now battling Roundup resistant weeds in their corn- and soy fields. In an effort to get rid of them, they’re resorting to ever-increasing amounts of Roundup and more toxic herbicides such as 2,4-D and Dicamba
Between October 18 and November 5 the next big GMO-labeling vote will take place in the United States; this time in Washington State, where citizens will cast their votes for the people’s initiative 522, “The People’s Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act.”
Initiative 522 (I-522) will require seeds, raw agricultural commodities, and processed foods to be labeled if they’re produced using genetic engineering.1
The success of this ballot initiative is dependent on public donations, and we’re up against industry giants with very deep pockets, so please, help us win this key GMO labeling battle and continue to build momentum for GMO labeling in other states by making a donation to the Organic Consumers Fund (OCF) today.
The video above features Ronnie Cummins, the national director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and the Organic Consumers Fund—one of our allies in the movement to build a sustainable and healthy system of food and farming in the United States.
Part of this food movement is the Millions Against Monsanto campaign, and campaigns pushing for labeling of genetically engineered foods across the US.
The first March Against Monsanto, which took place in May, 2013 was really an extraordinary event that did not get the media attention it deserved. Some two million people in 450 cities and 50 countries took to the streets with the same message—that genetic engineering and Monsanto are out of control, and we need labeling and safety testing.
According to Cummins:
“We need to get these crops off the market or marginalized. That’s what worries Monsanto and the rest of the food industry. Last November, they came close to a disaster when the California ballot initiative Proposition 37 nearly passed. We got 48.5 percent of the vote. They beat us by one and a half percentage points. Well, Monsanto and their allies – Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kraft, and the rest – they had to spend 50 million dollars to beat us in California.”
Why Are Chemical Companies in Charge of Our Food Supply?
For a long time, Monsanto appeared to be perched on top of the world, making enormous profits and wielding near unparalleled political clout. One of the most recent examples of their political power was the insertion of the “Monsanto Protection Act” rider into the appropriation bill, back in January, which basically eliminated the power of the federal judiciary to control genetically engineered crops. As explained by Cummins:
“Under this Monsanto rider to the appropriation bill, even if a federal court rules that a genetically engineered crop has been improperly approved—that it could harm the environment or public health, they can’t stop it. Monsanto’s chief cheerleader in the Senate, Roy Blunt from Missouri, was very proud of this rider, and it went through.
But in a sign of change, millions of people complained, emailed and called Congress, and caused the backers of the bill to back off and say that, ‘Well, it’ll expire on September 30 and then it won’t be part of the Farm Bill or continuing appropriations.’”
Thankfully, the rider, which was renewed by the House of Representatives, was finally voted down by the Senate, thanks to your overwhelming support and affirmative action. As of September 30, the “Monsanto Protection Act” expired. It just goes to show how critical it is that we unite and address these issues together. It’s the only way we will make positive change.
It’s worth remembering though that Monsanto is not alone in recklessly pushing genetically engineered (GE) crops and foods. The following five multi-national chemical companies are also major players:
DuPont
Dow
Bayer
Syngenta
BASF
All of these chemical companies have tried to reposition themselves as “life science” companies, but, as Cummins points out, “they’re still the same old companies whose bottom line depends on selling as many toxic herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides as possible.” Disturbingly, these chemical companies have also bought out most of the seed industry, worldwide, making it extremely difficult for farmers to buy non-GE seeds.
Monsanto’s Grip Slips as Americans Become Better Informed
to read more, go to: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/13/cummins-gmo-labeling.aspx?e_cid=20131013Z1_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20131013Z1
Attacks on Health Reporters and Their Readers Are Escalating
September 18, 2013
By Dr. Mercola
Story at-a-glance
A new UNICEF report reveals that the organization is tracking the rise of online anti-vaccination sentiments in Central and Eastern Europe, and has identified the most important “anti-vaccine influencers” on the web
Instead of addressing the evidence of potential harm of vaccines, UNICEF is entering into ever-deepening partnerships with vaccine company giants like Merck and GlaxoSmithKline
UNICEF devises public relations schemes to convince you to ignore any science that raise safety questions
In the report, UNICEF infers that I and other vaccine-safety advocates are lying about the situation and therefore should be ignored
In 2009, it was revealed that Merck had a hit list of doctors to be “neutralized” or discredited for voicing critical opinions about the pain killer Vioxx—a drug that ended up killing more than 60,000 people before it was pulled from the market
GSK spent more than 10 years covering up information that proved they knew about the serious health dangers of their blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia, as it would adversely affect sales.
Truth becomes treason in an empire of lies. Attacks against health web sites like yours truly and others, and our readers—yes, that would be you—are rapidly escalating.
Thinly veiled threats are issued not just by industry spokespersons (many of whom hide their industry ties from their readers), but also international organizations like UNICEF. It’s become very evident, very quickly, that now more than ever, we need your support to counter the increasingly dirty tactics of these industry players.
Simply by reporting the scientific evidence—which is published in peer-reviewed journals, mind you—I’ve been labeled as a top “anti-vaccine influencer” for my pro-safety stance on vaccines, and a “media supporter of domestic eco-terrorists” for my reporting on the hazards of Roundup and genetically engineered foods.
Why Is UNICEF Accusing Health Journalists of Lying?
A recently published report1 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals that the organization is tracking “the rise of online pro-vaccine safety sentiments in Central and Eastern Europe,” and has identified the most influential pro-vaccine safety influencers” on the web.
UNICEF included me on the list, along with other independent health websites like GreenMedInfo.com, Mothering.com and NaturalNews.com, just to name a few. In their opening reference, they use a quote by Mark Twain that reads:
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
Clearly, UNICEF is inferring that I and other vaccine-safety advocates are lying about the situation and therefore should be ignored. This would be hilarious if it wasn’t so serious.
