WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- As Congress finalizes the wording on the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations bill in the House/Senate Conference Committee, thousands of consumers are mobilizing across the U.S. to stop an industry-sponsored "Sneak Attack" on Organic Standards contained in a rider to the bill. Over the past week, members of the Organic Consumers Association have bombarded Congress with over 54,000 emails and 10,000 phone calls, heading off passage of the Sneak Attack rider in the U.S. Senate.
The Sneak Attack rider would lower organic standards by allowing Bush administration appointees in the USDA National Organic Program to approve hundreds of synthetic ingredients and processing aids in organic foods. Even worse, these proposed regulatory changes would reduce future public discussion and input and undermine the National Organic Standards Board's (NOSB) traditional lead jurisdiction in monitoring standards and controlling what substances are allowed on the "National List" of approved ingredients. What this means, in blunt terms, is that USDA bureaucrats and industry lobbyists, not consumers, would have near total control over what can go into processed organic foods and products. In a June, 2005 poll by the Consumers Union, 85 percent of American consumers expressed opposition to allowing synthetic ingredients in organic products.
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http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=54023
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