The National Organic Standards Board met last week to discuss whether synthetic substances should be on the National List of approved ingredients. Some substances proposed to be allowed in organic agriculture and organic food processing are: Streptomycin, Magnesium Oxide, Vinasse, Laminarin, and Aqueous Potassium Silicate – Methionine.
Do these ingredients sound organic to you? If the USDA has their way these ingredients and others will be allowed in organic food products. You can read more about it here (you have to copy/paste link): http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/usda-takes-over-organic-program-eroding-organic-standards-to-benefit-big-food/
Food Democracy Now! reported:
USDA representative Miles McEvoy has illegally taken over the meeting by appointing himself as meeting “co-chair” in an effort to erode the authority of, and control the decisions made by allegedly independent, NOSB members as spelled out in the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990.
When the meeting began, McEvoy used his new position as co-chairman to explain the new setup. He told the members of the National Organic Standard Board: “The NOSB has only an “advisory” role governing organic standards and USDA staff sets all agenda items and makes all decisions.”
This is yet another attempted corporate takeover on our food supply. Monsanto and the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) are spending millions (maybe they are inching closer to billions?) to fight labeling of their GMO products. Monsanto and Big Ag are involved in so many lawsuits, they must have hired an army of attorneys to keep up with them all. Last November the Island of Kauai passed a law limiting the planting of biotech crops and pesticides. The law basically says that companies planting GMO seeds must disclose it to the public. In response Dupont, Syngenta and Agrigentics Inc. filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that the Kauai law is unconstitutional. So now these corporations are trying to call this a “free speech” issue? Are they trying this angle because of the “corporations are people too” ruling? Rumor is that these chemical/agriculture companies are planning to do the same thing to squash the new Vermont GMO labeling law.
Monsanto and their buddies are desperate to sell their toxic goods to the unsuspecting citizens of the United States because over twenty-six countries currently ban or require GMOs to be labeled. If they can’t sell this garbage to us, they just might be out of business (which is just fine with me.)
Sources:
USDA Takes Over Organic Program Eroding Organic Standards to Benefit Big Food
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/14/kauai-anti-gmo-lawsuit_n_4593043.html
Big Ag doing everything they can to stop GMO Labeling. http://fb.me/24AIr5sLR
Horrible idea. Organic food is what everyone ate before World War II. Back then it was just called food. Without a strong organic standard, you could be eating glyphosate, crops with fungus and fish genetics inserted in them or crops with unregulated amounts of pesticides genetically inserted in them etc. Hopefully farmers and the companies that make organic products will stick to a stronger standard than what the USDA has. The USDA has been owned by Monsanto for some time now.
Having said that, the magnesium oxide addition doesn’t sound so bad. The other stuff, not so much.