Whole Foods has taken to promoting unfounded GMO hysteria by refusing to carry Chobani Yogurt or any products that contain GMO ingredients. Despite repeated customer requests for Whole Foods market to stock the much-loved Chobani, the food chain refuses to do so, stating that the yogurt does not comply with the supermarket’s “quality guidelines.”
The issue came to light recently when, on the Cherry Hill, NJ Whole Foods Market Facebook page, the social media manager posted a notice saying that despite customer requests for Chobani, Whole Foods has purposely chosen not to carry it. One customer then commented that Chobani could be obtained at a supermarket down the road in Cherry Hill. The social media manager promptly removed the entire discussion, including the original post, from the Facebook page. Whole Foods’ reasoning for not carrying the popular yogurt is that Chobani is made from the milk of cows who once ate food made from GMO ingredients.
As reported by popular science blog io9, the science behind such GMO hysteria is questionable, at best. There are no solid peer reviewed studies proving that GMO ingredients are in any way harmful, and the FDA addresses the issue on their page, saying that there is “no basis for concluding that bioengineered foods differ from other foods in any meaningful or uniform way, or that, as a class, foods developed by the new techniques present any different or greater safety concern than foods developed by traditional plant breeding.”
As Salon reported, scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson says human beings have been eating genetically modified food for thousands of years and that GMO critics should “chill out.” DeGrasse Tyson states that most consumables Americans buy in the store today are genetically modified. Further, he says, we have modified every single edible in existence since the earliest beginning of food cultivation. When it comes to pesky little things called “facts,” though, Whole Foods often falls short. After all, they are one of the largest retailers of homeopathics in the U.S., a school of “medicine” that has been proven in no fewer than four major meta-analyses to have no effect beyond that of a placebo.
The Daily Beast recently published a comprehensive article on the psuedoscience that runs rampant at Whole Foods. From the book sections housed in the markets that promise cures for cancer via a bunch of completely unproven mumbo-jumbo to the “holistic” (and possibly dangerous) “medicine,” they sell, Whole Foods is a hotbed of fake facts and placebo pushing. The promotion of unfounded GMO hysteria is yet another link in the science denial chain.
Recently, some commentators have been raising the question of why the same people who accept global warming and evolution turn around and opine, based on no solid evidence, that GMO ingredients are harmful. It seems that the effort to avoid cognitive dissidence knows no boundaries. As an article in the New York Times pointed out, the GMO issue for the left represents the same level of science rejection as does climate change denial by the right. That piece quotes Pamela Ronald, an actual plant scientist, as saying “Just as many on the political right discount the broad scientific consensus that human activities contribute to global warming, many progressive advocacy groups disregard, reject or ignore the decades of scientific studies demonstrating the safety and wide-reaching benefits” of GMO ingredients.
For now, Chobani Yogurt lovers who also shop at Whole Foods Markets will have to continue suffering; and for those readers who reside in Cherry Hill, NJ, here is the missing tip from the Whole Foods customer whose post was erased: you can get Chobani at the Wegman’s right down the street on Route 70, and all evidence points to the fact that, despite what Whole Foods says, its GMO ingredients are just fine to ingest.
I’m terribly confused here Dave. Are you actually suggesting that if I believe genetically-modified crops hold out benefits for the environment, farmers and consumers, I must also accept the theory of anthropogenic climate change?
What you’re overlooking is the fact that millions of farmers have freely chosen to grow GMO crops on their land. Why? Because they work. And I know of no such corollary in favor of the theory of global warming.
Hi Mark
you have posted this same comment on multiple sites today. Leta look at it:
The rat tumour paper was retracted because it was junk science rejected by food safety authorities around the world.
