ACTION ALERT: Co-ops Start to Boycott Horizon Organic Products for Violating Organic Standards (NEWS)

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ALERT: INDUSTRY SNEAK ATTACK ON ORGANIC STANDARDS- USDA ANNOUNCES BRIEF

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

 

The USDA has announced a very short public comment period (ends May 12,

2006) on a proposal to amend the National Organic Program (read the

proposal here) in a manner that would weaken organic standards. The

USDA's actions were requested by a very small handful of Republican

members of Congress. Take action now and tell the USDA you support

strong organic standards!

 

In late 2005, despite receiving over 350,000 letters and phone calls

from OCA members and the organic community, Republican leaders in

Congress attached a rider to the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations Bill

to weaken the nation's organic food standards in response to pressure

from large-scale food manufacturers.

 

This rider was voted on in conference committee. Here is a list of the

members of that committee who pushed this rider through:

 

Sen Robert Bennett (R-UT)

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA)

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)

Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)

 

" Congress voted to weaken the national organic standards that consumers

count on to preserve the integrity of the organic label, " said Ronnie

Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association. " The

process was profoundly undemocratic and the end result is a serious

setback for the multi billion dollar alternative food and farming system

that the organic community has so painstakingly built up over the past

35 years.

 

As passed, the amendment sponsored by the Organic Trade Association

allows: Numerous synthetic food additives and processing aids, including

over 500 food contact substances, to be used in organic foods without

public review. Young dairy cows to continue to be treated with

antibiotics and fed genetically engineered feed prior to being converted

to organic production. Loopholes under which non-organic ingredients

could be substituted for organic ingredients without any notification of

the public based on " emergency decrees. " OCA will work to reverse this

rider with an " Organic Restoration Act " in Congress in 2006.

 

Background of the Sneak Attack

 

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) and members of

the Organic Trade Association, have successfully weakened organic

standards by allowing Bush appointees in the USDA National Organic

Program to 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 have near total control over what can go into organic

foods and products.

 

WHAT'S AT STAKE:

 

Organic Standards Under Fire:

 

Agribusiness front groups, such as the Farm Bureau, big food

corporations like Kraft, biotech companies such as Monsanto, right-wing

think tanks, such as the Hudson Institute, and industry-friendly

government agencies have consistently tried to undermine organic

standards and get the USDA to allow conventional chemical-intensive and

factory farm practices on organic farms. Unless strict organic standards

are maintained, consumers will lose faith in the organic label.

 

Federal Funding for Organics:

 

The current five year $220 billion US Farm Bill allocates less than $5

million annually for organic research, promotion and marketing...

approximately one-hundredth of one percent. This means that Congress is

using billions of our tax dollars to reward chemical-intensive, factory

farm style operations, while penalizing non-chemical farmers. This,

despite the fact that organic food has been the fasting growing segment

in the food marketplace for over 13 years. To move beyond using

pesticides, chemicals and genetically modified seeds, conventional

farmers need government subsidies and conversion programs that

prioritize local and regional organic production. These misguided

priorities must be reversed in the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill.

 

Preserving Organic Farms and Consumer Choice:

 

Genetically Engineered (GE) crops pose a serious pollution threat to

organic food and farms. Windblown pollen from GE crops and commingling

of seeds in grain elevators or transport vehicles are contaminating

organic farms and seed stocks of corn, soy, cotton and canola. The OCA

is calling for strict legal liability on all GE crops utilizing the

" polluter pays " principle, to protect the property rights of farmers

growing organic or non-GE crops. The OCA is also calling for mandatory

labeling on GE foods- similar to laws already in place in Europe and

other countries- so that consumers have a choice whether or not to buy

GE foods.

 

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

 

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Consumer Coops Start to Boycott Horizon Organic Products for Violating

Organic Standards

 

* BOULDER CO-OP MARKET BOYCOTTS HORIZON DAIRY PRODUCTS - NPR to Provide

National Coverage

Press Release: May 5, 2006

Contact: Amy Wyatt (720) 560-3439

 

Boulder, Colo. to join other co-ops across the country in boycotting

Horizon dairy products. The market's concern is that Horizon the

nation's largest milk bottler under the National Organic Standards

Regulations. The Co-op is specifically concerned with regulations

governing livestock pasture, feed and confinement.

 

While reporting on the growing criticism of Horizon across the United

States, National Public Radio interviewed members of Boulder Co-op's

staff and Board of Directors yesterday as they physically removed

Horizon products from store shelves.

 

Amy Wyatt, Assistant General Manager for the Co-op, sees a Horizon

boycott as the right thing to do for Boulder's only community-owned

vegetarian grocery. " We are entrusted by our members to make the best

choices for products in the store that fit into our by-laws, " said

Wyatt. " Based on our concerns regarding Horizon's practices, we didn't

feel that continuing to carry this company's products was consistent

with our mission and values. "

 

Last year, The Cornucopia Institute of Wisconsin, a progressive farm

policy research group, filed formal complaints with the U.S. Department

of Agriculture's (USDA) Office of Compliance, asking that it investigate

what are believed to be violations of the law, particularly sections

§205.237, §205.238 and §205.239 of the National Organic Standards

Regulations.

 

The complaints ask the USDA to investigate whether it is legal to

confine cows in an industrial setting, without access to pasture, and

still label milk and dairy products as organic. According to Mark

Kastel, Cornucopia's Senior Farm Policy Analyst, " Real organic farms

have made great financial investments in converting to pasture-based

production, enhancing the nutritional properties of the milk and

enhancing animal health, ­while it appears that these large

corporate-dominated enterprises are happy just to pay lip service to

required organic ethics. "

 

Boulder Co-op Market is urging all other merchants who cater to organic

consumers locally Cottage.

 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_400.cfm

 

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