Here we have an international organization supposedly dedicated to children’s health and wellbeing, and instead of addressing the ample scientific evidence showing the potential harm of vaccines, they’re entering into ever-deepening partnerships with vaccine company giants like Merck2 and GlaxoSmithKline3 (GSK).
They spend precious time and resources on public relations schemes to convince you to ignore any science that raises questions about the wisdom of “carpet-bombing” infants’ and young children’s immune systems with potentially harmful vaccines.
UNICEF’s Bedfellows
This is especially disturbing because Merck has been involved in numerous criminal scandals and class-action lawsuits in recent years, including fraudulently marketing its deadly drug Vioxx; lying about the true efficacy of its mumps vaccine.
Additionally, they engaged in scientific fraud (a charge brought by its own scientists); and hiding critical side effects associated with its osteoporosis drug Fosamax, just to name a few of the most publicized.
Even more shocking, in 2009, it was revealed that Merck actually had a hit list of doctors to be “neutralized” or discredited for voicing critical opinions about the pain killer Vioxx—a drug that indeed ended up killing more than 60,000 people before it was pulled from the market.
Two years later, in 2011, the company ended up pleading guilty to a criminal charge over the fraudulent marketing and sales of this deadly drug.4 But sure, let’s listen to UNICEF and trust the guys who go so far as to threaten the lives of those who question the safety of a very factually dangerous drug. Then there’s GSK, whose leadership among corporate criminals is illustrious indeed.
Doctors and government officials are said to have received perks such as travel, cash, and sexual favors that when combined, amounted to nearly $5 billion, according to some reports. The company allegedly used travel agencies as middlemen to carry out these illegal acts. Four Chinese GSK executives have so far been detained on charges of cash and sexual bribery.
GSK also spent more than 10 years covering up information that proved they knew about the serious health dangers of their blockbuster diabetes drug Avandia, as it would adversely affect sales. While carousing with the true liars and criminals, UNICEF deems it fitting to paint me and other health journalists as the liars; the ones leading you astray.
Little does UNICEF realize that by publicizing a list of monitored “vaccine influencers”—the health reporters who stick pegs in the wheels of their crafty PR schemes by publishing all those studies the vaccine industry would rather see buried—they’ve basically given you a Who’s Who of real vaccine information.
Maybe we should thank them rather than rail against their poor judgment? As stated by Sayer Ji5 of Greenmedinfo.com, who was also targeted in the report:
“[W]hile the document purports to be analytical and descriptive, it has proscriptive and defamatory undertones, and only thinly conceals an agenda to discredit opposing views and voices. UNICEF’s derogatory stance.
This is all the more surprising considering that websites such as GreenMedinfo.com aggregate, disseminate and provide open access to peer-reviewed research on vaccine adverse effects and safety concerns extracted directly from the US National Library of Medicine, much of which comes from high-impact journals.”
GMO-Labeling Supporters Now Accused of Supporting Eco-Terrorism. What’s Next?
Another recent article, published in Forbes Magazine,6 really ups the ante of the attack on health journalists and their readers with the headline: “ Domestic Eco-Terrorism Has Deep Pockets. And Many Enablers.” The article, written by Jay Byme and Henry I.Miller, reads in part:
“In recent years, [eco]terrorists have attempted to gain sympathy and “justification” for their actions by means of disinformation campaigns that relentlessly smear the safety and utility of genetic engineering applied to agriculture… “Frankenfood” headlines may sell newspapers and organic food, but this kind of “black marketing” — enhancing the perceived value of your products by disparaging those of your competitors – can also encourage serious criminal acts.
…There exists in this country a vast, well-established, highly professional, protest industry fueled by special interest groups seeking to line their own pockets… Anti-genetic engineering campaigns are openly funded and promoted by mainstream organic food marketers like Gary Hirshberg, the chairman of Stonyfield Organic, and alternative health and food-supplement hucksters Joe Mercola and Mike Adams — all cynical fear-profiteers who benefit from increased consumer mistrust in their competitors’ products… The ultimate objective, of course, is to sell more overpriced, overrated organic food…
One result of the widely disseminated disinformation effort is an environment that provides encouragement to extremists who commit criminal acts. It comes from the Facebook and Twitter followers of the genetic engineering conspiracy theorists, organic marketers and “right to know” labeling activists… Against the backdrop of this fear-mongering, hate-speech and support for acts of terror toward legal, highly regulated, safe and societally valuable R&D, we should condemn not only the perpetrators themselves but also their corporate and media enablers.”
to read more, go to: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/18/unicef-attacks-health-advocates.aspx?e_cid=20130918Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130918Z1
NaturalNews) The Russian government has ordered all relevant agencies to examine whether or not to continue imports of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the country.
According to reports, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the action, directing the agencies to make their recommendation by October 15.
Per the website GM Watch:
The order is addressed to Rospotrebnadzor, the Health Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry, and the Trade and Economic Development Ministry. They are ordered to “submit proposals on amendments to the Russian legislation aimed at tightening control over the turnover of products containing components obtained from GMOs together with the relevant federal executive bodies.”
‘Russia is currently taking a hard line on GMOs’
The Russian agencies have also been instructed to submit proposals “on the possibility of banning the import of such products into the Russian Federation.”
Medvedev’s order came after a similar directive was issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin following a meeting on the socio-economic development of the Rostov region Sept. 18. Medvedev’s orders were posted on the government’s website and reported by the Russia-based Interfax News Agency.
“Russia is currently taking a hard line on GMOs – in August the first independent project for identifying whether Russian farmers are growing illegal GM crops started in the Belgorod region,” GM Watch reported.
Russian authorities have been on the lookout for illegal GM crops. Recently, the country’s National Association for Genetic Safety (NAGS) conducted its first checks of crops for the presence of GMOs, but none were found in any Belgorod fields.
“We remind you that currently, according to the law in Russia, 19 GM lines are allowed in foodstuffs, but the cultivation of GMOs is not allowed,” said GM Watch.
