# Action Needed! Organics threatened again!



## Sustainer (Sep 26, 2002)

NATIONAL ORGANIC STANDARDS BOARD STACKED WITH INDUSTRY REPS
The USDA, behind closed doors, recently announced several highly questionable appointees to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Despite calls from the organic community to let the public know ahead of time who the nominees were, the USDA kept the names of the nominees secret. The NOSB advises the USDA on how to interpret and implement national organic standards. Despite federal law that mandates that the 15-member NOSB must be broadly representative of the organic community, the USDA's recent appointees are all notable for their past or present ties to corporate agribusiness. For example the appointee for the seat reserved for a "Consumer and Public Interest Group Representative" was given to Tracy Miedema, who works for Stahlbush Island Farms, a split-farm operation with 3/4 of its acreage non-organic. Miedema, who previously worked for a subsidiary of General Mills (Small Planet) freely admits that Stahlbush utilizes Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, as well as other chemical pesticides and fungicides. The USDA's appointee for the seat reserved for a scientist is Katrina Heinze, who works for Small Planet/General Mills, a company with a hardball reputation for selling sugar-laden cereals to kids, supporting GMOs, and industrial agriculture. Heinze was forced to resign from the NOSB last year, under pressure from the OCA and the Consumer's Union, after being appointed "consumer representative" to the NOSB. Another one of the "organic experts" appointed to this powerful government board is a representative of Campbell's Soup. Please tell the USDA that organic consumers want all nominees and future appointments to be made in a fair and transparent manner and that we believe the current crop of pro-industry appointees are completely unacceptable.
Learn more and take action: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/nosb.cfm


----------



## Christine&men (Jun 4, 2005)

bump


----------



## Sustainer (Sep 26, 2002)

ALERT UPDATE:
USDA STACKS GOVERNMENT ORGANIC PANEL WITH INDUSTRY REPS
In the last issue of Organic Bytes, the OCA blew the whistle on the USDA's appointment of four new representatives to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) with strong ties to corporate agribusiness. The NOSB is the organic community's traditional watchdog over organic standards. According to the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, the USDA is supposed to appoint a NOSB that is broadly representative of the organic community, including environmentalists, consumer representatives and scientistst. But the USDA has begun to arbitrarily fill vacant seats with industry representatives from companies such as General Mills and Campbell's, companies whose profits are almost entirely based on nonorganic crops grown with synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Thousands of organic consumers have responded to this outrage by sending emails to the USDA demanding the removal of these appointees. The USDA's stonewalling so far indicates the agency feels that its appointees, indeed, are as "diverse" as federal law requires. In fact, in a letter to the Syracuse New Times Standard, the agency points out that diversity is truly present in the current industry appointees, pointing out that they all work in different parts of the U.S.. Now that's diversity! If you haven't already done so, contact the USDA and demand that true organic advocates be appointed to the NOSB:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/nosb.cfm


----------



## dallaschildren (Jun 14, 2003)

THANK YOU Alice. I sent my letter and signed up for updates.

DC


----------



## lauraess (Mar 8, 2002)

Thanks so much for this alert. Done.


----------



## Earth Angel (Dec 13, 2004)

Done, and Done









Thank you for the notice.


----------



## beansricerevolt (Jun 29, 2005)

Thanks for keeping us informed!


----------



## bonbon mama (May 16, 2003)

thanks! did it


----------



## mamimapster (Oct 27, 2004)

done and done!


----------



## mugglemom (Aug 5, 2006)

Thanks for the notice. Sent my letter today.


----------



## dallaschildren (Jun 14, 2003)

Any new updates Sustainer? Couldn't find anything and haven't gotten any new emails lately.

DC


----------



## mykidsmyworld (Jan 18, 2007)

Thanks, sent my letter today, I hope our voices are heard.


----------



## Progressive_Mom (Sep 2, 2006)

Thanks! I sent my letter in today. It is so sad that we have to fight for organic integrity.


----------



## Sustainer (Sep 26, 2002)

NFM Trade Publication Covers OCA Opposition to National Organic Stands Board Appointments

* USDA appoints new NOSB board members
By Bryce Edmonds
Natural Foods Merchandiser, 1..1.07
Straight to the Source

The U.S. Department of Agriculture appointed four new members to five-year terms on the National Organic Standards Board, beginning Jan. 24.

The new members are Tracy Miedema, consumer/public interest member; Tina Ellor, environmentalist member; Steve DeMuri, handler member; and Katrina Heinze, scientist member.

