SOS: Organic Community and Standards Under Siege
ORGANIC VIEW
A publication of the Organic Consumers Association
Membership Update - Autumn 2005
Organic standards, and the multi-billion dollar alternative food and farming system that the organic community has so painstakingly built up over the past 35 years, are under siege as never before.
This fall, OCA has mobilized its nationwide network to deal with: an industry-sponsored sneak attack on organic standards in the US Congress; USDA inaction towards factory farm dairy feedlots calling themselves organic; continued buyouts of organic brands by corporate food giants; and a looming threat to pack the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) with “industrial organic” advocates.
OCA members bombarded Congress with over 250,000 emails and phone calls, trying to preserve the integrity of the “USDA Organic” label. Outraged organic consumers urged public officials to reject the Organic Trade Association’s “Sneak Attack” rider to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that would seriously undermine organic standards by removing traditional organic community review and control over what synthetic substances and non-organic ingredients are allowed in organic production, and centralizing power in the hands of the White House-appointed USDA.
The industry sponsored rider was rammed through by Republicans on the House/Senate Appropriations committee on October 27. The rider was sponsored by large food processors and chains that now dominate the Organic Trade Association*. The rider will open the door for hundreds of synthetic substances and non-organic ingredients to be used in organic production, with little or no prior review or monitoring by the organic community’s traditional watchdog, the NOSB.
OCA and other public interest groups have vowed to reverse the rider with legislation, as we did in 2002-3, when a sneak attack rider was added to the Omnibus Appropriations bill allowing big producers to use non-organic feed on organic farms if they determined that organic feed was “too expensive.”
On November 16, in Washington, DC, family farm and organic community representatives again urged the USDA to stop allowing giant factory farm dairy feedlots, some with thousands of cows, to blatantly violate organic standards by marketing their milk as organic, without providing access to pasture for their herds. These factory style feedlots are operated by leading organic dairies such as Dean Foods (Horizon Organic) and Aurora Organic Dairy (producer of private-label store brand organic milk for companies such as Wild Oats).
For four years, officials at the USDA National Organic Program have ignored requests from the NOSB to clarify and strengthen standards on organic dairy farms. These standards assure that animals have access to pasture, fresh air, and water, and that a considerable portion of their diet be pasture grass, as opposed to grains and highly processed feed in confinement feedlots.
OCA and organic advocates want the USDA to put an end to the practice of industrial-sized organic dairies importing young calves from conventional farms where the animals have been weaned on cow blood milk-replacer, injected or medicated with antibiotics, and fed GE grains that are laced with slaughterhouse waste and tainted animal fats. OCA is meeting with other members of the organic community to make a plan to put an end to these outrageous practices. Besides public education, tactics being contemplated are litigation, Congressional action, petitioning the USDA for an official public review and comment period on new regulations, and consumer boycotts of factory farm organic products and brands.
The USDA is under fire for refusing to be open about appointees to the 15 member NOSB, which has at least five vacancies coming up for appointment in January 2006. This lack of transparency has led to widespread concern that the Bush administration is preparing an unfriendly takeover of the NOSB by packing the board with corporate backed, “pro-industrial organic,” advocates. Prior to the Bush administration, the USDA has always published the names of its potential appointees to the NOSB well in advance, giving the organic community ample time to evaluate the qualifications and reputations of these all-important industry watchdogs. Because of this traditional transparency and public review, the NOSB has remained, up until this point, a powerful and respected voice for strict organic standards and a firm supporter of broad community participation in reviewing industry practices.
Despite these attacks on organic integrity, OCA is confident that the grassroots will prevail once again. With your support, we will “Keep Organic Organic”, just as we’ve done before—in 1998, 2002, and 2004—when the USDA and corporate special interests tried to degrade organic standards by attempting to allow genetic engineering, food irradiation, sewage sludge, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and non-organic animal feed to be allowed under the USDA Organic label. The power of millions of organic consumers is formidable, especially as we get organized politically. But to safeguard organics we’ll need your continued vigilance, volunteer energy, and your financial support. At current rates of growth, most grocery store items will be organic by the year 2025. Let’s make certain that the organic label on these products still means real organic.
For more information, please refer to the SOS section of the OCA website
* Large food processors & chains that supported the Sneak Attack on Organic Standards:
- Dole
- Kraft/Boca
- Smucker’s/Knudson’s
- Campbell Soup Company
- General Mills/Small Planet
- Dean/Horizon/Whitewave
- Aurora Organic
- Dannon/Stonyfield
- Whole Foods
- Wild Oats
- Grocery Manufacturers Association
A Message from the Director
Autumn greetings from the Organic Consumers Association. As I write this, the OCA network, now 800,000 strong, is involved in a crucial struggle to safeguard national organic standards from an unfriendly takeover by giant food processors and supermarket chains such as Kraft, Dole, Dean Foods, and Wal-Mart (see cover story). This assault on organic standards and traditional organic community control over standards began in mid-September with an industry sponsored sneak attack in the US Congress to attach a controversial rider to the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations bill. This rider, passed on October 27th, will take away major control over the National List of allowable substances that can be used in organic production from the National Organic Standards Board and centralize this power in the hands of White House appointed USDA bureaucrats.
The bad news is that organic standards are under siege. The good news is that the OCA has been able to mobilize our nationwide network as never before, bombarding the US Congress with over 250,000 emails, letters, and telephone calls. This unprecedented grassroots outpouring has put the Congress and Corporate America on notice that we will not tolerate the destruction of the organic marketplace.
While defending organic integrity, OCA is moving forward to qualitatively expand the consciousness and marketplace clout of America’s 50+ million green-minded, organic, and socially responsible consumers. Over the summer, OCA staff and volunteers spoke with thousands of Americans who share our belief that it’s time to stop the “Wal-Martization” of the economy, to Break the Chains of mindless and self-destructive consumerism, and begin to Buy Local, Organic, and Fair Trade/Fair Made on a mass scale. On November 13-19, OCA is formally launching its Breaking the Chains campaign with boycotts, picket lines (in front of chain stores such as Wal-Mart), press conferences, house parties, and community forums across the country, pointing out the negative impacts of the chains, and highlighting positive local alternatives to these chains. Our belief is that a broad segment of the population is now willing to think before they pull out their wallets, and vote with their consumer dollars for products and services that are not only healthy and organic, but socially and environmentally responsible as well.
OCA keeps growing by leaps and bounds. We now have 350,000 subscribers on our email list, and 800,000 visitors to our website each month. But to survive and grow we need your help now—more than ever—to safeguard organic standards, protect public health and the environment, and build sustainable communities.
«News |