After its admission into the World Trade Organization, Russia became obligated to simplify the procedure for registering GM crops, products and feed, seek to stop their safety checks and end controls over their distribution, the GM Watch site reported.
A year ago, as Natural News editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, reported, Russia banned all imports of GM corn, following an earlier study by French researchers which showed that rats grew massive cancer tumors when fed a lifetime of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn.
“The Russian ban is the latest blow to Monsanto, a company desperately clinging to the myth that its genetically modified crops are ‘no different’ than traditional crops and therefore long-term safety testing is completely unnecessary,” Adams wrote, adding that Monsanto criticized the French study but did not duplicate the duration of it in its own testing. French researchers conducted their study over a two-year period, while Monsanto’s study lasted only 90 days.
— Earlier this year, Peru joined Ecuador as the second nation in the Americas to ban GMOs. Local Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino summarized the country’s rejection by recalling his decision to stop eating store-bought Roma tomatoes: “They’re a big monoculture, which is why people usually end up using GMOs. Because when you have monocultures, the crops end up getting diseases, and you have to look for these extreme ways to fix them.” Peru, the cradle of the once-great Inca Empire, is the birthplace of the crop, so it says much about a country where you can grow virtually anything to give up GM crops.
— In June, South Korea joined a Japanese ban on U.S. wheat imports following an announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding GMO contamination. Again, Adams was all over it: “…South Korea joined Japan in announcing a halt on imports of U.S. wheat due to the USDA’s recent announcement that commercial wheat grown in the USA is contaminated with Monsanto’s genetically engineered wheat.”
— In August, the French government announced that, despite a ruling by the French Council of State that the longstanding ban violates European Union (EU) law, it would extend its current moratorium on the cultivation of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn.
(NaturalNews) Golden rice is being touted by GMO advocates as a miracle cure for blindness and death. It is claimed that golden rice is genetically engineered to produce higher levels of beta carotene which the body converts to vitamin A, preventing blindness and death. These claims, however, have no basis in fact and are utterly unsupported by any scientific evidence whatsoever. In fact, those pushing golden rice are doing so as a matter of intense faith rather than science. This is especially noteworthy because those pushing it are staunch enemies of “faith” and claim to be operating solely based on science.
That’s why I’ve assembled a list of ten glaring contradictions in the arguments of golden rice advocates, nearly all of whom have financial ties to the GMO biotech industry.
Here are ten important things golden rice advocates won’t tell you about the unscientific faith in an untested, unproven Frankenfoods experiment:
#1) There is no scientific basis to claim that the beta carotene artificially produced in golden rice survives storage and cooking to actually be absorbed by those who eat it
No clinical trials have ever been conducted showing that the beta carotene engineered into golden rice actually makes its way from harvest, to storage, to cooking and into the human body intact. There is no evidence to support any claim that golden rice, when grown and harvested in the traditional manner of southeast Asian cultures, will actually raise levels of beta carotene in the bodies of those who eat it.
We cannot simply assume that an artificially-induced phytonutrient will survive harvesting, storage and cooking to deliver the claimed impact on human health unless it is extensively studied. The studies that have been done on golden rice and beta carotene consumption were conducted under laboratory conditions, not real-world conditions.
#2) Golden rice advocates utterly ignore the environmental risks of genetic pollution
There are no scientific studies whatsoever to show that the open-field cultivation of genetically engineered golden rice is safe for the environment. The risk of genetic pollution that might contaminate and alter neighboring rice populations has been callously and irresponsibly ignored by golden rice advocates. (This is part of the “faith” requirement to join the Church of Biotechnology.)
There is also risk that this alteration of golden rice may have unintended consequences such as creating new vulnerabilities to pests or microbial infections. These risks are routinely dismissed by golden rice advocates as if they did not exist. Murphy’s Law tells us that good intentions often have unintended negative consequences. To pretend they do not exist is the height of scientific irresponsibility.
#3) There is no scientific basis whatsoever for the claim that golden rice can “prevent blindness” or “prevent death” as is being widely claimed
Where are the clinical studies for such a claim? They do not exist. With claims that it can prevent blindness or death, golden rice is now being positioned as a drug (see below) with specific medical benefits. Where are the clinical trials that prove such benefits exist at all?
Where is the science that assesses the possible side effects of human consumption of golden rice? Such studies do not exist. If golden rice is supposed to represent the best of modern science, then modern science is a tragic failure because the story of golden rice is one based almost entirely on wishful thinking — or as some skeptics call it, “Magic!”
Yes, golden rice is a “magical GMO crop” that cures disease and saves people from death. How do we know this? Because the GMO pushers essentially tell us we should all believe in magic. Golden rice magic!
(Notice how their pet projects never need any actual science to back them up? But when they criticize medicinal herbs, even a massive collection of scientific evidence is always declared to be “unconvincing.”)
#4) Claiming that golden rice can prevent blindness or death automatically turns golden rice into an unapproved drug according to current FDA regulations. All golden rice claims are actually “drug claims”
The very same people who promote golden rice also tend to be so-called skeptics of nutritional therapies, medicinal herbs, superfoods and phytonutrients. They insist that there is no such thing as any nutrient, vitamin, mineral or food that has any therapeutic effect on the human body whatsoever. (This is the official position of the FDA and nearly all mainstream science skeptics.)
Yet, magically, their golden rice is exempt from any skepticism. All claims about golden rice are automatically believed to be truth as a matter of faith, not fact, and those claims include outlandish therapeutic drug claims which are illegal under current FDA regulations.
If I grew golden rice and sold it at the Natural News Store with claims that it could prevent blindness and halt death, I would be almost immediately sent a stern warning letter by the FDA and possibly also the FTC. If I continued to sell the “magic” golden rice with such claims, the FDA would very likely raid my facility, sieze all product inventory, and have me arrested at gunpoint and charged with “drug crimes” for “selling unapproved drugs.”
