PANUPS Alert: Tell Congress to reject industry amendments to U.S. organic standa

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Fri, 23 Sep 2005 23:43:19 GMT

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PANUPS Alert: Tell Congress to reject industry amendments to

U.S. organic standards!

 

 

PANUPS Alert: Tell Congress to reject industry amendments to U.S.

organic standards!

September 23, 2005

 

Demand that your Senators and Representatives keep national organic

regulations the way they are.

 

Thanks to many activists who voiced their objections to Congress on

September 20 and 21, a sneak attack on organic standards has been delayed.

 

The Organic Food Production Act Amendment (OFPA)

 

On September 20 measures to weaken the OFPA was proposed as an

amendment to an Agricultural Appropriations Bill that had already been

passed by the House of Representatives as the bill came before the

Senate. On September 21, the Senate substituted a " study amendment " .

The proposed amendment would change the law to allow the use of

synthetic ingredients in food labeled organic and potentially weaken

national organic dairy standards as well. As a study amendment, the

Senate Committee on Agriculture has required that the Secretary of

Agriculture deliver a report to Congress within 90 days on the impact

of a recent court decision that upholds the standards for the organic

industry. But this decision to study the issue is no guarantee the

proposal is dead. Because the issue is now mentioned in the Senate

version of the Appropriations Bill, it can be revived in the joint

House-Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and still make it

into law.

 

Federal Court Decision Supports Organic Standards

 

The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the Organic

Foods Production Act does not allow synthetic (non-natural)

ingredients to be used in foods labeled " organic " and must ensure a

strong standard under which dairy cows are converted to organic milk

production. Read more about the court decision at the Center for Food

Safety: http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press_release1.27.05.cfm.

 

Conflict in the Organic Trade and Consumer Communities:

 

At the heart of the matter is conflict within the Organic Trade

Association (OTA), and between OTA and consumer, sustainable

agriculture and environmental groups. The OTA has been a leading force

in promoting organic cotton. Because the market for organic products

is the fastest growing segment of the food industry, large

corporations such as Kraft (owned by Phillip Morris), have been buying

up many of the pioneering organic brands. Until now, the Organic Trade

Association, advocating a weakening of the law, has declined to

negotiate with public interest groups and its own members who oppose

this amendment to weaken standards. Congress has asked the public

interest community and the OTA to try to negotiate a resolution to

this issue within a week (starting September 21).

 

What Is the Threat Now?

 

Previous attempts to water down the national organic standards focused

on individual product areas (chicken feed in Georgia, for example),

and were rejected in bi-partisan action in Congress. The current move,

however, represents a broad attack by some of the giant corporate

players that have been moving into the lucrative organic market. The

joint appropriations committee of the U.S. House of Representatives

and the U.S. Senate may meet as early as the week of September 26,

2005, and could make a decision to change from studying the issue to

changing the law.

 

Take Action: send an email to your Representative and Senators.

http://ga4.org/ct/f71RIZS1tz5Z/

 

 

For More Background Information

 

Sources: Beyond Pesticides,

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/organicfood/alerts/senateappropriations.htm,

 

 

the Center for Food Safety, http://ga3.org/campaign/organic_standards,

and the Organic Consumers Association,

 

www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm.

Contact: PANNA

 

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) 49 Powell St., Suite

500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA Phone: (415) 981-1771 Fax: (415)

981-1991 Email: panna Web: http://www.panna.org