Breaking today: sneak attack on organic food standards

[SpiralHawk]

Press release from the OCA. I am taking action because I demand clean food.

I encourage other DUers to act as well - today, or it's too late.

Think of your children and grand children -- and the quality of the food and water they will have to eat. Time to cut the crap. - SH

-------------

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) needs your immediate help to stop Congress and the Bush administration from seriously degrading organic standards. After 35 years of hard work, the U.S. organic community has built up a multi-billion dollar alternative to industrial agriculture, based upon strict organic standards and organic community control over modification to these standards.

Now, large corporations such as Kraft, Wal-Mart, & Dean Foods--aided and abetted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are moving to lower organic standards by allowing a Bush appointee to create a list of synthetic ingredients that would be allowed organic production. Even worse these proposed regulatory changes will reduce future public discussion and input and take away the National Organic Standards Board's (NOSB) traditional lead jurisdiction in setting standards. What this means, in blunt terms. is that USDA bureaucrats and industry lobbyists, not consumers, will now have more control over what can go into organic foods and products.

Today, Tuesday, Sept. 20, acting in haste and near-total secrecy, the U.S. Senate will vote on a "rider" to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that will reduce control over organic standards from the National Standards Board and put this control in the hands of federal bureaucrats in the USDA (remember the USDA proposal in 1997-98 that said that genetic engineering, toxic sludge, and food irradiation would be OK on organic farms, or USDA suggestions in 2004 that heretofore banned pesticides, hormones, tainted feeds, and animal drugs would be OK?).

For the past week in Washington, OCA has been urging members of the Senate not to reopen and subvert the federal statute that governs U.S. Organic standards (the Organic Food Production Act - OFPA), but rather to let the organic community and the National Organic Standards resolve our differences over issues like synthetics and animal feed internally, and then proceed to a open public comment period. Unfortunately most Senators seem to be listening to industry lobbyists more closely than to us. We need to raise our voices.

In the past, grassroots mobilization and mass pressure by organic consumers have been able to stop the USDA and Congress from degrading organic standards. This time Washington insiders tell us that the "fix is is already in." So we must take decisive action now. We need you to call your U.S. Senators today. We need you to sign the following petition and send it to everyone you know. We also desperately need funds to head off this attack in the weeks and months to come. Thank you for your support. Together we will take back citizen control over organic standards and preserve organic integrity.

Take action here:
http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1242

Take action now at http://www.democracyinaction.org/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1242

[merwin]

1. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the definition of organic specifically

prohibit including synthetic ingredients?

[SpiralHawk]

5. "When I say a word it means whatever I want it to mean." - BushCo

This is an issue that all voters and eaters -- right, center, left, whatever -- can and should get behind.

It is about Corporate Control of what you put into your mouth to sustain yourself.

And your family.

You are about to lose control -- just like FEMA.

[jmowreader]

11. Yeah, and that's not the only thing Bush screws up

Bush loves words. Words that used to mean something, and that people have come to rely on. He wants to take words, twist them out of all context, and apply them to anything his Rangers and Pioneers* want them to.

Organic, as I see it, basically means food the way food used to be--no synthetic crap, no frankenfood, no bullshit. And the Pioneers and Rangers are smart people: they know that foods labeled Organic sell at a premium price. This, of course, because they're premium products.

You can't label things "premium" and expect to be able to mark them up very much anymore because "premium" has become an overused buzzword. ("Deluxe" is worse.)I bought some "premium" ice cream yesterday; it was the same price as the "regular" ice cream. Because it WAS the same as the "regular" ice cream, except the chocolate chips were a little larger. Hence, a new word for "premium" is needed, and there's already one: "organic."

If they can make "premium" products for the same, or a slightly higher, cost of production than "regular" products, but mark them up quite a bit in line with what "premium" used to be, they'll be very happy. If George Bush isn't anything else, he is very much a supporter of corporations' right to price-gouge. I really believe that if this Bush was in office during Hurricane Andrew, he'd have had Bernie Marcus shot.

