Greenfield, Massachusset
March 6, 2003
A national advertising campaign
calling on U.S. consumers to join the fight to protect the
organic standards has been announced by Katherine DiMatteo,
executive director of the Organic
Trade Association, the business association that led the
successful 12-year struggle to put the standards into place on
October 21, 2002.
The campaign breaks on Friday, March 7, with a full-page ad in
The New York Times. The hard-hitting
consumer call-to-action warns Americans that a "stealth"
amendment secretly inserted into a 3,000-page spending bill has
quietly made a mockery of America's new organic labeling law.
Underneath an image of the new U.S.D.A. organic seal that
substitutes "not really organic" where the verification
"organic" would normally sit, the ad warns readers: "Only YOU
Can Stop This From Happening." Consumers - more than 55 percent
of whom buy organic products, research shows(*) - are urged to
contact their Congressional representatives to ask for support
in passing new legislation repealing the rider (S. 457, HR.
955).
"More than a quarter million citizens voiced their outrage at
past efforts to weaken the standards, and they stand ready to
defend the standards again today. Consumers will accept no
substitutes for organic," said DiMatteo. "Our goal is to work
with consumers to help Congress understand the magnitude of our
support for maintaining the integrity of the organic standards."
DiMatteo emphasized that organic farmers, producers, retailers
and other members of the organic and environmental communities
stand united in support of the Leahy-Snowe 'Organic Restoration
Act' in the Senate and its counterpart in the House of
Representatives. Declared DiMatteo, "We are grateful for the
solid bipartisan support behind this effort and for the backing
of the Bush administration and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture."
About the Rider
Preventing funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
enforcement of organic livestock requirements if organic feed
costs twice or more as much as conventional feed, Section 771 of
the 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which was signed into law
by President Bush on February 20, allows producers to label
their meat, poultry and dairy products "organic" even if they do
not meet the strict criteria set forth by USDA for feeding 100
percent organic feed. This is a serious issue because organic
livestock provides meat, milk, eggs, cheese, wool, and more,
forming the basis of hundreds of products.
One company's reluctance to pay the price for organic feed
prompted the rider, noted DiMatteo, although Organic Trade
Association information shows that there is enough organic feed
available. The measure also creates an uneven playing field for
organic producers, many of whom have already made the commitment
to organic production and are following the rules.
"We must not forget that the original reason national organic
standards were sought was to make sure that products labeled as
organic in the marketplace truly were produced through stringent
measures that could be tracked," DiMatteo said. "We must fight
to keep organic organic."
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. For further information, visit the OTA
website at www.ota.com or its
new consumer website at
www.theorganicreport.org.
(*) Nationwide consumer survey,
Whole Foods Market, Oct. 17, 2002
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