If you’re walking past the Lincoln Park Whole Foods this morning and see
a huge heap of food sitting on the ground, it’s not a sale. The Organic Consumers Association,
as part of their “Millions Against Monsanto” campaign, is dumping
genetically modified foods in front of Whole Foods at noon. They’ll also
be holding a press conference, in an attempt to convince more of the
food-shopping public that GMO foods should be labeled.

The “Millions Against Monsanto” campaign is fighting for transparency
in labeling, an issue which causes tremors amongst the food industry.
While almost all of us have eaten genetically modified food of some
sort, a 2006 survey by Pew
indicates that less than 30% of consumers think they have – probably
because there is no requirement that genetically-modified food be
labelled. On the other hand, food producers are worried consumers are
much less likely to buy foods if they have scary labels with scientific
terms on them, and Monsanto claims that genetically modified foods have
no proven health risks.
[Full Disclosure – I am a member of the OCA, but do not plan to participate in this protest.]

The problem gets even more complicated. In order to get USDA organic
certification, a product cannot contain GMOs. Whole Foods also has started a program,
through the Non-GMO project, to make sure that their store-brand
products are GMO free. But, Whole Foods (despite its environmental
credentials) still carries many conventional products, which may contain
GMOs. Should they be forced to label them?