According to the FDA, unless golden rice is tested and approved as a drug for preventing blindness and death, it cannot be sold or marketed with such claims. And the real catch-22 is that if this magical golden rice is actually approved as a therapeutic drug, then it would only be available by prescription, not as a common food. Because, again, the FDA says that no foods have any ability to prevent, treat or cure any disease or medical condition. Including blindness.
Is it the intention of the golden rice proponents to seek and acquire FDA approval for the food as a therapeutic drug that can treat specific medical conditions? If not, then proponents of this magical golden rice are engaged in medical fraud by making unsupported drug claims.
#5) Golden rice advocates selectively believe that unproven drug claims can be made only for golden rice, but that vitamins and minerals in all other foods have no medical benefit whatsoever
All the health claims being made for golden rice are far better applied to carrots and canteloupe — both are foods that naturally and holistically contain beta carotene. But if I pen an article on the internet that claims “carrots can prevent blindness in children,” I will be viciously attacked by the very same people who are now claiming their magical golden rice achieves the same outcome.
The contradictory logic in the golden rice pushers collapses at the merest challenge. Apparently only their own magical, selected foods have nutritional benefits, but everybody else’s non-genetically-engineered foods are devoid of all benefits, if you believe their twisted logic.
#6) Golden rice is being used as a political wedge to try to dismantle safety regulations regarding genetically engineered foods so that the biotech industry can dominate global agriculture with patented GMO crops
Another glaring contradiction in the argument of golden rice advocates is that the biotech industries really aren’t interested in helping humanity in the first place. They are interested solely in corporate profits, and golden rice is a strategy to achieve the goal of global food domination and monopolization of seeds.
In effect, golden rice is an anti-regulatory battering ram designed to destroy regulations that currently limit the testing and deployment of GMOs. This is the goal: lower the regulations so that biotech can ramp up its global agricultural imperialism and invade every last nation on the planet with an army of intellectual property lawyers and a cabal of modified seed salespeople.
#7) Since when did GMO pushers ever believe in nutrition, anyway? If vitamin A deficiency is the cause of so much suffering, the answer is to teach populations how to grow a more diverse diet using sustainable agriculture practices
Biotech “scientists” frequently resort to the logical fallacy of false choice. In the context of golden rice, the false choice is that you either accept golden rice or thousands of people will die from malnourishment. This is a false choice because there are a multitude of other options which don’t run the risk of genetic pollution or unforeseen negative effects.
Sweet potatoes, kale, carrots, squash and spinah all contain high levels of the vitamin A precursor known as beta carotene. Solving the vitamin deficiency problem with populations in Asia is no more complicated than teaching them how to grow these sustainable crops using open-pollinated, non-patented seeds that can be shared generation after generation.
Golden rice is not needed at all.
#8) GMO agriculture is, almost by definition, highly toxic to the environment. The risks of genetic pollution and the widespread use of cancer-causing glyphosate in conjunction with genetically engineered crops present a far greater health risk to the world than any lack of vitamin A in rice
If the aim is to protect life and save human lives, GMO agriculture is precisely the wrong answer. It is based in large part on crops that have been engineered to grow deadly insecticides inside each kernel (GM corn).
In so-called “Roundup-ready” crops such as soybeans and cotton, highly toxic glyphosate poisons are sprayed indiscriminately on entire fields. This not only poisons the land, the streams and the rivers, it also results in the inevitable formation of incredibly threatening superweeds which then require even more toxic chemicals to eradicate.
GMO agriculture breeds superweeds in the same way antibiotics breed superbugs. According to the CDC, superbugs are right now killing 23,000 Americans each year. And this number is expected to rapidly multiply as last-ditch antibiotics become useless in the next few years.
#9) If the goal is to help humanity, why doesn’t the biotech industry give up all its patents on seeds?
As part of the strategy to use golden rice as a weapon to bring down GMO regulations, the industry has given up its intellectual property claims on golden rice. But it maintains its intellectual property claims on all other genetically engineered seeds. In fact, companies like Monsanto have been suing hundreds of farmers whose fields were contaminated with such seeds due to no fault of the farmer!
If the biotech industry really believes its products can “feed the world,” and if it really believes in doing good things for humanity, then why won’t it donate all its seed patents to humankind?
The answer is because the “humanitarian” cover story is a lie. The real aim of the biotech industry is to dominate the world seed supply and thereby dominate the food supply as well. This is an industry with a long history of violating human rights in its quest to destroy farming freedom and force its seeds upon nearly every nation of the world. To even think for a second that this industry has anything positive to offer humanity is a terrible mistake. Do not be seduced by golden rice into misunderstanding the true motives of the biotech industry.
#10) “Nutritional holocaust?” Or GMO death knell?
The golden rice website claims that not feeding children golden rice is equivalent to a “nutritional holocaust.”
Such a label is wildly contradictory, given the industry’s wholesale denial of the risk of unleashing a true genetic holocaust by tinkering with the genes of plants in unnatural ways.
The history of science is filled with horrible mistakes, unforeseen circumstances and costly lessons for those who have abandoned the precautionary principle. Good intentions alone do not ensure positive outcomes. This is evident with the history of Agent Orange (also manufactured by Monsanto), DDT, Bisphenol-A, flame retardants, thalidomide and countless other deadly oversights that have exacted a horrifying toll on humankind (see my video, below).
The genetic engineering of food crops in open fields is a foolish, unscientific practice that’s practically begging for a devastating response from Mother Nature.
Today, golden rice believers and faith-followers march forward with the same delusional confidence that once emanated from believers in antibiotics or DDT. When it comes to science, false confidence is exceedingly dangerous to humankind.
Systematically bypassing public awareness and approval, GMOs have invaded a much wider market than the food industry. Dubious industrial uses surpass even the wildest imagination and show that our daily lives are far more contaminated by GMOs that we thought.
