Rense: Bush Admin. Moving to Allow Corporate Takeover of Organic Standards!!

[Guest guest]

Comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

ACTION ALERT: Bush Administration moving to allow corporate

takeover of organics!

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION!

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm#action

 

Over the past few weeks America's organic standards have once again

come under heavy attack. First the USDA's National Organic Program

(NOP) announced on April 14 that they would no longer monitor or

police " organic " labels on non-agricultural products, literally

opening the door for unscrupulous companies to put bogus organic

labels on products such as fish, body care products, pet foods,

fertilizer, and clothing.

 

In the case of seafood and body care products, the marketplace is

already starting to become flooded with products bearing the organic

label, even though the production methods (industrial fish farms) or

content ( " organic " shampoos with organic claims based upon added

water) in many of these products violate traditional organic

principles. Besides giving the green light to bogus organic labels

the new USDA " scope policy " penalizes genuine organic companies that

have begun sourcing, certifying, and labeling their products as

organic.

 

Corporate agribusiness and the biotech lobby have apparently decided

that strict organic farming practices and the booming organic market

constitute a threat to their bottom line, and have called on their

friends in the Bush administration USDA to degrade organic standards

and prepare for a restructuring of organic production so as to

facilitate the use of industrial agriculture practices such as

pesticides, antibiotics, non-organic feed, growth hormones and even

genetically engineered animal drugs.

(For more info on corporate agribusiness control of U.S. government,

click here)

 

USDA's NOP announced on April 28 controversial new

directives/guidance statements on national organic standards

including:

 

 

 

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" Organic " Crops Raised with Pesticides?

The USDA has now stated that as long as the farmer and the organic

certifier don't know the specific ingredients of the pesticides

applied to the " organic " plants, the crops can be sold as " organic " .

To make matters worse, it is not required by law for pesticide

companies to list the ingredients on their products (it's considered

proprietary information), so the farmers rarely know what the

specific ingredients are.

(Read full USDA pesticide statement here)

 

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" Organic " Dairy Cows Injected with Antibiotics and Synthetic

Hormones?

The USDA has announced that individual cows can be treated with any

kind of drug at any time, including synthetic growth hormones, but

milk can only be sold from that cow 12 months after that treatment.

The problem with this directive is that it opens up the door for

split operation factory style dairy farms, whereby organic and non-

organic dairy operations are carried out simultaneously, and

hundreds if not thousands of " organic " dairy cows are kept in

intensive confinement. Not only are industrial sized dairy farms bad

for the environment, but they inevitably give rise to sick cows who

have to be treated with drugs. Of course many of these drugs build

up in the body fat and are released in the milk and meat from these

animals.. If this new directive is allowed to stand, organic milk

could potentially contain residues of drugs and hormones.

(Read full USDA dairy statement here)

 

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Mercury and PCBs Allowed in " Organic " Beef?

The USDA also stated on April 28 that non-organic fishmeal can be

fed to cattle and the beef can still be sold as " organic " . Fishmeal

is used as a protein supplement on conventional cattle ranches, but

it frequently contains mercury, PCBs and other synthetic chemicals.

Mercury and PCBs are " bioacculmulators " meaning they are

concentrated and stored in the " meat " of the animal.

(Read full USDA livestock feed statement here)

 

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The OCA is working hard to stop the degradation of organic standards

by the USDA and head-off the takeover of the organic market by

corporate agribusiness and biotech interests. We are now launching a

national campaign called SOS--Safeguard Organic Standards, to make

sure that strict organic standards are maintained and that organic

monitoring, certification, and policing extends to the full range of

consumer products, including body care, clothing, pet food,

fertilizer, and other items. But to Safeguard Organic Standards we

need your donations and we need your grassroots volunteer energy.

Join us, and ask your friends, family, and neighbors to do the same.

Please make a tax deductible online donation today!

 

or mail donation to Organic Consumers Association

6101 Cliff Estate Rd, Little Marais, MN 55614

E-mail:Staff · 218-226-4164

 

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Sign OCA's Petition and CALL

Anne Veneman - USDA Secretary of Agriculture

Phone: (202-720-3631) Fax:(202-720-2166)

 

Richard Matthews - National Organic Program

Phone: (202-720-3252) Fax:(202-205-7808)

[Guest guest]

Everybody please take action on this!! Or else soon all we will have to

eat is Monsanto's freakinfoods. (oh, sorry, I guess that should be

frankinfoods)

 

Carol

 

 

 

Misty L. Trepke [mistytrepke]

 

 

 

ACTION ALERT: Bush Administration moving to allow corporate

takeover of organics!

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION!

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm#action