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.
It would feel better to me if we could all opt-out of any taxes that we have moral problems with.
Some people would opt-out of paying for contraception, Social Security, and Medicare.
I would opt-out of paying for any wars, for the Guantanamo Bay prison, among other things.
Unfortunately, you can’t opt-out. I realize that if I don’t pay taxes, I withhold public education from your children, old age pensions from your parents, and police stations in your town. Paying for war is AGAINST MY RELIGION, and against my moral philosophy. Yet I pay for it every day with money I spend at the grocery store, the post office, at Old Navy. I’m pretty free, but not entirely free. You’re pretty free, but not entirely free. You can fight that if you want, but if you do, you should be fighting to end taxation in its entirety, not just fighting one piece of the puzzle.
As Lisa G. pointed out, this is not about a tax. Not yet, anyway. But if it were you believe “you should be fighting to end taxation in its entirety, not just fighting one piece of the puzzle”? Really? You have an all or nothing mentality over this? Either fight every single bad thing at once or none at all? Puzzles are put together one piece at a time, you know. Some of us do try to fight multiple evils (wars included :)), but we’re still thrilled over every tiny step of progress. And one more person willing to fight one more piece of the puzzle is one more tiny step toward progress.
It’s not necessarily converting different points of view that makes the most difference, it’s waking up the people who are too apathetic, too ignorant, too scared, or feel that they can’t possibly make a difference. Even the largest wildfires can come from the tiniest of sparks.
I agree with Guest. I’ll be boycotting Eden, but then I never used nor liked their products much. Oh and I’m a practicing Catholic.
Angela,
“You are free to be whatever religion you want, but you can’t insist that others follow that religion.”
How is your forcing me to act AGAINST my religious beliefs letting me be free to be whatever religion I want? We aren’t insisting that others follow our religion, but at the same time, we are not going to mindlessly go along with your insisting that I follow your lack of religion. ESPECIALLY if any part of your argument is because “it’s the law”. As has been repeated numerous times in these comments, “If you want to take birth control then pay for it yourself.” No one is arguing that you can’t take it or buy it. They just don’t want to violate their religious beliefs by buying it for you. It’s not complicated and yet the whole “forcing me to follow your religion” argument keeps popping up as if people are just mindlessly repeating it instead of analyzing the situation or even reading the comments.
If you believe you have the right to take birth control that is fine. However, if you feel you have the right to have someone else pay for your birth control, please walk me through the process of logic that brought you to that conclusion.
The fact that you defended your position in an earlier post by comparing this to having to pay into Social Security makes me just shake my head in exasperation. Why we shouldn’t have Social Security is another debate that I am in no way qualified to effectively enter into. But to mindlessly go along with something because “it’s the law” instead of questioning the fundamental reasons for, effects of, and authority to create and enforce the laws is what leads to an UN-free society. The government is not a deity, and just because the make something a law doesn’t mean that it should be followed. They only have the authority that we allow them to have and are supposed to be bound by the Constitution. They try to gain more power and it’s up to people like us to fight for liberty instead of fighting for more government.
Well, if you don’t want to pay into Social Security or Medicare in order to care for those less fortunate than yourself, then I think we just have 100% different views on the morality of taxation. I DO question the government, all the time, and I think the majority of the things the government does is absurd. Just look at our Congress… they’re supposedly America’s best and brightest but they can’t even work together as well as a room full of fourth graders. I’m just willing to give up some of my freedom to ensure that others have a chance at health care and money in old age, among other things.
Angela,
If you understand Social Security to be something you pay into to help those less fortunate, then there is not much I can say other than you need to do some learning. (I’m not trying to criticize. There was a point in time that I misunderstood Social Security, too. It took a lot of effort on my part to learn about and have a better understanding of our government.) The fact remains, though, that is NOT what Social Security is. And even if it were, you’re right, I do not want to pay into a program that by it’s very design is a Ponzi scheme that will bankrupt itself. I think that there are MUCH better ways to help those less fortunate than myself.
“I’m just willing to give up some of my freedom to ensure…” Why do you need to give up your freedom? There are ways to help people without allowing the government to take your freedom.
We are getting pretty far off the topic of birth control, religious freedom, and private companies. However, I do enjoy our discussions. I am FAR from an expert on government, Constitution, liberty, Catholicism, birth control, etc., but I have spent a great deal of time learning. My views were once very similar to yours. It took a lot of researching, studying, and careful consideration of all points on all sides to come to my conclusions (and they are not set in stone. I always seek the truth and never stop trying to learn). My point is that, I do not argue with you simply from an emotional or ignorant position, and my hope is that you are as determined to learn and understand as I am and perhaps our little back and forth will prompt you to further investigate these issues. 🙂
Also, I just have to point something else out here:
1. The first amendment does not guarantee anyone ABSOLUTE free speech or freedom of religion. You can’t yell FIRE! in a movie theater. You can’t harass your neighbor with threats. You are free to be whatever religion you want, but you can’t insist that others follow that religion.
2. Like the gun control argument we’re having these days, the second amendment does not guarantee you ABSOLUTE freedom to carry weapons. You can’t carry a bazooka into a library.
3. None of these ‘restrictions’ on our constitutional rights are meant to be onerous. Someone might WANT to carry around a bazooka, but he’ll have to make do with something smaller. It won’t destroy his quality of life, or even reduce it by much at all. We might WANT to deny others the choice of contraception in their health plan, but we make do with simply refraining from taking birth control ourselves. We make decisions that feel right to us, but we also support (i.e. pay for) the rights of others to make their own decisions. In other words, we support our fellow citizens in pursuing their freedom. Sometimes we have to use our dollars to let others make decisions we feel are bad decisions. Nonetheless, this is America, so we think freedom of choice is the ultimate right.