There are many genetically modified crops that have entered our food chain and that goes primarily for processed food products. However, an incredible number of very common everyday products, often completely unrelated to food have also been seriously tainted by GMs. Most of the problems come from GM corn, soy and cotton, which have dominated conventional agribusiness for many years now and the combined fact that several secondary (or even primary) products from these crops are used in many different industries en masse, thanks to the Government subsidies.
Hidden Exposure #1: GM Corn
Corn is considered an important commodity today due to the many uses in industry. 86% of U.S. grown corn in 2010 was genetically modified, accounting roughly for 55% of the world’s corn export. But the bulk of corn that’s produced today does not go to food production anymore. Surely corn syrup is used to sweeten most processed food (candies, confectionery, sauces, bread, biscuits, flavored yogurts, juice, sodas, cough drops etc), but when it comes to food additives, corn derivatives have many names, like “xanthan gum,” “natural flavors,” “free-flowing agents,” “vitamin E,” and “cellulose”. For example, conventional iodized salt contains corn dextrose (free-flowing agent). Corn is also a very popular animal feed; animals raised in GMO grains suffer significant physiological and immunological reactions, which alter their body and hence the products deriving from them. Corn is also used for the production of ethanol, which is subsequently used in cosmetics, hand sanitizers and alcoholic beverages, and is even mandated by the federal government to be put into our gasoline at a 10% concentration. Corn germ oil is widely used in cooking oils, salad dressings, soaps (liquid/solid), detergents and insecticides.
Corn starch is another corn derivative that has invaded many industries. Thanks to its absorbent nature, corn starch is ideal for use in diapers, deodorants, baby powder and pharmaceutical drugs; it is also used in candies that are formed in molds in order to get the fine details to hold their shape – think of gummy candies that have fine details, like character shapes or imprinted logos. Corn starch or cornmeal is also used as adhesive; it is present in the adhesive stripe in envelopes, which seals it once moistened. Industrial glues also contain corn products, mainly corn germ, which replaces more expensive options like resins. The majority of vitamin C at the moment comes from corn as well. This is because corn starch is easily converted into glucose through industrial methods, making it an ideal and cheap option for the producers. Biodegradable corn-based plastic is also becoming very popular because it needs less fossil fuel than petroleum-based alternatives and therefore has reduced carbon footprint. Such plastic can be found in food containers and plastic food packaging, lining the “to-go” coffee cups, disposable dishware and gift cards. Although covering fruit and vegetables with wax is a very old practice that improves self-life and presentation, the wax covering store-bought fruit and vegetables may be corn-based or contain corn-derived additives, even in organic produce. Textile production is also using corn products, either as colorings/dyes or the textile per se. This means that your carpet may very well be based on GMO corn (if not GMO cotton).
Hidden Exposure #2: GM Cotton
The three major cotton producers at the moment are USA, China and India. 93% of cotton planted in the U.S. in 2010 was genetically modified, while 68% and 90% of China’s and India’s cotton production is GM as well. On a global scale, only 12 countries grow GM cotton, but they account for most of the world’s cotton production. Naturally cotton is mostly used for the production of textiles (think clothes, towels, bed sheets, upholstery). In fact, the majority of our garments at the moment are made up of GM cotton. Even in countries that have banned GMOs, there is hardly a distinction in imported textiles between non-GMO or GMO varieties, which makes it close to impossible to tell what kind of clothes we are wearing. In UK alone, it is estimated that 75% of clothes are made of GMO cotton. It is becoming so difficult to get hold of organic cotton that major retailers, such as M&S, Adidas and H&M, have teamed up to ensure ‘sustainable cotton’ can be GM. But the problem doesn’t stop here. Daily used products, such as swabs and cotton balls in your bathroom, feminine hygiene products (tampons, towels), baby products (baby wipes and diapers) are most likely made of GMO cotton as well.
Food uses of cotton are not uncommon either. Cottonseed oil is highly valued cooking and frying oil and often used a source of vitamin E. Cottonseed meal (whole grain) is used as animal feed. Leftover, non-textile fibres consist almost completely of cellulose and can be used as food additives. Cellulose (E 460) and methylcellulose (E 461) can be used as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, or fillers.
Hidden Exposure #3: GM Soy
Just like corn, soy has a variety of industrial uses, which are not limited to food products. The largest producers of soy are United States (33%), Brazil (27%), Argentina (21%), and China (7%). US and Argentina produce almost exclusively (85% and 98% respectively) GM soy, while Brazil produces approximately 64% of GM soy. As of 2007, more than half of the world’s production (58%) of soy is GM.
Soy is widely used as animal feed in many countries, which poses the same health problems as GM corn. Even countries that ban GMOs for human consumption, liberally import GM soy form the three main producers, mainly for animal feed. This is well documented in European Union, where 40 million tons of raw GM soy beans are imported every year. Soybean flour is used in all aspects of industrial farming, spanning from aquacultures, to poultry, pork and beef and even for pet foods. Soybeans are widely used for food products destined for human consumption, such as breads and pastries, Asian delicacies, soy oil/cooking oils, shortening and more. For example Taiwan’s imports consist up to 90% of GM soy from the US, which is used for the production of tofu, and other local specialties, without informing the public for the potential dangers.
However, it is the industrial uses of this crop that escape most regulatory mechanisms and most importantly public awareness and approval. Soybean oil is used in electrical insulations, fungicides, herbicides, paints, plasticizers, soaps, shampoos, detergents, disinfectants and even in ink (soy-based ink) and printing. On top of the above, the flour is used in pharmaceuticals, water based-paints, plywood, leather substitutes, cosmetics, polyesters and textiles. These are only selected examples of the very long list of current industrial and food uses of soy. As part of the soybean extension and research project, Iowa State University has compiled a very extensive list of soy-based products, which, depending on the origin of soy, could be GM.
