Worth Fighting For
Ronnie Cummins- Organic Consumers Assoc.
ESSAY OF THE WEEK
Worth Fighting For
OCA was launched 16 years ago for the specific purpose of safeguarding organic standards. We wanted strong, meaningful standards. So consumers would always be able to trust the USDA Organic seal.
Unfortunately, some businesses still get away with violating organic standards. And the National Organic Program (NOP), which is supposed to protect the standards, sometimes caves in to industry pressure to weaken those standards.
Consumers buy USDA Organic products for many reasons. Good reasons. Buying organic is the best way to provide superior nutrition. The best way to reduce your exposure to toxic pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and growth hormones. The best way to protect the environment by supporting farmers who use sustainable, non-polluting, climate-friendly practices.
In an age of rampant fraudulent marketing practices, where food companies boldly proclaim their GMO-tainted foods to be “natural,” it’s more important than ever for consumers to understand what USDA Organic means. And how—and why—we need to protect the integrity of organic standards.
ACTION ALERT
One Down, One to Go
Thanks in part to the 32,619 comments submitted by OCA supporters last year, to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB),
growers of organic apples and pears will have to stop spraying their fruit with tetracycline, an antibiotic, after Oct. 21, 2014. Instead, they’ll have to find another way (and those ways do exist) to protect their fruit trees from a disease called fire blight.
Now we have to convince the NOSB to enforce that same deadline—Oct. 21, 2014—for ending the use of another antibiotic, streptomycin, on organic apples and pears.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that each year in the U.S., at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics. And at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections.
Antibiotics don’t belong on our food. And they certainly don’t belong on organic apples and pears.
Photo Credit:
ACTION ALERT
Before It’s Too Late
Last week, First Lady Michelle Obama finished planting her sixth-annual White House Kitchen Garden. But this year, she did something different. She planted a pollinator garden to attract and support 70,000 bees already gracing the presidential lawn, as well as monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
It’s great that the First Lady is doing her part to create a habitat for bees at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But what we really need, before it’s too late, is a ban on the toxic pesticides and herbicides that are responsible for killing off huge populations of honeybees all over the world.
Mrs. Obama is in a great position to help us achieve that, by using her “Gardener-in-Chief” status to influence her husband and Congress to pass a law to protect pollinators. But will she step up?
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“I am proud of Vermont for being the first state in the nation to ensure that Vermonters will know what is in their food. The Legislature has spoken loud and clear through its passage of this bill. I wholeheartedly agree with them and look forward to signing this bill into law.”
“Americans are in a populist temper. But they won’t find much help until they are mobilized in large numbers—and the powers-that-be begin to worry about the pitchforks.” - Robert L. Borosage, founder and president, Institute for America’s Future and co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future.
“Transparency is part of our culture and our business model. We value pure food and ethical behavior, and our product selection and business practices reflect that.” - Stephen Trinkaus, owner and manager, Bellingham, Wash.-based Terra Organica
ronniecummins@organicconsumers.org