“Following a review of the published data,scientists from Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have identified significant shortcomings in the study design, implementation and reporting. The methodology used was inadequately described, the full data set was not presented, and the data that was reported was not presented in a transparent manner. Furthermore, the statistical methods used by the authors to analyze the data were judged to be inappropriate. These limitations make the validity of the study results difficult to determine…”
Third time Seralini et al has been caught publishing pseudo-science.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/gmf-agm/seralini-eng.php
No health authority in the world has ever found a link between food derived from GE crops and any of those disorders.
if you want to point a finger at pollinator issues look at Vorroa mites, a definite smoking gun. Here is what the experts say about the alleged connection between GE crops and bees:
“Verdict on Bt crops: The specific Bt cry proteins used in GM crops were intentionally chosen to not cause harm to bees. There is no evidence to date that they do. On the other hand, Bt crops require less use of insecticides that are clearly toxic to bees [25].
}Verdict on GM crops in general: Quote from the USDA:
…”there is no correlation between where GM crops are planted
and the pattern ofCCD incidents. Also, GM crops have been widely planted since the late 1990s,but CCD did not appear until 2006. In addition, CCD has been reported in countries that do not allow GM crops to be planted, such as Switzerland “[33].
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/sick-bees-part-18e-colony-collapse-revisited-genetically-modified-plants/
The use of glyphosate has allowed farmers to reduce or eliminate harsher herbicides with higher EIQ’s. I do agree better stewardship is needed for HT crops though.
You need to read some real science on glyphosate:
The BfR has finalised its draft report for the re-evaluation of glyphosate more than 150 new toxicological studies were evaluated for the first time
In addition, all available toxicological studies (nearly 300) were re-assessed about 900 publications from scientific journals have been considered in the draft report and more than 200 publications data were reviewed
in detail
Do not show carcinogenic or mutagenic properties of glyphosate nor that glyphosate is toxic to fertility, reproduction or embryonal/fetal development in laboratory animals.
http://www.bfr.bund.de/en/the_bfr_has_finalised_its_draft_report_for_the_re_evaluation_of_glyphosate-188632.html
Your worries about trangenics have been studied for decades and the global scientific opinion is very different from yours:
A Decade of EU-Funded GMO Research 2001-2010
Food Safety:
“The main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130 research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research, and involving more than 500 independent research groups, is that biotechnology, and in particular GMOs, are not per se more risky than conventional plant breeding technologies.”
”
“The World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the British Royal Society, and every other respected organization that has examined the evidence has come to the same conclusion: consuming foods containing ingredients derived from GM crops is no riskier than consuming the same foods containing ingredients from crop plants modified by conventional plant improvement techniques.”
(American Association for the Advancement of Science 2012)
You apparently have little knowledge about Bt or how DNA is digested:
From the OECD Consensus Document on Plants Expressing Insecticidal Proteins:
“Health:
Both the long history of safe use of B. thuringiensis and the acute oral toxicity data allow for a conclusion that these and other δ-endotoxins pose negligible toxicity risk to humans.
Environment:
The overall safety record for Bt has been established in laboratory and field studies, which have looked at both formulated Bt sprays [Organic] and specific Bt genes [GMO]in planta (Betz et al.,2000; Siegel, 2001; Federici, 2002).”
(UN-OECD 2004)
Robert Wager is a pro-GMO troll. He presents himself as an academic but he is actually a biology technician at Vancouver University College in Vancover , Canada…google him and you can confirm this…
says the anonymous troll…
Mark Donner has been posting the exact same post on every site on the web that discusses anything to do with GMO’s . He ise a new spammer in this area of debate.
Exactly as Mr. Donner said. It ain’t about the GMO organisms. The whole GMO thing really is a smoke screen because the larger issue is chemical use, primarily GLYPHOSATE. The thing is, not only is it used on Roundup Ready GMO crops (corn, soy, sugar beets). It is used on all conventionally grown grains, beans and seeds and for those this systemic herbicide is applied a week before harvest to kill everything so that all of the crop can be harvested at the same time. All grains. It is in every loaf of bread, box of cereal and oatmeal, all pancakes, tortillas, sunflower seeds, cane sugar, peanut butter… and none of those grains, beans and seeds are genetically modified in a lab. They want you to worry about the genes so that you don’t focus on the herbicides used to dry down the crops.
