Lesson 1: Organics: Some Background
Organic Standards: Where Do They Come From?
Organic standards are complex. Consumers tend to focus on the major issues associated with organic. Organic crops don't have synthetic insecticides, fungicides, or herbicides used on them. They aren't fertilized with sewage sludge. Organic crops aren't grown from seed that's genetically modified (GMOs). Livestock and animal products are not to have genetically engineered substances in them and are not to be treated with antibiotics or growth hormones. On the positive side, organically produced livestock are to be fed organically grown feed and they are to be able to have enough room to move around and exercise, both indoors and outdoors.
That's the easy part.
The Organic Trade Association, in June of 2003, began circulating a set of draft standards for the certification of the processing of organic fibers. The draft is in its sixth version and will become final in August, 2003. The document, which is forty-three pages long, was authored by Peter Murray and revised by Lynn S. Coody. Both author and reviser consulted and collaborated with dozens of people and organizations nationally, and internationally, to come up with the draft document for public discussion.
The result of those discussions, collaborations, and consultations is a legalistic document that deals with wash, dying, storing, sanforizing, finishing, weaving and dozens of complex technical issues relevant to the cotton, wool, and exotic natural fibers industry. It's a tough read and thus, by and large, interesting only to industry professionals.
The proposed fiber standards are not dissimilar to the multitude of other organic standards for, say, eggs or fruit juice. Each industry is uniquely complex and to be certified organic its stands must address industry practices.
Who draws up and approves these complex documents? In the case of the draft fiber standards, the Organic Trade Association's (OTA) Organic Fiber Council worked with the OTA's Quality Assurance Committee to come up with the proposed standards. Following public comment, they will likely be revised again and then become the industry standard.
That doesn't mean, however, they will be law or even an enforceable regulation.
For that to happen they have to be adapted by the United States Department of Agriculture. The USDA can act on its own and adapt the draft standards, or any other standard. They can also choose to work through the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). The NOSB, made up of knowledgeable organic industry people, was created to advise the USDA when Congress, in 1990, said national organic standards had to be developed.
Sometimes the USDA pays attention to NOSB and other times they don't. In 1998, when the USDA ignored NOSB's recommendation not to allow GMOs, irradiation, or sewage sludge to be used in organic food, they got 250,000 letters from angry consumers.
Congress may also have input into what can be considered organic or not organic. The result of that will be discussed briefly in the next session of this lesson.
The standards that will assure the most accountability and the most "organic" products, will be those developed in the manner that the draft fiber standards were developed. They may be complex and not particularly accessible to consumers but they will, largely, keep politics out of organics. By honoring that process, the original intent of J.I. Rodale and others, who begin to formulate the meaning of organic, will best be honored.
