Eden Foods bills itself as the “oldest natural and organic food company in America” and is best known for its EdenSoy line of organic soy milk.
Most of Eden’s products are organic and nearly all are vegan.
It’s a very familiar brand in health food stores and marketing studies have shown it to be a favorite of female and liberal customers.
These customers, to put it mildly, are not pleased with the news that Eden hired the Thomas More Law Center to file a lawsuit against Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and other government parties, associated with the Obama administration’s rule on contraception.
The lawsuit claims the contraception rule violates Eden Foods owner Michael Potter’s religious freedom under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by requiring him to provide his employees with medical coverage for contraception.
Potter believes contraception “almost always involves immoral and unnatural practices.”
Irin Carmon at Salon.com launched the story yesterday (April 11, 2013). Predictably enough, it has gone viral, with a massive outcry on Facebook and other social media.
In brief, protesters are not pleased by Eden’s pursuit of a right-wing ideological agenda and its espousal of Catholic church teachings on the evils of contraception. Thousands of people have already voiced their intent to stop buying Eden products, including Facebook commenter Cheryl DeMarco who summed up the issues particularly well. “Now that you’ve sued to avoid providing birth control coverage to your employees based on bogus science, I don’t trust you to provide me with clean food based on good science. I won’t be buying your products.”
As yet, the debaters have not pointed out the supreme irony of Eden Foods — one of the top manufacturers of soy milk — coming out against birth control. All soy milks — including organic soy milks — include high levels of the plant estrogens known as isoflavones. Over the past seven decades, scientists have linked isoflavones to reproductive problems in all animal tested, including the human animal. For women, soy contributes to anovulatory cycles and other symptoms indicative of infertility; for men, it causes adverse effects on the quality and quantity of sperm.
The illustration posted by Salon.com — and posted here — was surely not intended to be literal. But yes, this product can make birth control unnecessary!
Indeed, in the 1970s the World Health Organization funded a $5 million study through the University of Chicago and sent researchers out in the field in search of all-natural contraceptives. The idea was to find a safe and effective alternative to the high-dose birth control pills of that era. Researchers visited dozens of native cultures to discover which herbs and plants were being used to prevent pregnancy, examined hundreds of plants and analyzed their phytochemicals. Although they found many contraceptive plants — soy, prominently among them — they ultimately abandoned the project. Not because “natural” methods didn’t work, but because the side effects were similar to — and just as serious — as those of the birth control pill.
The obvious conclusion here is that customers who consume EdenSoy “soy milks” are unwittingly —and almost certainly unwillingly — swallowing liquid birth control. Lest any readers at this point think soy milk might a good “all natural” form of contraception, however, my advice is don’t count on it! Soy isoflavone content varies from carton to carton, and any contraceptive effects would depend as well on the amount and duration of consumption.
Eden Foods furthermore has a shabby track record in terms of supporting the health of babies. In 1990 the FDA investigated after a two-month old girl in California was hospitalized with severe malnutrition. Her parents had fed her EdenSoy brand soy milk instead of infant formula. Because of this and a similar incident in Arkansas involving the SoyMoo brand of soy milk, the FDA issued a warning on June 13, 1990, stating soy milk was “grossly lacking in the nutrients needed for infants.” The FDA asked — but unfortunately has never required — all manufacturers to put warning labels on soy milk so that they would not be used as formula substitutes.
Since these tragic incidents, most brands of soy milk — but not EdenSoy — include warning labels in tiny print on their packaging.
Sadly, babies continue to be hospitalized and die because of EdenSoy and other brands of soy milk. At least four couples have been found guilty of the deaths of their babies fed soy milk in lieu of soy infant formula. Many of these parents were health conscious, well-meaning vegans who truly thought they were doing a good thing for their babies by choosing organic soy milk instead of commercial soy formula. The myth that soy is a health food and Eden’s irresponsibility led to these tragic deaths.
How many more unnecessary and tragic cases of malnutrition and deaths will occur before Eden takes the right action? For me, the “right action” is clear: Boycott Eden Foods.
Sources
For more information about Eden’s lawsuit:
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/11/organic_eden_foods_quiet_right_wing_agenda/
For more information about soy formula and the effect soy milk and other products containing soy vegetable protein on reproduction, The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food.