So "organic" is going to become a meaningless phrase. What else is new? This SOB has turned America into a meaningless nation. We break treaties. We start wars for no fucking reason. We ship all our good jobs overseas, especially the ones that we told our kids were the ticket to the American Dream. (I live in a town where the fucking Waffle House won't talk to you about a waitress job if you don't have a master's degree. No shit.) So why NOT use genetically-engineered glyphosate-resistant soybeans in your organic tofu? Why, herbicide is good for you. Haven't you read the Monsanto press release?

Isn't there one prominent Republican with enough of a fragment of common decency to get rid of this little bastard before he turns America into Bangladesh?

* Pioneers and Rangers are groups of very rich people with very rich friends. To be a Bush Pioneer, you must have led a fundraising campaign that gave between $250,000 and $499,999 to the Republican National Committee; a Bush Ranger did the same thing but he or she broke $500,000.

[pitohui]

30. organic means it's carbon based

which is true of all edible food

all else is a legislated definition rather than a science based definition & hence is subject to changes in law or certification process

i doubt the "organic" food i see in my mcgrocer's is any special in anything other than price

if you eat soy you are eating a genetically engineered food & what organic food fanatic does not eat soy

we have bigger battles

[KittyWampus]

37. Organic Food "Fanatic"? Thanks For Tipping Your Hand As The

prejudice, arrogance and uninformed nature of your post says quite a lot.

Bigger battles?

We are what we eat.

[stevietheman]

39. Agreed. Organic food is costlier to produce and could never...

take the place of industrial farming techniques... that is, unless we choose to starve. This is one of those boutiquey-left issues I just can't get behind.

[SpiralHawk]

41. BS. total BS.

You know not of what you post.

[stevietheman]

43. What I said is totally true. n/t

n/t

[SpiralHawk]

44. Factor in the costs

of massive damage to the waters, soil and air from chemicals, and to people who develop chronic illnesses from eating crappy food, and your profit and loss sheet will flip. Not to mention the very real danger that some of the genetically engineered plants may cause mutatiosn in the natural plant realm, as it has already caused MUTANT THOUGHT PATTERNS in people who subsist on GM food that is chemically saturated and processed beyond the pale.

Clean food is what we I'm talking about -- so save pennies for now if you wish, and pay the piper MEGABUCKS eventually, for the piper must be paid.

[KittyWampus]

50. Also factor in TRANSPORTATION COSTS.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[SpiralHawk]

52. Yes - organic food is often grown locally

And provides dignified work for young men and women, usually at a fair wage - not hordes of underpaid and poorly treated migrant workers who suffer so the privileged can eat Twinkies.

[AllyCat]

46. Gee, or we could eat less and not have so many fat people running around

yes, it is costly to produce. However, it uses sustainable farming techniques that are good for the environment in which we all live. We have more than enough food to go around as it is. Why not make it more nutritious and better for the environment and the worker that grows and harvests it?

So many people have become accustomed to buying huge quantities of cheap food and then eating it all. It is just one part of the American obesity puzzle.

[rucky]

57. here's how "conventional" agriculture is non-sustainable

http://www.organicconsumers.org/BTC/meacher091905.cfm

First, the increasingly mechanised agriculture depends on oil, but the supply of oil is beginning to run out, or at least half of the 2 trillion barrels of oil available has already been used and oil demand from China, India and other major developing countries which are industrialising fast is rising so sharply that production cannot keep up with demand, and permanent shortages of oil will kick in within a decade or less. The price of oil will escalate to $100-$200+, and oil-driven food production will sharply decline.

Second, the growing shortage of water means that half a billion people now already live in water-stressed areas, and the UN expects this to rise 5-6 fold to half the world population by 2025. This will lead to massive shifts of populations and water wars. Frankly, the current use of water in agriculture is extravagant and utterly unsustainable. For example, US prairie farmers and East Anglian barley barons need 1 000 tonnes of water to produce 1 tonne of grain, plus 1 000 energy units are used for every 1 energy unit of processed food. That is just not sustainable.

Third, the intensification of climate change has led to a ten-fold increase in the incidence and ferocity of climatic catastrophes in the past 40 years. These include major-scale hurricanes, cyclones, floods, as well as increasing drought, desertification, inextinguishable forest fires, which are now rendering more and more croplands unusable or infertile. Half a billion of the world population now do not have croplands on which they can maintain themselves. The latest UN report says one sixth of countries in the world (up to 30 nations) now face food shortages because of climate change. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimates 160 000 now die every year from climate-change induced malnutrition, dysentery and malaria.

