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.
While I am not opposed to this article for religious reasons, I am opposed to this article based on the number of logical fallacies used to make the argument.
Seriously, this is quite the stretch from talking about birth control and the estrogen in soy milk. It would have been better just to voice an opinion stating that you didn’t like that the company is anti-contraception, and that you won’t be buying their products anymore. The company sells soy milk, and yes they are surely aware of the estrogen issue, but that doesn’t go against their belief that contraceptions are wrong. The linking of issues in this article is just odd.
From the article: “The myth that soy is a health food and Eden’s irresponsibility led to these tragic deaths.”
Uh … I’m thinking it was the parent’s irresponsibility, not Eden’s. “The myth that soy is a healthfood …” – well then you’re just talking about whether the product should be for sale or not altogether!
Birth control – personal responsibility. Feeding your baby – personal responsibility. Whether you think soy is a healthfood and want to drink it or not – personal responsibility.
Everything in this issue boils down to one thing – PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Erica, I like how you worded your comment about “personal responsibility.” I agree with that too, and wish I wouldn’t have said that I don’t like certain things “forced” when I meant I don’t believe in ANYTHING being forced; it should be left to “personal responsibility.” -Sara DiNicola-
Sarah, if your beliefs are so “immaterial” to this post, then why would one of your subscribers (unsubscribed as of this post) post this comment on a repost of this article?? “I’ve followed Sarah for years and had to unsubscribe after this one. I should have left her when she gave directions on natural abortifacients. So disappointed.”
Sarah, I am finding it hard to be on your side lately. I think you have gone a little liberal on us. It seems like you are very intolerant of anyone who does not share your beliefs. Sometimes its better to leave some issues alone rather than have people dismiss everything you say based on your own hypocrisy. Think about it…
Conservatives don’t have a monopoly on real food. There are many liberal real foodies who read here. We don’t whine, and call out Sarah for being conservative when she posts things that we don’t agree with. We keep reading because we believe in real food and the information she provides on that subject. We skip the political issues we don’t agree with and keep our comments to ourselves. It seems many of her conservative readers haven’t learned to do the same. A little liberalism is a good thing to see here!
Ditto, Jen. I suppose there are numbers of people that do not agree with certain blogposts, but they’re not writing to unsubscribe. It’s logical that readers of any blog will take issue with it from time to time.
“My beliefs are immaterial to this post.” – What? Obviously not, or you wouldn’t have posted the article. So we should boycott them because…why?? The don’t want to provide a pill that causes early term abortions? Or because they carry soy milk? If they only did one of those things, then should we still purchase products from them? Either way, your statement was a contradiction, and your reasoning for posting this is SO WEAK. The contents of this article wasn’t about health, it was about a political stance. If you can’t see how the language was offensive, and how the point of the article bent and absurd then maybe you should be taking higher amounts of fermented cod liver oil to grease the gears.
Sorry my mistake – the big milk industry is petitioning the government to allow artificially sweetened milk to be sold without a label. The fact that the FDA would even consider something so disgusting is a big red flag that they need to back off and get out of our way.
nice hit piece using libtard logic… hey if my employees’ weekend clown suits should become worn out does that mean I should have to buy them new ones? would I then have to worry about other clowns boycotting me?
I find it more than a little ridiculous that EdenSoy is being blamed for the deaths of the infants who were fed soy milk instead of human milk or formula.
So because they produce soy milk, the owners of Eden Foods have lost their ability to raise a religious/moral or even scientific objection to paying for their employees’ hormonal contraception? This is why we have the first amendment, to protect those who don’t hold majority or even popular religious/moral (or nutritional) beliefs.
If you’re so opposed to the estrogenic isoflavones in soy, you should also oppose the HHS contraception mandate, which benefits pharmaceutical companies who produce artificial hormones, which will become even more widely used when they are provided “at no cost,” to the detriment of American women’s health.
Please do NOT say things like “right wing ideological agenda” on this site. The owner of Eden foods is attempting to stop the government from forcing him to do what is against his conscience. We should rally behind him. After all, aren’t we all tired of the government being in bed with the agri-chemical business, controlling everything from GM seeds to GM foods; restricting or forbidding the sale of raw milk or putting fake sweeteners in milk; or confiscating kombucha or nutritious lunches from children; and on and on and on….
I am a Catholic and wish society would be more respectful of the Church’s position on contraceptive use. There is a certain logic to that teaching which is lost on its detractors. I am not asking that society agree with the Catholic Church but to simply show some respect.
Also, the irony of the posting is not lost on us. The fellow is selling something which is similar to another something he opposes. Yes, we get it the point.