Whole Foods is throwing its weight behind Proposition 37, the “right to know” ballot measure that California will vote on this November to enforce the labeling of genetically modified foods at your grocery store. The endorsement is one of many that clarifies the two opposing sides, with farmers and natural food outlets standing in support of the measure, which is resisted by the grocery industry that would have to lay bare its wares, junk food and soda producers that use the stuff, and the biotech companies that produce them. Currently, Prop. 37’s enemies have out-raised the measure’s supporters by more than $21 million, while these types of mass-market food forces were recently accused of funding a questionable study that called into question the benefits of eating organic foods.
Of course, seeing as organics is the basic bread and butter of the country’s biggest natural foods retailer, Whole Foods’ endorsement is hardly a shocker. Still, the market empire takes issue against the set minimum of how much genetically engineered content would actually require the labeling and still opposes the right of attorneys to sue retailers who violate the rule on behalf of the state, arguments the proposition’s backers call “misguided.”
