Many customers have contacted MOM’s about Eden’s Organics, requesting that we pull the products because of their healthcare stance.  MOM’s response is:

As retailers we sometimes find ourselves working with companies that do not align with our values to a T.  For example, we carry brands like Cascadian Farm and Honest Tea which are owned by parent companies that have fought against the non-GMO propositions we support.  However, MOM’s Purpose is to protect and restore the environment, and our number one priority is organics.  We choose to support organic farming whenever possible, though we may disagree with other policies of some businesses.

Our Founder and CEO, Scott Nash, wrote to a customer:

I haven’t liked Eden’s for years. I think they’re zealots and don’t hold my or the general industry’s values. However, we don’t ban products based on ownership ideologies- that is not our place and would be a very fuzzy exercise of highly subjective analysis. I’m constantly getting called upon by customers to stop selling many products for a plethora of reasons having to do with ownership ideologies.  However, that is the consumer’s prerogative.

There are a lot of great things about private ownership.  It allows MOM’s to pay fair wages and stay independent.  By the same token, it means that other privately owned businesses can do the same.  Whether I agree or not, I believe it’s important that people can act upon their own ideologies.

MOM’s goal is to stock a great variety of organic products, and to let customers vote with their purchases.  A few customers have suggested that we put up a sign about Eden’s birth control stance, and here’s why we won’t:  We don’t get in the way of customers’ choices to buy what is best for their health and their values.  We trust our customers’ decision-making processes.  And if customers stop buying Eden’s, MOM’s will stop selling them.

There are so many important causes, and so many things to consider when purchasing anything.  Sometimes I wish I could avoid purchases altogether!  I get frustrated when the “good guys” start to seem like “bad guys.”  But with any issue, there are multiple points of view, and some prevail over others.  If you don’t agree with their policies, by all means stop buying Eden’s.  That will send the strongest message.

Eva works at MOM’s Central Office.