Wait Eden soy is a birth control? Hmm and I thaught natural family planning was working…. Hmmpfff. Never took a birth control pill and drinking soy had not effected my hormones according to blood tests but if Eden soy is helping me not get pregnant ( as ignorant as it may sound) then I’m all for it!
You can’t really compare the two….people are free to consume unhealthy food if they desire and people should also be free to act in accord with their conscience.
Couldn’t have said it better myself Christine. Thank you.
I recently liked this page because I thought it was about health, not a springboard for politics. Who cares if the guy believes contraception is evil, is he not allowed or do liberals only believe that people who agree with them are “good?” What happened to celebrate diversity?
I am very disappointed that The Healthy Home Economist would even post this story.
I joined WAPF a little over a year ago. During that time, I recall an article in their journal that nonchalantly tossed around the merits of birth control. This is puzzling. This is an organization that prides itself on health consciousness, but it will not address the fact that oral contraceptives are all class 1 carcinogens.
It is little known that women died in the first trials of oral contraceptives. The fix was to lower the dosage.
I agree, Nick. If this firm wants to take a stand, let them. This is hardly a Republican or right wing belief. Is there a moral equivalence between food choice and the owner’s belief that contraception is evil? Hardly.
“…in brief, protesters are not pleased by Eden’s pursuit of a right-wing ideological agenda…” Can we stop with the “right-wing ideological agenda” phrase? ugh…
Thank you Christine for stating that so eloquently.
?!!
What the linked article fails to recognize is that to people who believe life begins at conception, birth control pills are a direct attack on life, because all chemical birth control has a mode of action that prevents a fertilized egg from implanting. So to him, providing coverage is participating in a couple’s direct decision to attack human life. While I believe soy is definitely bad and affects fertility, that’s not why people drink it. Further, a lot of people in the health food industry don’t agree soy is unhealthy. This guy is obviously one of them. The attempt to equate the two things is ridiculous.
Needing a ‘like’ button here! You nailed it, Christine. I wish I drank soy milk because I would buy some to support him. I don’t believe it is good for me, but he has the right to sell it just as much as McDonald’s has the right to sell icky burgers and traditional producers have the right to sell healthy food. We should also have the right to our religious freedom.
Agreed!
So well put. I don’t eat or drink soy, but I’d buy Edensoy just to support their position. Wonder if the author had called for a boycott of these products before they decided to stand up for the freedom of religion and life.
Agree as well. And where is the outrage for the doctor on trial for murdering living human beings by snipping the spinal cord from the head.
AGREED!!! It’s so funny that people demand to have freedom, even religious freedom but insist that if what they believe is different from the next person then the next person should not be able to continue on with their religious beliefs. How are you allowing freedom if you only allow it within your specific context? I do not consume soy, but would buy this product just to support religious freedom!
I have to say that when I have read anything about that doctor and how he murdered those babies, I feel sick to my stomach. I can not imagine hearing the “dying cries” of these precious human beings… I almost can’t get my mind wrapped around what he did. It is like Nazi Germany. I am outraged…and also stunned almost beyond belief. Horrible.
June- While I agree your story about the doctor is horrendous, where was abortion mentioned in this article? The doctor you wrote about is not mentioned in this blog either. Why on earth would you expect the readers of the above blog to express outrage in this comments section over something that wasn’t even mentioned in this blog? Contraception does not equal abortion.
I have been Roman Catholic all 49 years of my life. I attended Catholic school until my sophmore year in high school (yes I regret transferring to public school, but don’t tell my parents). I have prayed the rosary in front of abortion clinics. So yes, I’m pretty devout. I know the difference between contraception and abortion, and this story was not about abortion.
I will be boycotting Eden foods! That is correct. I WILL BE boycotting Eden foods.
Mark,
As a practicing Catholic, you should be well aware of the Church’s position on abortion AND contraception. You should also know that the birth control pill, Norplant, Depo-Provera, the morning after pill, and others are all abortifacients. This is not an opinion of the church; this is a scientific fact.
Well said.
I completely agree. I’m a devout Roman Catholic with Libertarian political views. Forcing a business owner to pay for birth control pills is wrong on so many levels. What a ridiculous comparison!
