Celestial Seasonings Tea
"You know the good feeling you have when you do something "good" for the planet and yourself? You buy something organic and you can feel good because it is better for you and isn't harming our mother earth. That is how I have felt for years drinking Celestial Seasonings Tea. This company is owned by Hain, which according to it's website "is a leading natural and organic food and personal care products company in North America and Europe." I bet all you folks out there feel really good whenever you pour yourself a cup of Celestial Seasonings Tea, don't you? Think Twice! According to Vandana Shiva Hain is owned in part by . . . . . are you ready? Philip Morris,Exxon-Mobil and . . . . . . . Monsanto!!!!! Now do you still feel so good about drinking Celestial Seasonings Tea? I know I don't and I won't be purchasing anymore. How can a company like Monsanto pretend to be interested in "organic" when all over the world it is destroying peoples' livelihoods and possibly health with genetically modified crops.
For a point of view other than that of the coporations listed above, here are a couple of articles to check out. Greenpeace - WANTED: Monsanto for crimes against the planet, Alive - Changes at Monsanto, Mother Jones - Does ExxonMobil Pay the New York Times a Premium to Run Ads Next to Global Warming Stories?, Guardian - The denial industry.
P.S. Hain also makes "Rice Dream"!" I whisper.
Are you listening?
posted by Alisa @ 12:14 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
This post made me wonder about the tetley tea I drink every morning for breakfast. I looked around tetley's website and found a link to what looks like a very interesting concept: the Ethical Tea Partnership. I haven't done much research into them (just found it!) but wanted to share. Here's the link to their member companies page: http://ethicalteapartnership.org/pages.asp?page_id=46&parent_id=19
I can't apologize for Monsanto, but do consider the difficulty facing organic farmers: farming certifiably organic crops is difficult. The plants yield less, and pest/weed control is much more labor-intensive, making the whole process less profitable than conventional farming (which is why organic prices are higher). Plants can be modified to resist pesticides, allowing for judicious, early pesticide use that isn't a threat to the crop, or they can resist the pests themselves, again reducing chemical use. They can be made to yield more per acre, or to be drought resistant. For many farmers, organic crops are currently an indulgence they can't afford. Since there is a growing interest in organic foods, it makes sense that Monsanto might want to apply its force to making them more practical for growers. To be fair, I drink a lot of fair trade tea and coffee, but I would like to see clean, high quality food available to as many as possible, not just us privileged, tea-box-reading few. I guess, in a nutshell: organic doesn't always come with a clean conscience, but taking advantage of technology in order to feed people isn't always bad, either.
Hi wedge16b,
Thanks for the link, I will definitely check them out.
Have a great day.
Alisa
Hi Katie,
Thanks for posting, I love to get peoples feedback. Actually I wasn't comparing Monsanto with organic farmers. I was thinking more in terms of conventional farming. According to The book Earth Democracy, on fields where genetically modified foods are grown, and that is what Monsanto is known for, there is a 5 times higher level of extinction of species than on convential chemical farms. In India where an 80% increase in yield was promised there was actually a 10% DECREASE. If you read the article mentioned in my blog Changes at Monsanto, you will see that:
"Farmers growing GM crops in North America have lost profits due to lower market prices and lower yields. For example, Roundup Ready soy crops yield six to 11 per cent less than non-GM varieties.
Canadian farmers rely on herbicides more than ever; they also have less choice in how they farm, as they become locked into GM crops.
GM soy beans, corn and canola crops have cost the US economy more than $12 billion in farm subsidies since 1999.
The lack of segregation between GM and non-GM varieties has made the food processing and distribution system susceptible to costly contamination accidents. The Starlink contamination of GM corn that was unapproved for human consumption into the US corn supply cost the company responsible almost $1 billion.
In just a few years, Canada has lost $300 million in annual canola oilseed exports to countries within Europe and Japan." Makes you question the real value of genetically modified plants, doesn't it, at least a little? And to top it all off, Monsanto was involved in the production of "Agent Orange" , the consequences of which the Fredericton, New Brunswick area is just now finding out about.
Again, thanks for dropping by and posting, hope to see you again!
Alisa
Hello Alisa,
It's true, GM crops haven't delivered what was promised, but that's almost entirely due to their misuse. The name "Roundup Ready" and the reputation that came with that led growers to apply pesticides more freely, when in fact the "safe" window for application is a fairly brief period in the growing cycle. The damage done by uncareful chemical use isn't due to flaws (or lack of merits) inherent in the seeds themselves.
A lot of the costs you mention associated with genetically modified foods are due to regulations - keeping them separate from conventional foods, labeling them differently, whatever - rather, again, than inherent lack of value. If people are divided on the issue, and the food itself needs to be divided, that will be costly, it's true.
Also, what we mean when we say "genetically modified" is biotech, but most of the manpower in Monsanto's vegetable seed division is focused on using traditional breeding techniques, which are as old as gardening, at least in concept, and much safer, given the rigorousness of testing required to actually bring food to market. There isn't food available in a grocery store that hasn't been bred for one trait or another.
It's certainly true about Agent Orange. Again, I'm not apologizing for Monsanto! :)
Thank you for your response...I hope I don't sound argumentative at all - I certainly don't intend to, I'm just hoping that we can all consider as many sides of these pressing issues as possible.
Cheers!
Katie
Thank you for the info. Celestial Seasonings tea no longer tastes or looks the same as it used to when owned by the original creators of this herbal tea company. Also I used to be able to make two cups of tea out of one tea bag and now I have to use TWO tea bags to get any flavor out of it in one small cup. I have been observing a huge difference in the quality and was very disappointed in the tea I once loved. When the packaging changed, the tea quality changed....for the worse. I now know the answer to my question of what happened to my once favorite tea.
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