Everyone is FREE, to a high degree – but not completely. That’s how our laws work, and that’s how they ensure that everyone is as free AS POSSIBLE – but we can never be completely free or society would fall apart.
I don’t know how else to explain the difference between government and taxation and private enterprise. You either understand it or you don’t.
1) He is not insisting anyone follow his religion. He is fighting that the government mandated that he has to pay for something out of his pocket that he disagrees with. If you came to me asking for me to pay for your abortion, I wouldn’t do it. If you asked me to pay for your birth control out of my salary, I wouldn’t do it either. His company. His choice.
3) “Sometimes we have to use our dollars to let others make decisions we feel are bad decisions.”
No we don’t!!! This is America for pete’s sake!!! Where do you draw the line? You mentioned that you are not for abortion (I think?!). What if Kathleen Sebelius and the government as a collective whole decided that abortions are covered by health coverage. Now, if you are a small business (or big!) owner, would you want to pay out of your capitol each month for abortions? Wouldn’t that ride your conscience a bit? We are not talking about taxes here. We are talking about the money that comes into a business as capitol. The business then decides where that money goes. The business even shops around for different health care packages that meet the needs of their employees! He is opposed to birth control for a multitude of reasons and should not be forced by law to cover it.
Lastly, birth control is not anywhere near the same as drugs or health coverage for rheumatoid arthrits. Nor diabetes. Nor cancer. Opposition to birth control (for philosophical and religious reasons) existed thousands of years before the US government, or Kathleen Sebelius, ever existed.
Are you seriously blaming the manufacturers of soy milk for the actions of some very dense parents who ignored medical advice? Maybe if the soy milk had a label on it that said “Great Substitute for Baby Formula!” I would understand, but… seriously? Why not call for labeling of all liquid groceries as “Not Formula,” so that some naive parent doesn’t decide to feed their baby orange juice or coffee creamer instead of formula? At least be mildly logical, this is just an unfounded diatribe because you happen to disagree with the company’s religion.
The beauty of America is that if you want your business to distribute free condoms to high school kids, you can. Or if you want your business to support abstinence education, you can.
The problem with the HHS mandate is that it’s choosing sides on a legitimately debated topic. If Eden Foods wants to use their company to support or oppose contraception, that’s their business, and customers can support or boycott as they will. Letting the government (via the HHS mandate) bully one side into submission simply isn’t the freedom Americans cherish.
It is tragic that children have been hospitalized and starved to death by being fed soy milk instead of infant formula. Eden Foods should include a warning label on their product- but I think it’s going a bit far to blame the deaths of those children on the company. It is a parent’s responsibility to research the foods they give their child, especially in infancy when a single food is depended upon to provide a full range of nutrition. Just as I would never feed a child rice milk and expect that to be fully nutritious, I would never assume soy milk to be a replacement for breastmilk or infant formula. This is a tragedy, but it’s ridiculous to blame Eden Foods.
Looks like libtards maybe starting to gang up here.
Catholic here… so if you do not like my religious beliefs… if you believe you can attack my faith and religion… if you want to use BS logic to force your intolerance… I have two words for you and I won’t use them here in the interest of having my comment posted. Those with no respect for Christianity and those who live it seriously… you are moral ethical cowards who would not have the guts to say these types of things to a Muslim’s dog. Real Catholics will stay faithful to their religion in any circumstance… the public school bullies posting their tripe is about as intimidating as a goldfish attack… So if a Muslim employer wants to maintain religion and not be forced to by his employees birth control… what say you then… tough guys?
Amen! Love it!
“as intimidating as a goldfish attack”. Too funny!!!
Well, if a Muslim employer wants to deny his employees birth control, too bad. He has to abide by the law just like everyone else. We all pay for things we don’t want to pay for – every second of every day. Some people don’t want to pay Medicare or Social Security tax because they think it’s “every man for himself.” But we all pay for it.
Again – you are comparing taxes and government to a private business. We do pay taxes and vote for the representatives who spend our tax money. Eden foods is not the government. Private industry practices are very different!!
But even those in private industry are sometimes subjected by law to pay for things or provide things to their employees (e.g. minimum wage) that they are personally fundamentally opposed to. I’m not opposed to minimum wage at all, just pointing out the exceptions to the idea that the captains of industry ONLY pay for what they want to.
Being personally or fundamentally opposed to something is not the same as being morally opposed to. Catholics oppose birth control based upon natural moral law. You cannot oppose minimum wage, et. al. based on natural moral law. That comparison doesn’t line up.
Being personally opposed to something can be the same as being morally opposed to it, as different individuals and groups have different moral codes. You may (I don’t know) feel that your moral code is the ONLY and correct one, and others will disagree. Natural law is supposed to be universal, but it is not.
Thank you for the heads up, I will be buying as much EDEN as I can possibly muster! Eden is America. We have the right to our opinions and faiths by LAW! and the intolerance of those who call themselves tolerant on the left is unlawful and unethical.
GREAT JOB, EDEN!
Kaayla has done some nice research throughout the years and continues to keep tabs on the food industry. She was very strong in her opinions about Eden Foods and could have gained more respect by taking a different approach. Contacting Eden and informing them of conflicts of interest could have been a better approach. The topic of birth control and safety has been around from the inception of BC use. There is good science behind its dangers as well and good science behind the dangers of soy. Let’s not bite the hand that feeds us. A little dialogue is in order.