Fourth, the loss of biodiversity from monocultures imposed by industrialised farming, not least GM crops. A quarter of the world’s GM crops are grown in Argentina, where huge areas were cleared to grow GM soya, especially Argentina’s pampas, previously one of the most organically productive areas in the world.

more...

[Lorien]

60. Done and emailed far and wide. n/t

[AllyCat]

45. Except that most organic food also comes with a non-GMO label

Soy is particularly likely to be labelled as such.

Organic food tastes better, is fresher, and has a better texture, particularly when one compares produce.

Most organic food that is processed comes in recyclable packaging and has less packaging than non-organic brands.

This is a big fish to fry. Wart-Mall and the others named in this article are looking to usurp a market so they too can charge higher prices for food that isn't ANY different than what is available at their markets now.

Yes, organic means carbon-based. But most words have more than one definition and usage in modern english.

[Peter Frank]

62. Read the Original Post... n/t

[OnionPatch]

69. Sure, we eat some soy

but only ORGANIC soy, (which is NOT genetically modified.) This is part of the reason I don't want to see these standards lowered.

This IS a "big" battle to me. My family and I have been eating organic for years partially because we have a small child that I don't want exposed to pesticides and frankenfood. When I no longer even have the option to purchase safe and healthy food for my family, it IS a big battle for me and many thousands, maybe millions of people. This is one of those issues that reaches home and I'm outraged about it.

[Chemical Bill]

71. I studied chemistry too...

but the definition you are using is not what everyone else uses. I eat organic food grown without pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and I avoid GMO foods (like 70% of the soy in this country). I agree that there are too many things wrong for us all to fight all of them, but I consider my diet to be important.

Bill

[Peter Frank]

72. It Seems Like Ordinary Americans are Being Threatened...

...from all sides; and that the repercussions of this administration's deference toward big business business are constantly eroding our quality of life and civil liberties.

This is not a liberal position. I'm an Independent; and I have Conservative friends who are deeply concerned about organic standards, and other issues. In fact, the person who initially alerted me about this is a Conservative.

[halobeam]

2. done... and kick....

this is disgusting. I just learned that the apple today is over 90% altered and contains less nutrients by a shocking degree, than it was thirty or so years ago.

We don't have real apples anymore. That is frankly F***ED UP!

On Edit:

I guess we now have a new definition of FORBIDDEN FRUIT. We are all eating it now....

What would God say?

[Cha]

10. Support your local or non-local

Organic Farmer..I only eat Organic and my apples are the delicious, poison free and the way they use to be :)

[halobeam]

25. I do, but from what I understand, the apples might be poison free...

but are nutritously lacking... in a big way. I'll try to get a link.

[calico1]

3. Oh good God!

Can't they leave anything ALONE? Jesus Christ!

[CrispyQ]

4. Kick & recommended

The thing to remember is even if you don't buy organic today, there may come a time when you choose to do so & you'll want the standards to mean something.

Thank you for this timely post. I'm forwarding to everyone I know!

[calico1]

6. The other thing to remember is

if they want to allow this done to organic food, imagine what they are allowing in "regular" food!

[MountainLaurel]

7. Amen!

The real frankenfoods are the processed crap that we eat every day.

[Eurobabe]

12. yeah and we are all left wondering why we are

so obese, kids have ADD, autism, women are infertile -- you are what you eat. Frankenfoods!!!

[MountainLaurel]

19. Absolutely

Someone needs to write an equivalent to "Silent Spring" that talks about the repercussions of ingesting chemical preservatives, dyes, flavorings (didn't food used to have its own flavor?) on the human body and mind.

[CrispyQ]

16. Have you seen "Supersize Me"?

It was great! One of my fave parts was the school lunch program section. One school finally put their foot down & said no to pizza, French fries, soda & the like & went with home cooked meals. The teachers reported students with better attitudes, attention spans & behavior.