This is not about birth control or Obamacare. It is about corporate hypocrisy. What the Eden Foods CEO believes is fine of course and his right to sue the Obama Administration over a conflict with his views it totally appropriate. The point of this article is to point out the hypocrisy between what he is touting via the lawsuit and the health robbing, infertility promoting type of products his company sells.
Sarah, I don’t believe you expected other points-of-view to differ with you. Your argument is weak for why you wanted to point out this hypocrisy.
It’s not my argument. I didn’t write this post. And, as someone from the South who is fairly right wing and was raised a Roman Catholic, I was not at all offended by Kaayla’s language.
It is on your blog, not hers so you have given the post some measure of endorsement. (And you are, of course, free to do so.)
Consider this – would you replace “Catholic” with “Orthodox Jewish” or “Muslim” without changing any of the descriptives?
I am in one of the most so called liberal and unchurched areas in the nation. However, the Catholics who practice their faith here are by far the most truly liberal insofar as being tolerant and accepting of others – you can do this and not agree with someone.
It’s not about where you are from, but about conditioning. It’s about the fact that Catholic bashing is still an accepted form of discrimination in the US.
Sarah, I refer many to your blog for the W.A.P.F. nutrition information, but this article is DEFINATELY about birth control.
“In brief, protesters are not pleased by Eden’s pursuit of a right-wing ideological agenda and its espousal of Catholic church teachings on the evils of contraception. Thousands of people have already voiced their intent to stop buying Eden products, including Facebook commenter Cheryl DeMarco who summed up the issues particularly well. “Now that you’ve sued to avoid providing birth control coverage to your employees based on bogus science, I don’t trust you to provide me with clean food based on good science. I won’t be buying your products.”
You did make it about birth control & Obamacare (and Catholic teaching) as did Eden Foods:
“In brief, protesters are not pleased by Eden’s pursuit of a right-wing ideological agenda and its espousal of Catholic church teachings on the evils of contraception. Thousands of people have already voiced their intent to stop buying Eden products, including Facebook commenter Cheryl DeMarco who summed up the issues particularly well. “Now that you’ve sued to avoid providing birth control coverage to your employees based on bogus science, I don’t trust you to provide me with clean food based on good science. I won’t be buying your products.”
This site is enjoyed by this Catholic reader as one source to help keep my family healthy and informed about food and nutrition, consistent with Weston Price & Nourishing Traditions. Strange it would advocate for government imposed employer financing of any and all means of birth control, largely comprised of unnatural methods of chemical fertility regulation that can also act secondarily as an abortifacient, and are often accompanied by other serious health risks…
It does seem rather inconsistent with a food philosophy that respects traditional, natural foods, prepared in traditional, natural ways, going the extra mile, spending more time preparing foods properly, locating healthy, often pricey, organic foods to avoid unnecessary chemicals, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and genetically modified products, and then advocate, when it comes to birth control, for regularly ingesting chemicals and hormones, many of which are not recommended when breastfeeding, and have been linked to environmental concerns, identified in our water supply and freshwater fish species. In the US, hermaphrodite fish are not at all uncommon now.
http://news.discovery.com/animals/whales-dolphins/more-hermaphrodite-fish-in-us.htm
Pax et bonum
Thank you, Brian. Birth control pills are anything but natural and healthy. They generally contain synthetic estrogen and progesterone. They interfere with the natural female fertility cycle, short-circuiting the normal hormonal process in the body by the addition of unnecessary extra artificial hormones. The Pill can also alter the normal mineral balance in the human body.and deplete Vitamin B6 and folic acid. If anything, the owner of Eden Foods is doing his employees a favor by not paying for them to get this poison purveyed by Big Pharma.
Oh, and he’s not pushing an “agenda,” he’s trying to live by what he believes. if he said he didn’t believe in birth control because it’s unnatural and we should only be putting natural things into our bodies, would you be as up-in-arms about that?
The thing is…it’s not his place to make decisions about birth control for his employees. I’m not Catholic, or Christian, and religious freedom includes the right not to live under the religious mandates that I don’t agree with. If you don’t agree w/ the use of birth control, then don’t use it, and guide your children in that direction if you so wish. Nobody else has the right to make that decision for me.
