Both Parties Begin Effort to Restore Organic Standard

[Guest guest]

While they are overturning this bad law, why not overturn the requirement

to use only water that has been chlorinated. People that collect rain

water or us old deep wells can not call their crop " Organic " !

 

Chlorinated water is no longer any saver then any other water used to

water crops. They have found that Chlorination does not kill everything

that is in the water. And Chlorinated water changes the food product,

almost like man has changed the food product.

 

Using water that has some bugs, to water plants is no different then

putting on fresh fertilizer on the land. The air and the sun purifies

the food. If you put chemicals on the crops then it changes what you get

from the crop and that goes for Chlorine

 

Have a great day, tell a loved one you care and that is why you are doing

what you are doing,

 

 

Steven Pattison

(913) 491-0320

 

 

On Mon, 03 Mar 2003 02:28:51 -0000 " Misty L. Trepke

<mistytrepke " <mistytrepke writes:

Thanks, Fidyl

Comments?

Misty

http://www..com

 

 

Both Parties Begin Effort to Restore Organic Standard

By ELIZABETH BECKER

February 27, 2003

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/27/politics/27FOOD.html?tntemail0

 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: letters

 

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 ‹ Republican and Democratic lawmakers today

answered a rising call from a broad range of citizens, corporate food

producers, farmers and environmentalists to overturn a tiny

provision, tucked into the huge omnibus spending bill that had

loosened an organic food standard to benefit a single chicken company

in Georgia.

 

They not only announced new legislation to protect the standard but

also said they would organize as a caucus to ensure that the growing

organic food industry would be protected from further assaults.

 

Representatives from large food corporations as well as organic

farming cooperatives questioned how Congress had allowed

Representative Nathan Deal, a Republican from Georgia, to undermine

the organic standard put into effect last October after 12 years of

debate, public comment, regulation and legislation.

 

" There's been too much work that went into the organic standard and

too much at stake to let this happen, " Bob Buresh, a food researcher

for Tyson Foods, said at a news conference called to announce the new

bill.

 

The organic food business is one of the fastest growing in the

country, with nearly $12 billion in annual sales.

 

" I had complaints from 200 producers and processors ‹ from a small

Vermont farmer on the Canadian border to General Mills ‹ saying that

we cannot have a multi-billion industry go down the tubes by changing

the standards, " said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont,

who with Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, is a

co-sponsor of legislation with 39 other senators to overturn the

provision.

 

At issue is Mr. Deal's provision, now passed into law, that allows

farmers to raise their livestock on nonorganic feed and still sell

the meat, eggs and dairy products as organic. Fieldale Farms, a

Georgia chicken processing company, had asked for the provision. The

company and its employees contributed $4,000 to Mr. Deal in his last

election.

 

The organic food standard rejects conventional animal feeds because

they can be grown with pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that can

result in higher concentrations of these toxins in the animals.

 

Lining up against Mr. Deal today were lawmakers, organic farmers, the

Bush administration and major food corporations that are investing

millions of dollars to create their own organic foods.

 

Ann M. Veneman, the secretary of agriculture, released a statement

today saying she supports " bipartisan efforts " to overturn the Deal

provision and maintain the original standards for organic food that

were put into effect in October.

 

If the new law remains in place, she said, it " could weaken the

national organic program. "

 

It was hard to find any political support for Mr. Deal.

 

J. Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, allowed Mr. Deal to

insert the provision in the 3,000-page omnibus spending bill in the

final hours without public debate or even comment from the secretary

of agriculture. The bill was passed this month.

 

But today the speaker said through a spokesman that Mr. Deal was now

on his own.

 

" This is not our provision; it is Nathan Deal's provision, " the

spokesman, John Feehery, said. " Mr. Deal will have to defend it. "

 

Mr. Deal said through a spokesman that he was disappointed that his

fellow lawmakers were trying to overturn his provision.

 

" The congressman feels he was trying to level the playing field for

all organic participants, " said Chris Riley, the chief of staff for

Mr. Deal.

 

Environmentalists, who support the organic standard for what they say

are benefits for the soil, air and water, warned that if the current

provision stands, taxpayers would have to absorb the cost of cleaning

up agricultural pollution.

 

" This is not about one chicken farm, " said Ken Cook, president of the

Environmental Working Group. " This is an example of the marketplace

solving environmental problems without any federal subsidies and now

it's being sabotaged. "

 

Representative Ron Kind, Democrat of Wisconsin and one of the new

bill's sponsors, said the incident was " a wake-up call for us that we

need more coordination, more supervision and therefore we are

organizing an organic caucus. "

 

For farmers, the new law is coming at the worst time ‹ just before

spring planting.

 

" Farmers are wondering whether they should grow organic grains now, "

said George Siemon, executive director of Organic Valley, a

cooperative of 518 farmers in 17 states.