Bush Administration Moving to Allow Corporate Takeover of Organics!

Feeling confident that the fish you are frying for dinner is
‘organic’ or that the shampoo you slather into your hair is free of
the kinds of chemicals that could make it fall out prematurely?
Don’t be too sure, now that the Bush administration has pulled the
plug on policing organic labels on non-agricultural products. The
decision made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National
Organic Program on April 14 is ‘literally opening the door for
unscrupulous companies to put bogus organic labels on products such
as fish, body care products, pet foods, fertilizer, and clothing,’
writes the Organic Consumers Association on its website, which also
includes a ‘Take Action’ petition that readers can send to Anne
Venneman, the USDA’s Secretary of Agriculture.

As if this isn’t scary enough, the USDA announced controversial
new directives on national organic standards on April 28
that basically state: ‘ignorance is bliss.’ The Organic Consumer
Association reports, ‘as long as the farmer and the organic
certifier don’t know the specific ingredients of the pesticides
applied to the ‘organic’ plants, the crops can be sold as
‘organic.” When it comes to ‘organic’ cows, the 12-month stay on
milk from Bessie after she has been injected with synthetic growth
hormones still applies. But, the website states: ‘Many of these
drugs build up in the body fat and are released in the milk and
meat from these animals. If this new directive is allowed to stand,
organic milk could potentially contain residues of drugs and
hormones.’

Meanwhile, the USDA will now allow cattle and beef that were fed
non-organic fishmeal frequently containing mercury and other
dangerous chemicals to be sold as ‘organic.’ Yet even a child knows
that what begins at the top of the food chain doesn’t stop until it
reaches the bottom.
— Jacob Wheeler

Go there>>
Bush Administration
Moving to Allow Corporate Takeover of Organics!

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