I was searching around the ‘net this morning looking for some pictures of corn fields for the re-theming of my website (you can check the progress by selecting “damuhan” in the theme switcher on the bottom right), when I came upon an interesting page. A company called Peeled Snacks was celebrating that its fruit and nut products that would soon be available in Whole Foods stores, but were lamenting the fact that Whole Foods was forcing them to use non-biodegradable packaging? How the hell?

Peeled Snacks presents the problem.

Great, splendid, problem solved-our customers get their multipacks, which in turn get turned into plantfood, which in turn gets eaten by, you know, “plants”, and the “Circle of Life” warms all our hearts and brings peace to the Middle East, and even makes Dick Cheney see the light and buy everyone Christmas Turkeys. Good, glad that’s finished, now we can just ship it all to Whole Foods and watch the money and peace and happiness roll in….

But WAIT!!! Yesterday we got the word from one of our buyers at Whole Foods that they won’t take these corn-tastic wonders of packaging design because Whole Foods isn’t sure whether or not they’re…..

…made with Genetically Modified Corn!

Gasp! You mean, we can’t use compostable corn products because the corn may have been tainted in some scientist’s laboratory? Because nature hate’s unfair competition? Because cross-pollination might lead to a race of super-intelligent Corn-Monsters that enslave humanity, coat us with butter, and nibble us in rows or pop us giant air-popper machines…..?

Yes, folks, Whole foods announced back in 1999 that they would be banning Genetically Engineered crops from their brand name, along with most if not all of the products in their store.

Austin, Texas, Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) — Whole Foods Market Inc. and Wild Oats Markets Inc., the two largest natural-food store chains in the U.S., plan to ban genetically modified ingredients from their hundreds of private-label products.

The reason given were consumer concerns over the safety of GE crops, and Whole Foods is very attuned to the demands of their customers. This is why, in 2005, as biodegradable plastics made from cornstarch have become more available and demand has risen, Whole Foods decided that they would start providing utensils and plates that were made from corn, rather than oil.

The Whole Foods “How Green Are We?” page attests,

We are implementing the use of reusable and biodegradable plates and bowls in our dining areas.

But as a Yahoo Answers questions asker asks:

Why did Whole Foods market stop using the Ceraplast biodegradable utensils abruptly, what concerns are there?

made of corn and plastic and a company employee said all whole foods took all off the shelves and said they would not use them anymore.

Now I don’t know what the current state of Whole Foods is on this - whether they don’t have any biodegradable plastic utensils anymore or what. I seem to remember that they still do, but don’t quote me on that. Perhaps I could stop by and ask them sometime soon, but you can quickly see what is wrong with this picture.

Essentially, by making the NO-GMO issue a higher priority, they are forcing companies to do things that are less sustainable. Companies that want to use biodegradable plastic - those that believe that cornstarch-based packaging is better than petroleum-based plastics and styrofoam - will not be able to sell their products at Whole Foods unless they can make sure that no genetically engineered corn was used in the making of that packaging.
This is absurd. But how do we get to this point? Because we’re dealing with reality, and reality is full of contradictions, both real and imaginary.
Peeled Snacks describes the conflict.

We’re crossing culturally into a strange battleground, one with a hundred armies on the field, none of who know whom to fight. Should we protect American labor, or promote 3rd world economies? Should we provide food for the neediest, or only eat local? Should everything be bio-degradeable, or should everything be made of untainted material? And while none of these questions are “either/or,” nobody gets to have it both ways.

But, in fact, Whole Foods gets to have it their way. With that response, we quickly put the Kibosh on the corn-based packaging, for better or worse. Instead we’ll use something that either breeds war in the Middle East (petro-chemicals), or is making it harder to breath (cardboard). Boy, it sure is tough to have a bleeding heart these days. Nobody wants to clean up the blood stains….

At the bottom of their “green” page, Whole Foods asserts,

At Whole Foods Market, we take our commitment to the environment to heart as one of the core values of our company. (…) By doing all those things listed here, we’re thinking and acting green.

Are they? Or is the idea that GE crops cannot in any possible conceivable way be a part of a sustainable future colliding with the realities of sustainability? Whole Foods does a lot of good things, but in this issue, I think they are dead wrong. They have manufactured a contradiction where there isn’t one.
I always like to point out that Treebeard best summarized my position on this issue,

Side? I am on nobody’s side, because nobody is on my side.

I want people to think more scientifically about these things. Fewer assumptions, less armchair philosophy, less politics, and a little more grounding of our ideas in reality.
Turn’s out, I have a very pretty field of corn with some plants of mine that I got to see today, (and didn’t know they existed until yesterday) so look to see a picture of that incorporated into my blog theme at the bottom. And I got a tour of several research fields out there, and a little taste of the diverse set of ideas floating around like pollen in these here plant biology labs. I couldn’t even begin to say what I think is best, because I’m just starting to find out what’s out there, and who know’s what’s possible!