Greenfield, Massachusset
April 16, 2003
"President Bush's repeal today of
Section 771 is a triumph for the organic community and verifies
the strength of the consumer mandate to protect the organic
standards," said Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the
Organic Trade Association, the
business organization for the $11 billion organic industry in
North America.
"The organic community united immediately in a nationwide
grassroots effort to defend the integrity of the organic
standards. Every elected official was contacted. Every medium
was tapped," said DiMatteo. "Just as we rallied successfully to
defend 'organic' in 1998, we rallied successfully again in 2003.
It's time legislators realize that the organic community will
not allow the organic standards to be
undermined."
The bill signed into law today by President Bush includes an
amendment repealing the offending language that, in effect,
allowed organic livestock producers to feed their animals less
than 100 percent organic feed and still market the resulting
meat, dairy and poultry products as organic.
Organic community efforts to repeal the rider, Section 771 of
the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, included nationwide e-mail and
phone campaigns to elected officials in Congress, letters to the
editors of local newspapers, a national ad in The New York
Times, visits with legislative leaders in Washington, D.C.,
newspaper, magazine, TV and radio articles, and web and
store-based consumer education.
DiMatteo praised Congress for its rapid response to requests to
repeal the rider. "We especially appreciate Senators Patrick
Leahy and Olympia Snowe and Representatives Sam Farr and Ron
Kind in the House for sponsoring the repeal bills. Seventy-one
Senators and 105 Representatives signed on as co-sponsors of
bills to repeal Section 771. Getting this response took a
monumental effort by our members, affiliated associations and
groups, and consumers who barraged their legislators and
contacted the media with the message that Section 771 was a
major mistake that had to be corrected immediately," said
DiMatteo.
It is a standard operating procedure in the United States to
provide 100% organic feed for organic livestock, and organic
feed is readily available. The organic rule already includes
emergency feed provisions should there be a feed shortage, and
that is clearly not the case at this time.
Representing the $11 billion organic industry in North America,
the Organic Trade Association (OTA) is a membership-based
business association. Its mission is to encourage global
sustainability through promoting and protecting the growth of
diverse organic trade. OTA's approximately 1,200 members include
growers, shippers, retailers, processors, certifiers, farmer
associations, brokers, consultants and others. Learn more at the
OTA website: www.ota.com
or its consumer website:
www.theorganicreport.org.
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