Organic: Friend or Faux?

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http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18771

 

 

Organic: Friend or Faux?

 

By Amanda Griscom, Grist Magazine

May 24, 2004

 

The Bush administration is giving Americans new reason to watch what they eat –

and it has nothing to do with carbs. Over the course of 10 days in mid-April,

the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued three " guidances " and one directive –

all legally binding interpretations of law – that threaten to seriously dilute

the meaning of the word " organic " and discredit the department's National

Organic Program.

 

 

 

The changes – which would allow the use of antibiotics on organic dairy cows,

synthetic pesticides on organic farms, and more – were made with zero input from

the public or the National Organic Standards Board, the advisory group that

worked for more than a decade to help craft the first federal organic standards,

put in place in October 2002.

 

 

 

The USDA insists that the changes are innocuous: " The directives have not

changed anything. They are just clarifications of what is in the regulations

that were written by the National Organic Standards Board, " USDA spokesperson

Joan Shaffer told Muckraker. " They just explain what's enforceable. There is no

difference [between the clarifications and the original regulations] – it's just

another way of explaining it. "

 

 

 

But Jim Riddle, vice chair of the NOSB and endowed chair in agricultural systems

at the University of Minnesota, argues that what the USDA is trying to pass off

as a clarification of regulations is actually a substantial change: " These are

the sorts of changes for which the department is supposed to do a formal new

rulemaking process, with posting in the federal register, feedback from our

advisory board, and a public-comment period. And yet there is no such process

denoted anywhere. "

 

 

 

Organic activists suspect that industry pressure drove the policy shifts. They

point out that the USDA leadership has long-standing industry sympathies:

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman served on the board of directors of a biotech

company, and both her chief of staff and her director of communications were

plucked right out of National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

 

 

 

" Even though it evolved as a reaction against large-scale American

agribusinesses, the organic food industry has seen tremendous growth, roughly 20

to 24 percent a year for the past 10 years, " said Ronnie Cummins, founder and

national director of the Organic Consumers Association. " That, not surprisingly,

has brought with it investments from big business and demands for conventional

farming practices more favorable to mass production. "

 

 

 

One practice favored by large agribusiness is the use of antibiotics on cows,

and a guidance [PDF] issued on April 14 will allow just that on organic dairy

farms, a dramatic reversal of 2002 rules. Under the new guidelines, sickly dairy

cows can be treated not just with antibiotics but with numerous others drugs and

still have their milk qualify as organic, so long as 12 months pass between the

time the treatments are administered and the time the milk is sold.

 

 

 

" This new directive makes a mockery of organic standards, " said Richard Wood, a

recent member of the FDA's Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee and executive

director of Food Animal Concerns Trust. " Organic farmers that we have talked to

are furious because they have been very careful to follow the antibiotics rule.

[The rule change] undercuts their ability to make a living doing things right. "

 

 

 

Furthermore, said Wood, the use of antibiotics will reduce the pressure on

organic farmers to provide healthy accommodations for their livestock. If they

know they can pump their animals up with drugs, they won't have to worry so much

about disease spreading when cows are penned up in close quarters, or about

weaning calves from their mothers at an unnaturally early age.

 

 

 

" It's hard to deny that this looks awfully like a political move by USDA to do

the bidding of larger dairy operations that want to produce organic milk by

expanding their herds with cattle that were once on non-organic farms, " Wood

said.

 

 

 

Another new guidance [PDF]put out on the same day would allow cattle farmers to

feed their heifers non-organic fishmeal that could be riddled with synthetic

preservatives, mercury, and PCBs and still sell their beef as organic.

 

 

 

And the following week, on April 23, the USDA took the particularly egregious

step of issuing a legal directive [PDF] that opens the door for use of some

synthetic pesticides on organic farms.

 

 

 

Previously, organic farmers were only allowed to use natural, non-toxic

pesticides on their crops, which effectively prohibited use of pesticides with

hidden ingredients (pesticide manufacturers often don't list certain

ingredients, claiming the information is proprietary).

 

 

 

According to the new guidelines, however, organic farmers and certifiers are

only required to make a " reasonable effort " to find out what is in the

pesticides being applied to crops. " If they can't come up with the info on toxic

inert ingredients that may be in their pesticides, they're off the hook " said

Liana Hoodes, organic policy coordinator for the National Campaign for

Sustainable Agriculture. " This takes all the pressure off of pesticide

manufacturers to reveal their ingredients and develop non-toxic products. In

fact, it creates a disincentive. "

 

 

 

Last but certainly not least, another guidance [PDF] released on April 14

narrows the scope of the federal organic certification program to crops and

livestock and the products derived from them, meaning that national organic

standards will not be developed for fish, nutritional supplements, pet food,

fertilizers, cosmetics, and personal-care products.

 

 

 

" Consumers beware: This basically allows any opportunistic company to put

fraudulent 'organic' labels on products outside of the regulated domain, without

any liability concerns, " Hoodes told Muckraker.

 

 

 

There have never been federal organic standards for these product categories –

which is why you cannot now trust an " organic " label on a bottle of shampoo or a

package of farm-raised salmon – but the USDA had previously said it would

develop such standards. In anticipation of that eventuality, many companies have

invested millions of dollars over the past decade to develop fish farms and

factories for non-agricultural products that adhere to criteria consistent with

those for organic crops and livestock.

 

 

 

" All that effort has just flown out the window, " Cummins told Muckraker. " It's

an outrage for the 30 million consumers who pay a premium for organic products

and expect that they can trust the organic claim. "

 

 

 

The USDA rejects activists' interpretation of this particular guidance: " There's

a process to go through [to develop organic guidelines for non-agricultural

categories] and it hasn't happened [yet], " said Shaffer. " It could still happen.

I'm not clairvoyant. "

 

 

 

Despite the USDA's demurrals, activists view the department's changes as a

serious threat to hard-won standards for organic products. The National Campaign

for Sustainable Agriculture and other groups are investigating possible industry

influence into the USDA's process, and some environmental groups are preparing

to take legal action.

 

 

 

" Secretary Veneman should withdraw these new directives and follow the

appropriate rulemaking procedures, " said Riddle of the NOSB. " We want them

withdrawn and to do it right. "

 

 

 

 

 

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