We are being poisoned. This mass public poisoning has been going on for over a century, and it has been gradually increasing. You and those you care about are being harmed almost continuously. We are being abused with multiple poisons in small doses on purpose.
The more of us that become aware of some of the most common ways this is happening, the better chance we have of reducing or ending exposure to at least some of the poisons.
Chlorine
This highly toxic chemical warfare agent has been added to public water supplies since about 1910 as a disinfectant. The now common health problems of circulatory disease and cancer became widespread only after the masses started being chlorinated regularly. Drinking it, bathing in it, breathing it and soaking it up in our showers, and consuming it in most food and beverage products made with city water, makes chlorine one of the most common public poisons.
Fluoride
The fluoride added to municipal water and dental care products is not really good for your teeth. It is a cancer causing, apathy inducing, intelligence reducing chemical, a waste product of aluminum and phosphate manufacturing. It was accumulating at production plants in the 1940s and ruining local ground water.
The industry first tried to get rid of excess stocks of fluoride by marketing it as rat poison, but not enough was sold. Then in the 1950s they concocted the scheme of convincing the American Dental Association to recommend it be added to public water supplies and oral care products to harden teeth. In the long run, it actually makes teeth brittle and mottled, while diminishing people’s IQ, minimizing active interests and shortening lives.
Aluminum
Aluminum has long been used in cookware and food service material. As people learned of its toxicity, they started abandoning aluminum pans and avoiding heating food wrapped in foil.
Extremely fine particles of it are the main component of the “chemtrail” sprays disseminated over virtually all areas in North America under the rationale of “geo-engineering” to counter “global warming”. Since the concern about global warming from carbon emissions due to human activity is fraudulently promoted to expand control of the population, this widespread chemical spraying is really being done for other reasons, from weather manipulation to public poisoning. The bizarre streaks often sprayed in the sky by aircraft are not normal jet contrails.
Aluminum is another neurotoxin that reduces intelligence and memory. It is considered a major contributor to early senility and dementia.
Mercury & Vaccinations
For the millions of us that received “silver” dental fillings, long term mercury contamination is likely. That highly toxic heavy metal was an ingredient in the amalgam. Mercury is also used in the thimerosal preservative in most vaccines, including those given to children, even infants.
Mercury is another neurotoxin and is blamed for the incredible rise in the numbers of autistic children, many of whom are radically changed within a few days of vaccination.
Vaccinations and flu shots do not really protect us from infections. Rather they are seriously harmful, especially to the infants that receive an overwhelming mixed vaccination cocktail. Further, vaccines are sometimes contaminated with rogue viruses, and are a debilitating stress to the human immune system.
Pharma Drugs
The approval of pharmaceutical medicines by a government agency does not mean that they are safe to take. Many of them have terrible side effects, often blocking biological systems and fostering long-term illness. Then additional drugs are prescribed. Many of the routine medications today are psychotropic, further reducing intelligence and enthusiasm.
Radioactive Fallout
Radioactivity emanating from the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, as well as from leaks at other nuke facilities, the depleted uranium ammunition used by the military, the radioactive metals such as barium and thorium in the chemtrail sprays, and the lingering particles from the nuclear testing of the 1950s and 1960s, is another major contributor to the cancer epidemic.
Aspartame
The artificial sweetener aspartame is promoted as an ingredient in diet products for weight loss and diabetes. In addition to worsening each of those conditions, it is a terrible neurotoxin. It turns to methanol (toxic wood alcohol) and formaldehyde in the body, impairing the brain, weakening eyesight, damaging the pancreas and liver, and making some people crazy. Why was this poison ever approved for consumption?
Aspartame is now added to even regular chewing gum, as well as to flavored water. Read labels for ingredients to avoid this poison.
MSG
Monosodium Glutamate is used as a flavor enhancer. It is both an “excitotoxin” that stresses cells, and a neurotoxin bothering the brain and nerves. It diminishes intelligence, can cause bloating and digestive distress, and may harm the heart as well.
BPA
Bisphenol Acetate is an estrogen mimicker that is permitted to be in food service and household plastics, including plastic water bottles. This and similar plasticizers such as Bisphenol Sulfone (BPS) are causing sexual imbalances and alterations and cancers of the breast and sex organs.
Glyphosate
This toxic herbicide and other harmful chemicals used in agriculture will not simply wash off of the produce.
Glyphosate is reported to be a factor in both infertility and cancer. Most other agri-chemicals are also debilitating. Glyphosate and other runoff chemicals are commonly found in drinking water as well.
GMOs
Genetically Modified Organisms, usually used in concert with agricultural chemicals, include the common food crops corn, soybeans, canola oil and sugar beets. In the United States, nearly all of each of these widely consumed foods are genetically modified, much of the milk and dairy items contain BgH growth hormone, and most meat animals’ feed contains GMOs, with no indication on labels.
Genetically altered foods are hard on the digestive system, and usually damaging to cells and organs.
EMFs
Electromagnetic fields from cell phones, computers, televisions, “smart meters”, transmission wires and towers, etc., are seriously weakening and impairing health in people, animals and plants. The more you have EMF frequencies in proximity, the greater the damage. Use a cell phone sparingly and switch ears often if holding it near the head.
Why Are We Being Poisoned?
We are being systematically POISONED ON PURPOSE, and need to raise awareness about it enough to get it STOPPED.
Why are we being massively exposed to a range of serious poisons while being falsely told that they are not harmful or even good for us? The elite power controllers do this:
* To foster apathy
* To weaken resistance
* To reduce intelligence
* To increase susceptibility to entrainment and hypnosis
* To experiment on an ignorant populace
* To test longevity methods for their benefit
* To develop distracting and incapacitating health problems
* To generate business for the medical industry
* To foster infertility and infanticide
* To cause people to die younger
* To reduce the population
* To eliminate independent small farmers and businesses
* To control food production, weather, land and resources
* To profitably (cheaply) dispose of industrial waste
* To make maximum profits
* To fully control this world
* To secure lasting tyranny
This has been done gradually, stealthily and incrementally.
