Several online petitions are making the rounds today as the news hits that the USDA is deliberately refusing to take action against factory farms who are unethically selling their products as “organic.” No doubt they are being pressured big time by the conventional agriculture business to weaken the organic foods laws and make it easier for them to profit from the organic market while making no real changes to the way they farm. As a consumer I am outraged!
Unscrupulous “organic” dairy farms are using the USDA’s inaction and a loophole in the current federal organic regulations to import young calves from non-organic conventional farms, where the animals have been weaned on cow blood, injected or medicated with antibiotics, and fed genetically engineered feed laced with slaughterhouse waste. This is unfair to genuine organic farmers, who follow strict organic principles on pasture access, animal feed, and import animals. It is also unfair to the consumer who expects that he or she can actually rely on the federal regulations that supposedly govern the activities of organic farms.
I have signed several online petitions today and I am actively looking for more ways to show the government that I demand that the federal laws in regards to organic foods be strengthened and NOT weakened. Here is one such petition to sign. Of course…what you can accomplish with a petition is limited becuause money talks, right? Do one better and STOP buying from companies that do not take these regulations seriously or lobby for weakening the laws. Only when people spend their money with a purpose and support companies that support the earth and the ideas you believe in, will things change.
Good Luck!!
Tiffany
