USDA Rule Change Alert- Short Comment Period, we need you!

I just got notification from the Natural Solutions Foundation that the USDA is trying to pull an end run by changing rules on what's allowed in food labelled "organic" which would make the label meaningless. According to Dr. Rima Laibow:

A brief 7 day comment period has been permitted for the public to share its views on the proposed degradation of the quality of Organic Foods in the US. Under AMS-TM-07-0062, thirty eight changes are proposed which will severely compromise organic foods. Please take a moment to submit your comments to the USDA to protect your right to know what you are buying and the quality of what you eat.

Only ingredients listed on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances may be used in the manufacture of organic foods and many do not have o be listed on labels. The USDA's proposed changes to this list includes a number of changes which will substantially degrade and compromise the safety and quality of organic foods while allowing Agribiz interests unfair advantage and providing false and misleading information through the use of the word "organic" in the impacted products.

Food colorings which are synthetic, pesticide-ridden hops (which can be sprayed with high levels fluoride-containing compounds) in supposedly "organic" beer, sausage casings from animals which have been given drugs, hormones, fed the dangerous and unwholesome foods which conventionally raised animals receive and which may transmit "mad cow" disease -- these are ingredients which have no place in organic foods.

The USDA has allowed industry interests months to petition it and a mere 7 days for public comment although it is the public which supports industry and relies on the regulatory protection of the USDA to provide labeling which is neither false nor misleading on products which are safe, wholesome and, in this case, organic.

What can you do? Comment on the USDA AMS-TM-07-0062 Changes to Organic Food here.