Producing healthy, pure food to nourish the world is the goal of the Department of Natural Law-Based Agriculture of Maharishi Global Administration through Natural Law. To help fulfil this purpose, we encourage you to read and act on the following alert form the Mothers for Natural Law regarding regulations on organic food standards.
We are especially concerned that the regulations may allow genetically engineered foods to be sold under the organic label. This would mean that there is no way for the consumer to know whether or not the food he is purchasing is genetically engineered-free.
Please fax/send the following sample letter to the Secretary of Agriculture with copies to your Congressmen and to Mothers for Natural Law so that they can keep track of the numbers supporting this initiative. You could also send copies to your local news media and to your friends. Also, for more information, please contact Mothers for Natural Law at 515-472-2809.
Please act immediately to help ensure that foods labeled organic will be genetic engineering-free. The last day for our recommendation is March 15, 1998
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(SM) Maharishi Global Administration through Natural Law is a trademark licensed to Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation and used under sublicense or with permission.
SOS!!!SOS!!!SOS!!!
Save Organic Standards!!! Join the National Initiative to Keep Genetic Engineering out of the Organic Market!
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) recommended to the USDA that genetically engineered organisms (GEOs), irradiation and sewage sludge be prohibited from use in organic farming and handling. The USDA sidestepped these three issues in the proposed National Organic Standards, published December 16, 1997 in the Federal Register. Instead of directly addressing these issues, as recommended by the NOSB, the USDA is requesting additional public input. Now is your chance to make sure the USDA knows that genetically engineered organisms, irradiation and sewage sludge have no place in organic. You have 90 days from December 16 to respond!
What can you do?
Write to the USDA today and tell them that you believe the regulations should reflect the NOSB's recommendations in their entirety. It is the organic sector that has produced the success of organic foods, and it is they who should determine what the national standard will be. Specify that you do not want GEOs, irradiation or sewage sludge in organic under any circumstances. Tell them that you also expect humane treatment and feeding of animals as recommended by the NOSB. And that you expect them to create a certification fee structure that is accessible to the small farmers. Use your own words or simply copy the following letter:
TMD-94-00-2
Eileen S. Stommes, Deputy Administrator
USDA-AMS-TM-NOP, AG Stop 0275, Room 4007-So.
P.O. Box 96456
Washington, D.C. 20090-6456
Dear Ms. Stommes,
I am writing in response to the proposed National Organic Standards to let you know that I believe the regulations should reflect the NOSB's recommendations in their entirety. It is the organic sector that has produced the success of organic foods, and it is they who should determine what the national standard will be. I do not want genetically engineered (GE) organisms, GE processing agents or GE agricultural inputs to be allowed in organic-even on a case by case basis. I also ask that you prohibit the use of irradiation and sewage sludge, and that the standard for the treatment of livestock in organic and the fee structure for certification be consistent with the NOSB's recommendations. The NOSB represents a broad consensus of organic farmers, manufacturers and consumers regarding the principles of organic agriculture and foods production. To formulate regulations that do not reflect their recommendations on genetic engineering, irradiation, sewage sludge, the needs of the small farmer and the treatment of animals will gravely weaken consumer confidence in the organic label, and threaten the viability of this industry. Thank you for including my input in your final decision.
Sincerely, Sign and print your name clearly, address and date.
Mail to the address of Eileen S. Stommes or fax to :
1- 202-690-4632
Very Important!!! To insure that your opinion is counted, please make sure to send a copy of your letter to Mothers for Natural Law
fax: 515-472-2683 or mail a copy to:
Mothers for Natural Law P.O. Box 1177 Fairfield, Iowa 52556
For more information call Mothers for Natural Law at 515-472-2809.
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Background Information
The Organic Food Production Act of the 1990 Farm Bill called for the formation of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), whose responsibility was to formulate recommendations to the USDA regarding how our organic standards should look. The law stipulated that the NOSB's recommendations were to be the primary source of guidance to the USDA when the agency wrote recommendations on organic standards. The NOSB worked for years to formulate recommendations that represented a broad consensus of both organic producers and consumers. But now the USDA is ignoring the experience, expertise and critical recommendations from the NOSB, effectively dismantling the deliberative structure legislated by Congress. The NOSB made strong recommendations to the USDA to:
* Categorically exclude genetically engineered (GE) organisms, GE agricultural inputs and GE processing agents from organic agriculture and production
* Bar the use of sewage sludge in organic farming
* Exclude all uses of irradiation in the preparation of organic foods
* Adhere strictly to humane animal husbandry practices
* Support the small farmers, certifiers, and processors as the backbone of organic
The USDA has declined to incorporate these and other recommendations into their regulations and has instead asked for comments on these topics from the American people. We urge you to respond!
Fact: Genetically engineered foods are not natural. They have never been proven safe. And they have absolutely no place in organic. Splicing genes from viruses, bacteria, insects and pigs into our foods using artificial laboratory techniques can introduce dangerous allergens and toxins into our foods, compromise the integrity of our global food supply and irreversibly damage the environment.
Fact: Sewage sludge contains viruses, heavy metals and thousands of other toxins that can contaminate crops and damage the health of both the humans and livestock that eat them.
Fact: Food irradiation uses wastes from nuclear reactors and produces dangerous chemicals foreign to our foods that can cause cancer and other diseases.
Fact: Factory farming and other "modern" high production farming and feeding methods violate the principles of humane animal husbandry and are in direct conflict with the precepts of organic agriculture.
Fact: The lowest certification fees are set so high that small farmers, certifiers and processors, the historic pioneers of the organic movement, will not be able to participate the National Organic Program. The act is also silent on the continued participation of private certifiers under their own seal, thus disenfranchising another founding component of the organic industry.
The Organic Food Production Act defined organic agriculture as "a holistic system for optimizing the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals and people." In its humble beginning, there were only a few organic farmers and consumers. Now that the organic market is the only growing segment of the food industry, everyone wants a piece of it-from the big food producers to the biotech industry.
Growth is good, but not at the expense of watering down organic standards. What will organic mean if we don't keep dangerous, environmentally and socially destructive practices out? The answer is simple. Nothing.
So stand up and be counted! Tell the USDA that you expect them to protect your rights as an organic farmer, manufacturer, retailer or consumer. And remind them that only by protecting the integrity of the organic market will they be able to fulfill their responsibility to uphold the highest ideals of agriculture for the American people. And only on that life-supporting foundation will they enable our nation to fulfill its responsibility to nourish our world family and sustain our planet.