Big agriculture never stops trying to water down or chip away at the national standards for what constitutes organically grown food. The latest attempts came in April 2004, when officials in the National Organic Program (NOP) and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)—both agencies within the USDA—released changes to the organic standards. They included expansion of the use of antibiotics and hormones in dairy cows, allowing the use of more pesticides, and for the first time letting organic livestock eat potentially contaminated fishmeal. Administrators of the NOP also said seafood, pet food, and body care products could use “organic” on their labels without meeting any standards at all. These “Statements of Clarification” were issued without any public input.
The outcry against these “clarifications” from the public, from Congress, from the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), Consumers Union, media outlets, and many other organizations and individuals around the country was so great that within a month, Secretary of Agriculture Anne Veneman rescinded the changes. She said the USDA was “awestruck at the size and the fury of the protest” against watering down organic standards in favor of nonorganic agribusiness practices.
The moral of this incident is that agribusiness will continue to try to deconstruct the organic standards and that the USDA can’t be counted on to prevent that. Only the organic community—large and strong and growing stronger—can. Be watchful.
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