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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Safeguard Organic Standards
  • Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:11:42 -0600


Safeguard Organic Standards
http://organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm

Over the last twelve years the OCA has been forced to organize a series of
national campaigns to safeguard organic standards. While the OCA and our
allies have basically been able to prevent the standards from being
significantly watered down, constant vigilance and mobilization have been
necessary.

Organic Standards Under Fire:

Chemical and energy-intensive industrial food and farming poses a mortal
threat to life on the planet. Monsanto and Food Inc. are rapidly destroying
the soil, contaminating water, reducing biodiversity, and destabilizing the
climate. Meanwhile consumers are being stuffed with junk foods that make us
fat and sick. Industrial agriculture's fatal harvest includes trans fats,
high fructose corn syrup, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and filthy,
disease-ridden factory farmed animal products, laced with pesticides,
hormones, antibiotics, nano-particles and bacteria.

While a cornucopia of healthy food alternatives are available at the local
level, from small organic farmers to urban gardeners to raw milk distribution
networks and community supported agriculture projects, the USDA National
Organic Program is the only system to provide certified national and global
standards for organic food that is distributed regionally, nationally, and
internationally.

Foods labeled "USDA Organic" are the gold standard for health and
sustainability at the retail and wholesale level. Organics provide a beacon
of light in grocery store aisles to guide consumers away from GMOs and
chemical-tainted junk foods. Consumer demand for healthy and eco-friendly
food has built the organic market into a $30 billion a year powerhouse, and
has forced even the largest retailers, wholesalers and brand names to get
into organics.

While we oppose the "Walmartization" of organic, we are happy to see that
even our adversaries are being forced to market and sell organic products.
While OCA's campaigns against worker abuses, GMOs, factory farming, and the
many poisons used in industrial food production, are aimed at tearing down a
deadly system, our work to keep organic standards strong guarantees that even
the big corporate players must "play by the rules" if they are to call their
products organic.

Unfortunately the big players (Monsanto, Kraft, Wal-Mart, General Mills, et
al) keep trying to change the rules, which means we've got to keep fighting
them.

This year, 2010, the biggest attacks organic standards are coming from the
following companies:

* Cal-Maine Foods (the nation's largest egg producer) wants to keep
so-called organic chickens in intensive-confinement factory farms and feed
them synthetic supplements like methionine.
* General Mills (the world's sixth-largest food company) wants to
introduce dangerous, untested, unlabeled products of nanotechnology in
organic products and packaging.
* Coleman Organic (part of the ConAgra conglomerate, the 3rd largest U.S.
beef and pork processor) wants to use non-organic animal ingredients (pork
intestines) in "USDA Organic" products (sausage).
* Renpure Organics (subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb, owner of Clairol)
wants to use the word "organic" on products that aren't certified to USDA
organic standards (shampoo).
* Peak Organic wants to use non-organic agricultural ingredients (hops)
in "USDA Organic" products (beer).
* Organic Vintners wants to use synthetic ingredients (sulfite
preservatives) in organic products (wine).





  • [Livingontheland] Safeguard Organic Standards, Tradingpost, 10/21/2010

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