NaturalNews) A new video from the group calling itself “Organic Spies” is once again rocking the organic food industry. In the video, a woman who identifies herself as a former employee of Whole Foods Market (WFM) testifies that she and other employees were deliberately trained by Whole Foods Market management to lie to store customers about whether the stores carry foods made with genetically engineered ingredients (GMOs).
According to this female whistleblower, whose identity is concealed for her protection, Whole Foods Market employees were deliberately instructed to lie to customers as part of their employee training. The denial of GMOs being sold in Whole Foods stores was an integral part of the training of employees, she explains:
When we first started, we had a “Day One and a Day Two, and they teach us about the core values of Whole Foods Market, the core values of nothing’s artificial, everything’s natural… When I first started at Whole Foods, I didn’t know what a GMO was. I had no idea what it was. They taught us what it was, and how Whole Foods Market did not carry GMOs.
So if a customer would have came up to me and said, do you guys have anything with GMOs? Does this product contain GMOs? [I would have said] absolutely not. Does not contain GMOs. Because we were taught that we don’t carry anything with GMOs, only natural, nothing artificial.
Whistleblower confirmed as former Whole Foods employee
According to Organic Spies, Whole Foods Market deliberately taught employees to lie to customers about GMOs for a five-year period, spanning 2007 – 2011.
The Organic Spies group claims to have evidence of this from multiple Whole Foods Market stores in several major cities across the United States.
Organic Spies further claims that Whole Foods top executives were fully aware that low-level employees were being deliberately trained to lie to customers about GMOs. This claim is denied by Whole Foods Market (see below).
As part of the due diligence conducted by Natural News, I personally saw documents that appear to confirm this whistleblower was a former employee of Whole Foods. I also spoke with her by phone and was able to confirm that she speaks with what appears to be specialized knowledge that would not normally be known by someone who had not been an actual employee of Whole Foods.
Here’s an image from the video, depicting this whistleblower:
In this Organic Spies video, she goes on to explain:
I was shocked to find out that Whole Foods did carry products containing GMOs. I feel like a fool, you know, if a pregnant woman came up to me, or somebody with serious medical issues asked me that, I would tell them no, we do not carry anything with GMOs… firmly believing that we didn’t carry anything with GMOs.
In my training, the ASTL did Day One, Day Two. They’re like the second person in charge of the store. And on top of them is the store team leader, who’s in charge of the whole store. I believe that whoever was teaching the class, the ASTL, also believed that there was no GMOs in the store, and everybody who worked in the store, I really believe thought that there was no GMOs. Who’s telling the ASTLs that train us that there are no GMOs?
As this whistleblower explains, there does seem to be quite a lot of “corporate indoctrination” taking place with new employees on their “Day One” (code word for their first day of work). Natural News found this comment from a person describing themselves as a Whole Foods Market employee on Indeed.com which appears to further support this idea:
From username “Zerohito” My aversion began on my Day One – this is code for your first day at work, it’s a day of training, seeing where everything is at, watching videos of john mackey who reminds me a lot of some kind of seventies new age amway / est communist guru and various nationwide team members brainwashing the new team member of the various ways that whole foods market is superior to the bunch. and then they test you on the ways in which its great and unique several times throughout the day. and then make you sign it. it was so weird i actually wanted to walk out. but i didn’t because the money’s pretty good and the economy is poor…
This indoctrination effort appears to be very effective. Employees tend to believe what they are told by corporate training videos. As this Organic Spies whistleblower went on to explain:
When Organic Spies came out and they had on film team members saying we don’t carry GMOs, I know they whole-heartedly believed that Whole Foods didn’t carry GMOs. That’s what we were taught. They didn’t carry GMOs. So when the Organic Spies came out, I called my friends who used to work at Whole Foods. I said, did you know that Whole Foods carried GMOs? No! They do? Yeah! They do!
Organic Spies strikes again
This new video is the second major release from the group calling itself “Organic Spies,” which made headlines last year by catching dozens Whole Foods employees on video giving out false and misleading information about GMOs sold in their stores.
The first Organic Spies video, available here on TV.naturalnews.com, received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube before it was suddenly censored by YouTube, most likely under pressure from Whole Foods Market. It featured over a dozen Whole Foods employees lying to customers and stating that Whole Foods did not carry or sell any genetically modified foods.
As a statement of fact, Whole Foods carries all sorts of foods containing GMOs, and after this Organic Spies video hit the ‘net, Whole Foods was forced into a public relations position where they needed to issue a public denial, claiming they did not intentionally train their employees that the stores do not carry GMOs.
Whole Foods carries so many different GMOs that they don’t even know how many GMO products they carry. As stated by a Whole Foods employee in a public relations video, “Does Whole Foods Market have GMOs in our stores? Yes, we probably do have lots and lots of products that contain GMO ingredients in our stores. How many? We don’t know… and neither does any other grocer in the United States.”
To see this shocking quote from an actual Whole Foods Market spokesperson, watch the new Organic Spies video at:
In a September 27, 2012 blog post, Whole Foods CEO A.C. Gallo stated, “I hope you don’t believe the claims that Whole Foods Market is coaching its Team Members to give false information to its customers, because it’s completely untrue. The idea goes directly against who we are as a company — for years, we’ve worked hard to provide as much information as possible about our products to our customers.”
This statement is now directly contradicted by the new Organic Spies video being released exclusively here at Natural News. If the whistleblower is correct, it means A.C. Gallo was either deliberately lying to the public or was inexplicably unaware of the corporate training being given to new employees (“team members”). Click here to watch the video now and decide for yourself.
