Certified Organic or Organic - The Whole Story?

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

This post .. and the ones following .. are gonna take some of the long

term list members to the school house .. they've seen them before .. but

this list is growing by leaps and bounds and there are a lotta new folks

on here now who have not seen them .. and who might get some valuable

information from them.

 

I'm going to send some other posts on this subject after sending this

one, but they will be spaced out because for some reason, likes to

let them go through the system at its own pace .. not necessarily in the

order they are sent .. and it sometimes causes confusion.

 

We often see posts on this/that list regarding the above subject. Most

of the writers appear to have a belief that Organic is good for sure ..

but Certified Organic is even better .. its a magic pill .. a stamp that

indicates Quality and Safety, etc. This belief is wishful thinking!

 

True it is that we all would rather eat a salad made from vegetables

that were grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, fungicides and

growth regulators .. and maybe without the use of synthetic fertilizer,

though in many cases, concerns in this regard are not valid concerns

because most plants break down any fertilizer into its basic elements

during use. Plant nutrition is a difficult subject to understand, even

for the experts .. there are no simple answers because different plants

deal with their own care and feeding in different manners.

 

I hope this post (and those following) will provide enough information

to allow those who have inquiring minds to question what they hear and

read .. and to be better able to make informed decisions about what they

are willing to accept .. and to question whether they are getting their

money's worth when they purchase what they decide they want to accept.

 

This information will probably burst some balloons .. especially some of

the marketing hype balloons .. but it will also hit close to home for

those who are living with a false sense of security regarding what they

eat .. and more relative to the business we are in .. what Essential

Oils they purchase and use.

 

I often see advertisements from companies claiming to sell only Organic

or Certified Organic Essential Oils. Many oils that they claim to be

Certified Organic are, in fact .. NOT! If we want to sell .. or use ..

only Certified Organic Essential Oils then our stash of EO is going to

be mighty small .. and our pocket book will be mighty thin.

 

Belief in Santa Claus is (to me) harmless in that there are traditions

some of us like to keep alive .. and belief in the tradition of the Old

Flying Fat Fairy can let us go back to visit happier times .. back when

we didn't have to contend with the realities of the world. But belief

in marketing hype regarding the production of Essential Oils is not

harmless because being an unwise consumer (more importantly, an unwise

purchaser) is not in our best interests.

 

Its sort of like the advertisement " Chicken of the Sea " had on TV a few

years back .. " Do we want tuna with good taste, or do we want tuna that

tastes good? " The answer .. as it pertain to Essential Oils .. is that

some folks would rather have oils that supposedly have good taste ..

i.e., oils that are claimed to be Certified Organic.

 

On my list of oils offered (wholesale restricted to sellers only) but

retail at http://www.av-at.com/prices.html .. I have a total of 17 Oils

listed as Certified Organic. Of these 17 Oils I have valid Certificates

for 15 of them .. and expired Certificates on 2 of them. Do I believe

that the 15 Oils I have listed as being Certified Organic .. oils that I

have valid Certificates on .. are IN FACT .. truly Certified Organic

Oils? Probably! Do I believe the 2 listed as being Certified Organic,

for which I have expired Certificates are NOT .. in fact .. Certified ..

or that they are less valuable/safe than are those oils for which I have

valid Certificates? NO!

 

Do I believe that the 54 Oils I have listed as Organic are truly Organic

but .. are less valuable/safe than those listed as Certified Organic?

" Probably " .. on the first part of the question .. and " Probably Not " on

the second part of the question.

 

Do I believe that the 34 Oils I have listed as Wild Grown (WG) are more

or less valuable/safe than are those listed as Organic or Certified

Organic? Well .. ;-) odds are they are more likely to be TRULY Organic

than are the majority of the Oils I (and others) list as Organic and

Certified Organic .. because they grow under Mama Nature's hand in areas

that are normally not subject to contamination.

 

Do I believe that there are some sellers trying to pass off Wild Grown

oils .. from certain Origins, as being Certified or Certified Organic

when .. IN FACT .. those Origins don't have such an industry, that is ..

they are not involved in large scale cultivation of the aromatic plants

from which the oils claimed to be Organic or Certified Organic are

extracted? YES! I know it for a fact .. and could prove it if I wanted

to .. but this post is not an investigative report .. its an attempt to

inform those who might have become mesmerized by the smoke and mirrors

used by some sellers to market their products.

 

Do I believe that a grower who can produce a valid Certified Organic

Certificate is necessarily selling ONLY oils that were extracted from

the plants (which, in fact, are normally not certified) grown in that

soil that is certified? Not necessarily.

 

First .. oils are not Certified .. and in most cases the plants are not

Certified .. its the soil in which the plants are allegedly grown that

is Certified. And .. who can say that a grower or grower/producer did

not mix in other oils that may or may not be extracted from plants grown

in those Certified soils .. prior to sale? The answer is nobody unless

they were physically present during the entire process .. from sowing of

the seeds through the harvest and distillation.

