Originally published October 9 2012
Whole Foods censors the truth, hides undercover GMO exposure by pulling videos from YouTube
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Lots of media organizations, notably a number of newspapers that risk national security by publishing supremely sensitive information, claim they should not be criticized for doing so because the public "has a right to know" such things.
Not all media groups feel that way, however. Add YouTube to that list.
A recent controversial video of an undercover investigation into GMO foods at the "organic" grocery chain Whole Foods Market has been pulled from the self-loading visual social media site days after its release sparked a raucous reaction throughout alternative sites and the health-conscious blogosphere.
In a "sting" video released by an organization calling itself "Organic Spies," covert footage suggests Whole Foods has been deceiving customers by claiming the chain adheres to a mantra of organic foods over GMOs, while at the same time selling a large portion of products containing a host of GMO ingredients.
Even employees don't know
Statements made on-camera by a number of Whole Foods employees in the L.A. area demonstrate that its workers don't even realize the presence of GMO foods on store shelves, putting the average customer even more in the dark.
But that original video, posted this week and which had well over 100,000 views, was yanked by YouTube, ostensibly over Terms of Service violations.
"Typically, this indicates a 3rd party complaint, though YouTube no longer automatically informs users of the identities of parties who make claims against videos, so the role of Whole Foods here is not clear," said Infowars.com.
Whole Foods did; however, respond directly to the video on the company's blog. In doing so, the food chain retailer admitted some of its products did indeed contain GMO ingredients, going on to promise to better inform employees of the facts:
"The YouTube video showing our store Team Members giving conflicting responses to a question about GMOs reminds us that while we try to keep all our 70,000 Team Members up-to-speed on the latest information, clearly we need to do more. Some products in our stores DO contain GMOs - just like any other food store in the country, due to the pervasiveness of GMOs..."
There appears to be a healthy dose of hypocrisy occurring here as well. For instance, Whole Foods is touting the retailer's support for California's Prop 37 - which Natural News also supports because it would mandate the labeling of GMOs. The food store chain came under hard criticism for not donating financially to the measure as a means of countering the heavy spending by those opposed to it such as the biotech industry and their allies.
History of cover ups and shady dealings
Indeed, Whole Foods states that officially its policy specifically does not allow such financial backing of political measures like Prop 37, though the company's top executives have donated to a number of telltale campaigns.
"Evidence that major advocates for organic foods are ultimately serving the interests of genetic engineering is sad, particularly at a time when Monsanto and other biotech giants threaten to saturate the world market with dangerous GMO foods that remain unlabeled and yet have been found to contribute to cancerous tumors and other devastating health effects in lab rats fed Monsanto's GM corn," says Infowars.com.
The pervasiveness of GMO foods is getting obscene.
"Genetically modified crops make up 93 percent of all soy, 86 percent of all corn and 93 percent of all canola seeds planted in the United States and are used in an estimated 70 percent of all American processed food," UPI reported in March 2011, quoting the Chicago Tribune's figures.
Besides the group's expose on Whole Foods' GMO-containing products, Organic Spies has also done reports on shady relationships between Organic Trade Association board members, food companies and GMO foods; as well as why the OTA and other trade groups don't want GMO labeling. See them here.
Sources:
http://www.infowars.com/whole-foods-censors-gmo-expose/
http://www.youtube.com/user/OrganicSpies
http://www.naturalnews.com/032628_Whole_Foods_GMOs.html
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