GMO is a dangerous poison. Eating genetically modified corn (GM corn) and consuming trace levels of Monsanto’s Roundup chemical fertilizer caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. rats exposed to even the smallest amounts, “developed mammary tumors and severe liver and kidney damage as early as four months in males, and seven months for females.” The animals on the GM diet suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. Everywhere GMO is being grown, food allergies, disorders such as autism, reproductive disorders, digestive problems, and others have been skyrocketing in the human populations.
There has been a drastic decline of crop-pollinating insects all over the world, and what this means for the future of the world’s food supply. Wild pollinators like bumblebees, butterflies, and beetles are basically disappearing. GMO industrial agricultural practices are causing this insect genocide. Pollinating insects in general, which include a wide range of insects and other animals, are simply vanishing from their normal habitats and foraging areas. That lower diversity and lower abundance of wild insects means less fruits and destruction of the diversity of plants and their fruits worldwide.
GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel. It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool. Self-propagating GMO pollution will outlast the effects of global warming and nuclear waste. The potential impact is huge, threatening the health of future generations. GMO contamination has also caused economic losses for organic and non-GMO farmers who often struggle to keep their crops pure.
GMOs increase herbicide use. Most GM crops are engineered to be “herbicide tolerant”―surviving deadly weed killers. Monsanto, for example, sells Roundup Ready crops, designed to survive applications of their Roundup herbicide. Between 1996 and 2008, US farmers sprayed an extra 383 million pounds of herbicide on GMOs. Overuse of Roundup results in “superweeds,” resistant to the herbicide. This is causing farmers to use even more toxic herbicides every year. Not only does this create environmental harm, GM foods contain higher residues of toxic herbicides. Roundup, for example, is linked with sterility, hormone disruption, birth defects, and cancer.
GM crops and their associated herbicides can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms. They reduce bio-diversity, pollute water resources, and are unsustainable. For example, GM crops are eliminating habitat for monarch butterflies, whose populations are down 50% in the US. Roundup herbicide has been shown to cause birth defects in amphibians, embryonic deaths and endocrine disruptions, and organ damage in animals even at very low doses. GM canola has been found growing wild in North Dakota and California, threatening to pass on its herbicide tolerant genes on to weeds.
By mixing genes from totally unrelated species, genetic engineering unleashes a host of unpredictable side effects. Moreover, irrespective of the type of genes that are inserted, the very process of creating a GM plant can result in massive collateral damage that produces new toxins, allergens, carcinogens, and nutritional deficiencies.
GMOs do not increase yields, and work against feeding a hungry world.
Whereas sustainable non-GMO agricultural methods used in developing countries have conclusively resulted in yield increases of 79% and higher, GMOs do not, on average, increase yields at all. This was evident in the Union of Concerned Scientists’ 2009 report Failure to Yield―the definitive study to date on GM crops and yield.
The toxins associated with GMO should never be tolerated. NEONICOTINOID PESTICIDE neurotoxins are absolutely the main factor causing the collapse of bee and pollinator populations along with other lethal chemicals, glysophate, etc. When these poisons are banned as they were in Europe the bee populations start to recover. GMO neonicotinoids, roundup etc. MUST BE BANNED OUTRIGHT and all the farmers along with USDA, Biotech and chemical companies told to cease and desist from what they are doing.
An even scarier prospect: the “BT” version of GMO soybeans and corn, (basically pesticides engineered directly into the plant )
The “BT toxin” gene is put into the DNA of the corn in order for it to manufacture its own toxins that kill pests. The BT gene originated from a soil bacteria that also infiltrates the microflora (friendly digestive bacteria) in your gut. The Bt gene converts the microflora in your intestine into toxin-manufacturing machines.
So, to be clear, eating GMO corn products can cause your gut (which is primarily responsible for keeping you healthy) to turn into a breeding ground for tiny little pesticide factories inside your body, actively creating toxins which are designed to kill living things. These toxins are found in the blood and are readily transferred across the placenta to developing babies in the womb.