 

And if the grower or grower/producer did not mix oils .. who can know if

the large buyer of the majority of those oils did not do it? Nobody!

 

The results of a Gas Chromatography (GC) or GC/Mass Spectrometry analysis

will not tell us this. The GC or GC/MS will tell us if the oil appears

to be a pure, unadulterated, quality oil .. and it can tell us if there

are obvious signs of some synthetic chemicals present in the oil .. that

is all it can tell us!

 

Am I willing to give buyers a copy of the valid Certified Certificates I

have on some oils? NO! Why? Because it identifies the producer and

any seller in this industry knows that it is foolish to broadcast the

source of their products .. this is not selfishness .. its survival.

 

So .. if I am not willing to give a copy of the Certificate .. how can

a buyer know that I am .. IN FACT .. selling them a Certified product?

They can't know!

 

So .. why do I even bother to list them as Certified in the first place?

Because .. some folks would rather have tuna with good taste than tuna

that tastes good!

 

Though the purpose of this post is to discuss Essential Oils .. I think

I have to hit on Organic products in general because if I don't .. as

sure as cats have kittens the direction of this thread will change. ;-)

http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/Consumers/brochure.html

 

Those who believe the information contained in the above link .. are

living with a false sense of security. But if we do believe it .. does

it mean that we should only purchase the more costly Organic products?

http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/117/112503.htm

 

Below is some extracted material on Organic Farming .. from ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming

 

Rural Infrastructure

 

" Critics condemn agribusiness practices for putting small, independent

farmers out of business, destroying rural communities in the process,

and causing the " art of farming " to be lost. According to these critics,

small-scale organic farming encourages local economies, and provides

social and employment alternatives to concentrated, energy-dependent

urban living, thus improving the quality of life for everyone.

 

As discussed previously, the entry of large-scale businesses into

production of organic food undermines the belief that a preference by

consumers for organic food will necessarily translate into a substantive

change in the nature of agribusiness. This is where the distinction

between organic farming, organic food, and organic certification becomes

tricky. If the strong consumer trend represents simply the desire for an

" organic " stamp on their food, then the trend to large-scale, global,

corporate farming, certified organic or not, will continue. If consumers

embrace a broader concept of " organic " , which includes fresh, local

food, substantial changes in the food industry would have to follow to

meet this demand.

 

Sustainability

 

Although it is common to equate organic farming with sustainable

agriculture, the two are not synonymous. Sustainability in agriculture

is a broad concept, with considerations on many levels, such as

" environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic

equity. " [5] With regard to organic farming methods, one goal of

sustainability would be to approach as closely as possible a balance

between what is taken out of the soil with what is returned to it,

without relying on outside inputs. An organic operation that imports the

manure it uses to replace the nutrients taken out of the soil by crops,

must factor in the resources required to produce and transport that

manure, when calculating sustainability. Organic farming today is a

small part of the agricultural landscape, with a relatively minor impact

on the environment. As the size of organic farms continues to increase,

a new set of large-scale considerations will eventually have to be

tackled. Large organic farms that rely on machinery and automation, and

purchased inputs, will have similar sustainability issues as large

conventional farms do today.

 

Certification

 

Organic certification, particularly where mandated by law, as in the US

and the EU, is increasingly being seen by individual organic farmers and

consumers as a contentious issue. Where the push for regulation was

originally a grassroots effort by organic producers and buyers looking

to uphold standards and prevent fraud, the complex regulations and

opportunities for loopholes that have emerged have led to charges being

leveled against major certifiers and government programs. In the US,

where standards became law in 2002, serious complaints have been lodged

with the USDA against the largest US certifying agency, and the USDA

itself has been taken to court, based on such challenges. A leading US

proponent of organic farming, Eliot Coleman, who served as an adviser to

the USDA during the drafting of the original organic guidelines in the

US in the 1980s, and served a term as Director of IFOAM, more recently

stated: " The label 'organic' has lost the fluidity it used to hold for

the growers more concerned with quality than the bottom line, and

consumers more concerned with nutrition than a static set of standards

for labeling. " [6] Concern about the " watering down " of standards to

facilitate large-scale production is currently a significant aspect of

organic farming regulation. " UNQUOTE

 

More at .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification

 

So .. that's all for this introduction .. but more is on the way.

 

Y'all have a good one .. and keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch http://www.AV-AT.com .. Wholesale/Retail GC Tested EO, Tested

Hydrosols, Rose Products and other nice things shipped from our store in

Downtown Friendsville, Maryland. Population: 597

 

PS: The subject above includes the words " The Whole Story?. Are you

going to get that from what I will present .. or what some growers and

sellers .. and/or government agencies present? NO! NO! NO! You might

never get the whole story because the odds are that there is no person

or organization that has the whole story!!