Surprise, surprise. :wow:

[MountainLaurel]

18. Oh yeah.

A friend and I went to watch it together, and had walked in there with a bucket o' popcorn and a soda. After about 10 minutes into the movie, we didn't touch it again.

If you get a chance, read "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser. It's an excellent companion to SSM.

[Cha]

8. The repugs have to put their Poisonous Touch

on Everything created!

Thanks for this, Spiralhawk..I work in a natural foods co-op(non profit)in New York and I will pass this on. We have lots of Organic Farmers in the area and we ship other products and produce in.

I'm bookmarking this to send after I get home tonight from work.

[meganmonkey]

9. Oh god no...I worked on an organic farm while the USDA was creating

the NOP in (97-98-ish?)...It was a nightmare what they were trying to do. The standards the independant certifiers used were so much higher than the crap that lobbyists were trying to get the USDA to accept. The standards they finally decided on weren't ideal but it could have been worse. Sounds like now it WILL be worse.

I get most of my summer produce locally from a CSA that I can trust, but everything else I buy, which is probably 75% or more organic, will be untrustworthy.

Sorry if this is inconvenient for the likes of Kraft and Nabisco and Nestle, but FUCK THEM. The gov't works for ME and I can't accept this.

:rant:

Thanks for posting this. As you can see, I am alittle passionate about this issue :P

[SpiralHawk]

20. Yes - CSA may be the only way to insure your food is clean

in the near future.

For info on CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) click the link below -- and then follow the links the page to get a more complete picture.

We have over 2,000 CSA in the USA now -- but we could use them in every city, town and village in the nation.

http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms.html

[AspenRose]

28. Looks like I need to learn more about CSAs and Chiron Communications

They're in my backyard (Santa Fe).

[foo_bar]

34. the NOP is pretty heinous as it stands

Q: If a producer adheres to all aspects of the National Organic Program (NOP), including never utilizing biotech-derived seeds, but a certifying agent tests and detects the presence of biotech-derived material in the crop, is that crop’s status determined to be no longer “certified organic?” And, if so, what in the NOP supports this conclusion?

A: It is particularly important to remember that organic standards are process based. Certifying agents attest to the ability of organic operations to follow a set of production standards and practices that meet the requirements of the Act and the regulations. This regulation prohibits the use of excluded methods in organic operations (§205.2—Terms defined, and §205.105—Allowed and prohibited substances, methods, and ingredients in organic production and handling). The presence of a detectable residue of a product of excluded methods alone does not necessarily constitute a violation of this regulation. As long as an organic operation has not used excluded methods and takes reasonable steps to avoid contact with the products of excluded methods as detailed in their approved organic system plan, the unintentional presence of the products of excluded methods will not affect the status of the organic operation. As to the status of the commodity, USDA’s position is that this is left to the buyer and seller to resolve in the marketplace through their contractual relationship.(See page 80556 of the preamble, “Applicability—Clarifications; (1) “Genetic drift”).

http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/Q&A.html

[meganmonkey]

36. It is pretty heinous

although the example you cite is a tough one - If I am growing Organic corn on 100 acres, and the 3 farmers around me are all growing GMO conventional, my corn will undoubtably test positive for a small amount of GMO, and there is nothing I can do about it. That's nature.

Most OG food purchasers will have pretty strict standards of what percentage tests positive.

The only way to get around it would be to ban GMOs altogether, which I would love to see, but it won't happen, at least not for another 10 or 20 years when the longer-term effects of that crap becomes more evident.

:(

[foo_bar]

42. strictly from a consumer's point of view

Organic-ness should be a qualitative assessment, like the USDA meat gradings. If the corn tests positive for Starlink, truth in labeling suggests an intermediate grade like "US Organic Methods" (similar to "Organic" but the genes aren't as well-marbled).

[nariel]

13. Done...

"...the U.S. organic community has built up a multi-billion dollar alternative to industrial agriculture, based upon strict organic standards and organic community control over modification to these standards."

That's it right there....organic food brings more money, a bigger return...they want that money.

I've called Monsanto the antichrist for many years for their subversion of agriculture...they now compete with Bushco for that title...but maybe Bushco is just the enabler. Monsanto (and Sygenta, et al) have had a more difficult time hoodwinking the Europeans with GE foods, proprietary seed, etc. May they rot in hell.