Whole Foods now stands accused of functioning as an “organic fraud machine”
The new Organic Spies video goes much further than merely accusing Whole Foods of deliberately training its employees to lie about GMOs. It also describes Whole Foods as an “organic fraud machine” and provides its reasoning for that charge as follows:
• Whole Foods has been granted “certified organic grocer” certification by CCOF, an organic foods certifier. It proudly promotes the “USDA Organic” seal next to its name, causing customers to falsely believe everything in the store is certified organic.
• In blogs such as this one, Whole Foods refers to itself as a “Certified Organic Grocer,” further causing customers to falsely believe the store is 100% certified organic.
• In reality, Whole Foods Market sells thousands of products which are not certified organic at all. Many of Whole Foods’ products are grown with pesticides, herbicides and genetically engineered seeds from Monsanto. This is not a conspiracy theory. It is openly admitted by Whole Foods employees and executives.
• This deception is further reinforced by Whole Foods stores posting very large signage on the side of its buildings that say things such as, “Nothing Artificial. Ever.” (See image, right). To understand why this claim is blatantly false, realize that genetically engineered foods are, by definition, artificial.
• Whole Foods’ claim that it is a “Certified Organic Grocer” is extremely misleading to consumers who are tricked into thinking that everything the store sells is organic (and therefore also non-GMO).
• The CCOF certification of Whole Foods is an abuse CCOF’s certification power and causes industry-wide harm because it dilutes the true meaning of organic certification. If a store that isn’t 100% organic can be “certified organic” by CCOF, then what exactly does “organic” really mean? Can the corner quickie-mart also be certified organic if it carries a few organic items among the Slim Jims and Cheetos it sells?
Whole Foods’ “organic” certification looks a lot like greenwashing
As you can see from this image on the right, Whole Foods proudly proclaims that it is “America’s First National Certified Organic Grocer.
The text underneath this bold statement explains:
This prestigious recognition assures you that Whole Foods Market fulfills strict handling standards so that the organic goods you purchase from us stay organic from the farm to your shopping cart.
Hold on a sec, folks. Did you really read that? This CCOF organic certification appears to be certifying nothing more than the claim that “organic foods STAY organic.”
Is that really so amazing?
Because I have never seen, in my over 10 years of investigative journalism in the natural health industry, any organic food magically transform itself into a non-organic food. Pesticides do not spontaneously appear out of nowhere…
So really, if you dig into the Whole Foods organic certification granted by CCOF, it seems that Whole Foods is really only being certified in its food handling. There is absolutely nothing in the certification that says Whole Foods sells only organic foods, which would be the commonsense requirement to be a “certified organic grocer.”
According to the USDA, in fact, a food cannot be “certified organic” unless it contains at least 95% certified organic ingredients. Does the Whole Foods inventory consist of 95% certified organic products? Not even close.
As an independent investigative journalist, I have to agree with Organic Spies that Whole Foods Market is engaged in quite a number of alarming marketing deceptions. The “organic fraud machine” accusation has merit and needs to be further investigated by the USDA as well as independent media like Natural News. Why? Because the CCOF organic certification of Whole Foods appears to lack any legitimate factual justification. The idea that a grocer can “handle foods” in a specific way is simply not sufficient to achieve “organic certification” for the entire store. The very idea is ridiculous, in fact.
By the way, as background to all this, it is important to tell you that I am the director of a USDA certified organic food manufacturing facility, and I have been through the organic certification process. I am not simply throwing out wild guesses at what organics really means. I am reporting this with the benefit of considerable first-hand experience, and I can tell you with confidence that many consumers will be misled by Whole Foods’ claim to be a “certified organic grocer.” Many people will assume that means the entire store is all organic (which it isn’t).
Natural Grocers tells the simple truth
Want to hear some honest language from a truly certified organic grocer?
As Natural Grocery explains, “One of the founding principles of Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage is a commitment to quality. It is within this commitment that we sell only USDA certified organic produce — you will never find conventional produce at any of our stores.”
Simple, huh? So why can’t Whole Foods be just as clear about what it sells?
Organic Spies calls for USDA to intervene and stop the “organic fraud machine”
In this new video, the Organic Spies group is calling for the USDA to intervene and “stop the organic fraud machine.”
According to Organic Spies, Whole Foods has deliberately trained its employees to lie to the public about the ingredients in the foods it sells, and it has furthermore engaged in a highly deceptive campaign of what Organic Spies characterizes as “fraud” by tricking consumers into believing everything it sells is organic (via the CCOF “certified organic grocer” status).
Organic Spies requests you do not post this video on YouTube
If you attempt to post this video on YouTube, it will be immediately banned due to YouTube’s outrageous censorship of real journalism and whistleblowers.
Thus, if you do post this video on YouTube and share the link, people who try to click the link will end up seeing a “video removed” message from YouTube. To avoid this, only share this link from TV.naturalnews.com, which will be fully protected by Natural News according to the First Amendment of the United States of America, as well as all the protections of free speech accorded journalists and media organizations operating in the public interest.
Natural News fully anticipates being threatened by the Whole Foods Market legal team, and we are well aware of our free speech rights as well as our responsibilities to protect our sources and conduct meaningful investigative journalism in the public interest. In fact, we would argue that we are one of the very few organizations left in America still conducting actual investigative journalism. As such, we are willing to go to great lengths to defend our First Amendment rights.
Many of them have terrible side effects, often blocking biological systems and fostering long-term illness. Then additional drugs are prescribed. Many of the routine medications today are psychotropic, further reducing intelligence and enthusiasm.
The first Organic Spies video, 
In a 
• This deception is further reinforced by Whole Foods stores posting very large signage on the side of its buildings that say things such as, “Nothing Artificial. Ever.” (See image, right). To understand why this claim is blatantly false, realize that genetically engineered foods are, by definition, artificial.
As you can see from this image on the right, Whole Foods proudly proclaims that it is “America’s First National Certified Organic Grocer.