Thankfully, I live in a state (Colorado) where birth control coverage is absolutely mandatory in prescription drug coverage. Nobody is giving it to me for free, but at least I only have to pay a $10 co-pay for it. Unfortunately, my insurance plan is a “Grandfathered plan,” so it doesn’t have to adhere to the Birth Control Mandate. I have this belief of not over populating the Earth w/ unwanted children, and I intend to exercise that right fully! Thank you very much.
Poor logic Roxanne. He is not stopping his employees from obtaining birth control; just refusing to pay for it. Two very different things.
>If you don’t agree w/ the use of birth control, then don’t use it
I don’t use it. Never have; I use modern, natural methods of family planning which are highly effective and only have three kids. So even though I don’t buy into the overpopulation propaganda I’m still not “overpopulating the planet.”
And Eden Foods is not making decisions about birth control for its employees. As CMMOM points out, they are just refusing to foot the bill for it, which is very different. If the employees want to give some of their hard-earned money to Big Pharma so they can poison their bodies with artificial hormones, they’re free to do that. I don’t recommend it but this is America. I’m sure they don’t want conservative Christians telling them what they can do in their bedrooms, but they are demanding that conservative Christians pay for the pills and devices they use in their bedrooms? That strikes me as inconsistent.
I agree on the hypocrisy, and it’s obvious that Michael Potter needs to be educated about the dangers of soy, but what I took offense to was the tone of the post in which his views are portrayed as part of a “right-wing ideological agenda and its espousal of Catholic church teachings on the evils of contraception.”
If the real issue is that he needs to stop selling soy products, why include the slams against the beliefs of his, and my, faith?
Kelly
Why do people get so offended all the time? I just don’t get it. Kaayla’s language didn’t offend me at all and I was raised Catholic and am a conservative as well.
Nearly all processed foods contains soy and I am sure EVERY company can be found to have some kind of hypocrisy. Yet the exercising of religious freedom is singled out here.
” . . . protesters are not pleased by Eden’s pursuit of a right-wing ideological agenda and its espousal of Catholic church teachings on the evils of contraception . . . ” is a pretty offensive way of putting it.
I really encourage you to ask your readers why they find it offensive so you can get to know a portion of your readers better. I find this article offensive yet I am not “offended all the time,” but rarely so. I don’t eat or drink soy but I support Eden all the way.
Sarah, I have enjoyed your logical and to the point stance in the past and I would love to hear your thoughts after reading through all of the comments posted here. I think you are way off the mark on this one, and although you did not write the article you do support the illogical comparison of apples to oranges. I am going to use your article as a critical thinking exercise for my teenage daughter, who loves your blog by the way.
Actually, Sarah, Kaayla’s article _is_ clearly slanted–with an emphasis on the negative reaction to Potter’s suit — hence all the negative comments. We applaud his fight over this issue of liberty: to not be forced to provide a service you disagree with. We like many Eden products including organic popcorn, unsweetened coconut, etc. We’ll certainly keep supporting his company.
Hi, Sarah and Kaayla. I would like to make a point, that while I am not “offended” per se, I find that the article was more about birth control and less about corporate hypocrisy than perhaps was intended. The lawsuit is over religious freedom. The article even says, “The lawsuit claims the contraception rule violates Eden Foods owner Michael Potter’s religious freedom under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by requiring him to provide his employees with medical coverage for contraception. Potter believes contraception ‘almost always involves immoral and unnatural practices.’”
If he were suing on the basis that contraception is unhealthy, then I can see where there would be some hypocrisy, and it would make much more sense to compare it with the fact that his soy milk products are unhealthy.
Furthermore, the fact that he is taking a stand against the government makes me want to support him by buying his products, not boycotting them. Of course, I’m not going to be buying soy milk, but I can’t help but feel that the government is at least partially to blame for the fact that so many misinformed people do. I fight for my right to buy raw milk (which the government says I can’t), but I should also have the right to buy soy milk or even smoke marijuana. I also should have the right to live my daily life without being forced to commit a mortal sin. Michael Potter has that same rights and the fact that he is standing up for his rights makes me see him as an ally and not an enemy.