[meganmonkey]

15. Welcome to DU, nariel!

:toast:

You're right about Monsanto. Along with ConAgra, AMD and few others, they want to own everything we eat.

:scared:

[pitohui]

32. if you eat soy you support monsanto

i'm just sayin

[AllyCat]

47. There are many groups (most organic) that grow non-Monsanto soy. eom

[LeftyMom]

51. Not if you buy non-GMO organic soy

which most of us clean living organic veggie sorts do. On the other hand, if you eat big ag meat, a lot of GMO soy and/or corn went into fattening the animal up for your plate.

[wtbymark]

14. done and forwarded

to the vice president of food developement at Sysco (personal friend)

[Ian_rd]

17. Vote for this thread! This is important!

[Ian_rd]

21. MORE VOTES! Get this on the front page! (nt)

[gollygee]

22. AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGHH

I hate these people!!!!!!!

If we want organic food, we want ORGANIC food, not "Organic*(tm)" food.

[terip64]

23. Done and kicked

[Verve]

24. Done! Sent it to my organic friends.They'll pass the word on as well!n/t

[flvegan]

26. Done. Nominated. Forwarded.

[AspenRose]

27. Dammit now I'm really pissed off

They don't give a damn about mercury levels in the environment and they don't give a damn about clean food or water.

I've had it.

Wonder if the Whole Foods Market people know about this (they probably do).
That's where I shop.

Edit: Done, and sent an e-mail to Whole Foods....

[Fleshdancer]

29. THANK YOU for posting this SpiralHawk

this is truly disgusting.

[Matariki]

31. i used to be able to afford organic produce

*sigh*

[Rainscents]

33. Done!

Bush is destroying everything! Can he just leave shit alone? I hate the baster!

[AllyCat]

35. Done and passed to others.

One has already acted. Hope we are not too late. I cannot imagine Wart-Mall selling "organic" produce at some ridiculous amount of money and then having toxic ingredients. Oh wait, it's them...yeah, I guess I can see them doing this.

[mom cat]

38. sent and kicked!

[SpiralHawk]

40. Kick -- in the belly

That's what we'll all get if the Republican Corporatists have their way with this...

[Beaverhausen]

48. Done

[Verve]

49. Keep this kicked!

:kick:

[Greyskye]

53. Done, kicked, forwarded and recommended!

[buzzsaw_23]

54. Nominated

let's get this info into all our Co-Ops Health food stores and write articles in all of our local rags.

thanks

[Earth_First]

55. DONE & FORWARDED [KICK]

HANDS OFF OUR FOODS!

[Native]

56. Done & passed along! Thanks.

[Ilsa]

58. Done. Thanks. eom

[Peter Frank]

59. Thank You For Posting This...

...A friend E-mailed me about this yesterday and I was appalled, but not surprised.

What really frosts my butt is the number of people who are fully capable of thinking for themselves, but who lazily choose (as they are vigorously encouraged) to swallow whole -- a generic party line (without bothering to read the fine print).

When big business' money has totally corrupted our government and eviscerated our Constitution, people of every stripe will be asking questions that should have been asked long before (This time may not be the "long" before -- but it's still the before)!

As one puny citizen, I encourage every American capable of thinking for his/herself to do exactly that -- Think for yourself.

Feel free to yell "fire" before the theater gets crowded.

[confludemocrat]

61. Done, site bookmarked chain to be started tomorrow

Also check out Bitter Greens website for more issue-oriented organic stuff.

[stickdog]

63. kick

[Peter Frank]

65. Stickdog...

...your signature (while passionate), doesn't exactly paint you as an open minded person.

Give what you want. If you want to be heard -- loose the inflamatory rhetoric?

I'm angry too.

[stickdog]

67. What? The comic or the updated Twain quotation?

[nicknameless]

64. Done! Thank you for posting this

Kick & nom. for more to see.

[ladylibertee]

66. I did it!!!

[lakeguy]

68. done

[halobeam]

70. Does anyone know if the vote yesterday in the Senate on the "rider" passed

??