Miedema is national sales and marketing manager of Stahlbush Farms in Corvallis, Ore. She has served as an ad*junct professor in consumer behavior at Western Washington University and created an organic learning center for retailers and stakeholders within Small Planet Foods. Ellor is the technical director of Kennett Square, Pa.-based Phillips Mushroom Farms and has been active in small farm and rural development in Pennsylvania. DeMuri, senior manager for commercialization and improvement for Campbell Soup Co. in California, is the company's technical expert and manager of its organic production. Heinze has a doctorate degree in chemistry and is the manager of global regulatory affairs for General Mills, responsible for food safety and regulatory matters.

The NOSB has 15 members representing different sectors and interest groups involved in organic producing, handling and consuming (four producers, two handlers, one retailer, three environ*mentalists, three consumers, one scientist and one certifying agent).

The new appointments caused a backlash from the Organic Consumers Association. In a release, Ronnie Cummins, national director of the OCA, said, "Never before has the Bush administration's USDA made such a blatant attempt to pack the [NOSB] with people who represent corporate agribusiness and industrial farming practices. Stahlbush Farms, which admits on its Web site to using pesticides, fungicides and insecticides on its crops (except for its canned pumpkins, sweet potatoes and frozen green beans) is not, by any stretch of the imagination, an organic consumer or public interest group. Likewise, General Mills is not an academic institution, qualified to submit an impartial 'scientist' to serve on the NOSB."

Jim Riddle, former chairman of the NOSB, said that of the 40 people nominated, there were numerous scientists and public interest group representatives to choose from, and that there is cause for concern when the overall membership of the board is considered. "Certain seats on the board are consumer and environmental seats, and they aren't filled with people who are consumers, representatives from public interest groups or environmental organizations," he said. "It's by far the most corporate representatives that we've ever had when looking at the composition of the entire board."

Cummins said his group did not nominate anyone for a slot. "It appears to us that the attitude of these people is that they hate us ... that this is a trap. This cannot be cleared up by a token member of OCA or Consumer's Union on the board," he said. "This NOSB, who we are depending on to be a watchdog, is slowly but surely turning into a lapdog."

According to Riddle, "[USDA's] criteria are being bent as far as they can be bent to have certain interests represented, it appears, at the exclusion of some of the interests created by Congress to be represented at the table."

Natural Foods Merchandiser volume XXVIII/number 1/p. 31


----------



## Ivan's Mom (Jul 10, 2006)

Thanks for this. We depend on organic foods to keep us healthy. My last year's New Year Resolution was to bring our household to at least 75% organic with the foods we eat. Done. This year's resolution was to be a more sustainable household. If we do something to hurt the environment we must do something bigger to help it. Trying.


----------



## mykidsmyworld (Jan 18, 2007)

I'm sorry, I'm confused,
What does this mean for us now,
I sent my letter as did many of us but have they appointed these people already or can this still be changed?

Sabrina


----------



## Sustainer (Sep 26, 2002)

The people had already been appointed before I even posted this thread. What we're doing is trying to convince the Secretary of Agriculture and members of Congress to intervene by working with the USDA to remove inappropriate appointees and reopen the appointment process in order to restore the board to a state of compliance with the mandates of the Organic Foods Production Act. We also need to convince the USDA that organic consumers want all nominees and future appointments to be made in a fair and transparent manner.


----------



## mykidsmyworld (Jan 18, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Sustainer* 
The people had already been appointed before I even posted this thread. What we're doing is trying to convince the Secretary of Agriculture and members of Congress to intervene by working with the USDA to remove inappropriate appointees and reopen the appointment process in order to restore the board to a state of compliance with the mandates of the Organic Foods Production Act. We also need to convince the USDA that organic consumers want all nominees and future appointments to be made in a fair and transparent manner.

Is there anything else that we can do besides writing letters?


----------



## Sustainer (Sep 26, 2002)

Encourage others to write letters

Donate to the OCA if possible


----------



## ACsMom (Apr 21, 2006)

Okay, I sent a letter too, and joined up. Hope we can all make a difference here...thanks to the OP for all the updates.


----------



## oreganicmama (Jan 31, 2007)

My husband worked with Ms. Meidema at Stahlbush Island Farms during her bid for appointment to the NOSB. Although there has been a lot of backlash from the OCA, the main reason Meidema was appointed to the board in a consumer intersest seat was that she ran unopposed. If agribusiness is the only industry with interest in steering organic standards, then they will be the ones to make the new rules. If consumers want to make a difference, we should be active in our communities, regions AND on a national level.


----------