Let’s hope that he becomes better informed on soy, and let’s hope that when that happens he has the moral conviction to adjust his marketing to be more in line with health instead of demand. Let’s NOT punish him for providing a product that many people want on the grounds that he should be responsible for how these people use the product or because he doesn’t view providing this product as the same as being forced to commit a sin.
Hear, hear Trudy….well said.
Sarah, I am sure if he actually KNEW the truth about soy, he might phase the product out, perhaps get fermented soy products going instead. The trouble is, people have been so brainwashed by the soy industry! I have lots of friends who suffered infertility, but when I point out about soy, they call me nuts.
First: she made it about Obamacare with this quote:
“…in brief, protesters are not pleased by Eden’s pursuit of a right-wing ideological agenda…
And Sarah, I don’t think you’re really hearing your readers. Not only is the “I am not offended and I was raised Catholic” poorly reasoned, but it’s haughty by making your beliefs and feelings the common denominator (ie If I’m not offended, so therefor, why are you?). Furthermore, With all due respect, you described yourself as someone who “was raised Catholic.” Can you understand the difference of reading the article with a viewpoint of someone who has continued to learn and understand and practice their Faith? Who sees these truths as beautiful and from God and holds them in their heart?
Also, I find it fascinating that the article written (and comments) are so anti-soy are so convinced in themselves. I am a natural foods/whole foods eater and was healed of nasty, severe eczema (after many, many other natural and convential methods failed) through taking Shaklee Vitamins and SHaklee Soy Protein! I researched the soy question myself as was not convinced by the WAPF “soy is unhealthy” position.
.
I believe it was sensational and unreasonable to compare soy milk to a lab-produced class one carcinogen. Seriously. I’ll delve deeper- those soy isoflavones have been shown to actually prevent the seriously dangerous, ie cancer causing xeno-estrogens (hmm, actually, that is what a birth control pill is!) from settling in the cell receptor sites. Of course, it is important that soy is non gmo and is produced well (low heat, etc.) but I get frustrated when people blanket soy as bad.
The owner is not paying for birth control pills. He is paying for health insurance for his employees, just like he pays their salaries. It is none of an employers business what an employee does with their salary and benefits.
If I am philosophically opposed to chemotherapy (and I am), should I be able to deny my employees health insurance that covers chemo? Cause it’s the same thing as denying them birth control based on philosophical beliefs.
It’s none of my business with what my employees do with the benefits they EARNED, no matter what my religion or philosophy. I do not have a right to force my beliefs down their throats.
EXACTLY!
EXACTLY! IMO, he is using his own personal beliefs to avoid having to provide health care insurance funding to employees.
Birth control is not health care! As an owner of HIS own company in a free country, he should be free to decide what benefits he offers and if a potential employee doesn’t like it they can go somewhere else. He is not stopping anyone from obtaining birth control, just refusing to pay for it.
Well who defines health care then? In my plan it can be anything from dental care to chiropractic care or massage therapy! Some people use ‘birth control pills’ for health reasons and not birth control. Is it health care then? Is it only health care if it treats an ailment? Just curious who gets to define that.
My point is really that I believe he is just using this as a platform to put more $$ in his pocket and claiming that it is for a moral reason. Isn’t that what so many corporations do?
Megan,
Do you really think he is just trying to save himself money? Lawsuits are not cheap. You know what is? Birth control. Oh yeah, and if he does NOT provide this coverage, he will be penalized with very high fines. That’s certainly not cheap.
Megan – what about the tons of customers he lost by standing by his moral convictions. This was definitely not about the money!
The problem is that the government is redefining words all of the time. Our country is slipping into decline over semantics and people are going along with it! My common sense tells me that birth control is just what the label defines.
Well, our constitution doesn’t safeguard against government interference with philosophies. It does, however, do that with regards to religion. He’s not saying that he doesn’t want to pay that based on just a general dislike of birth control. He’s saying that FORCING him to pay for it (yes, paying for an insurance policy that covers birth control is paying for birth control) violates his Constitutionally protected rights.
“It’s none of my business with what my employees do with the benefits they EARNED, no matter what my religion or philosophy.” It is none of your business what your employees do with their benefits earned, but it is your business what you pay them, and he doesn’t want to pay in birth control benefits.
How do you not see that the government should in no way force someone to violate their religious beliefs? How do you not see that the government should in no way interfere with a business owner’s right to enter into a private contract? He should hire whomever he chooses and pay whatever he chooses if that person is willing to voluntarily enter into that contract. If they aren’t, then he can hire someone who is.
Do you not understand fully how health coverage works? Michael Potter is paying out of his pocket, from the funds of the company HE OWNS, for health coverage as a benefit to his employees. It is called a benefit. He chose the health coverage company and the benefit package for his employees because he is fronting the money! Then the employee pays into that same package with their money. Two contributors.
If he is opposed to birth control for religious reasons, it is within his constitutional right not have to pay for them. The employees can use lots of options to pay for them on their own! They can use the pre-tax medications fund most companies have or they can use their own salary – their hard earned money that can be used for whatever they please! But HIS money is his and he is within his rights to have a conviction and stand for it.
By the same token, those upset by Eden’s political stance can use their hard-earned money to spend it elsewhere. No one is forcing them to buy Eden products or prohibiting them from buying products. Because the money is 100% theirs alone.
The healthcare coverage comes from Potter. He is within his rights.
I totally agree. This a bogus straw man’s argument. Let’s face it-the soy issue “It’s bad for you because It causes infertility” is not a science based and excepted concept recognized in Health and Medicine. I believe that we Have the Right to Religious Freedom and our Legislature doesn’t have the Right to take that away from us. There are already 234 abortions per 1,000 live births (according to the Centers for Disease Control) why increase that number? Lives should be saved not taken!!
The difference is no one is being forced to buy EdenSoy’s products.
Great point, Leilani!!
No one is being forced to buy birth control either.
AmandaonMaui,
Huh?? Business owners are. MIchael Potter is.
Actually, it’s none of his business what his employees do with their salary and benefits. They earned them for their labor.
Dawn,
business owners are being forced to buy coverage for something they don’t believe in. Potter is still providing insurance he just doesn’t want to provide it for something that goes against his beliefs.
The following quotes are from an article by simcha-fisher.
“Hormonal contraceptives contribute significantly to water pollution. Ethinyl estradiol, the active ingredient in most birth control pills, is very difficult to remove from wastewater, and so it infiltrates waterways, causing disastrous mutations in fish and other wildlife.
Oral contracpetives are classified as one of only about 100 Class 1 carcinogens, substances known to cause cancer in humans. Some forms of contraceptive double the user’s risk for cancer.
Michael Potter, the founder and CEO of the popular, 45-year-old organic foods company Eden Foods, does not want to be forced to pay for his employees’ water-polluting, cancer-causing contraceptives.”
–I would say he is practicing what he believes. I think he may not know how detrimental soy it though. Instead of boycotting him because he sells soy, let him know how bad it is. He doesn’t only sell soy.
Exactly. There are plenty of companies who support birth control and abortion. The left calls Catholics such as myself “intolerant”. The author’s “tolerance” is amazing, isn’t it?
Agreed!
Wow! It really seems like Dr Kayla has some animosity towards Eden. The article is written in such a tone. I think calling the owner a hypocrite is bunk, and that the comparison Dr Kayla makes doesn’t even make sense.
This article just convinced me to buy as much of Eden’s food products as much as I possibly can. I’ll even order it off of Amazon by the caseload and put as many of my dollars into Eden from now on. We don’t eat/drink much soy, but Eden has other products we can eat. I’m sooooo proud of the owner for the stand he’s taking.
Beth – yes, I AGREE!!!! Whoever wrote this article does not seem like they care about their rights for freedom. I’m going to use as much Eden products as I can also, they’re a great company! =)
So thanks to the author who posted this – I hadn’t heard about this yet, but I love supporting people like the man from Eden!
Nobody is forced to buy birth control. They are forced to buy insurance. I am forced to pay for MANY things I do not want. I do not want a road widened in my neighborhood, but I pay for it. I do not believe in the death penalty and yet I am forced to pay for it. The Muslim religion forbids debt, but they can not fire somebody who has a mortgage, or has debt or uses debt. The money is used to pay for insurance that is MANDATORY. WHat employees do with it, is up to them.
Bizarre.