“Organic” By Every Other Name

•  The term “organic” as the FDA uses it is not useful or meaningful
•  The definition is the result of lobbying by agribusiness & other special interests
•  Many people have allergies and sensitivities to everyday products
•  There are companies that strive for a higher standard than the FDA standards
•  Three of them are Eden Foods, Organic Sleep Products and ___ Cleaning Supplies
•  Consumers are responsible for their own knowledge and protection
•  Elected officials and bureaucrats will not protect you
•  Websites for consumer information are http://www.organicconsumers.org/,
    www.cleanclothes.org and http://www.naturalingredient.org/,

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The field of organics represents the cutting edge of intelligent consumer consciousness in the 21st century. People who are aware of the personally destructive effects of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and other invasive products upon them and their children, read labels, websites and other information available in order to make informed decisions. A person who experiences a severe allergic reaction or develops an autoimmune deficiency that might be caused by “polluted” food, clothing or cleaning supplies does not have to think twice about forming a hard-and-fast definition of the words “organic” “natural” “green” or other terms relating to wholesomeness in products.

Not only is the field of organics a hot-button topic, it can also be very profitable – becoming more so each year -- bringing in hordes of interests that do not have anything beyond cash profitability in mind. These interests benefit from a muddying of the waters of English, thereby twisting and turning the definitions of the words listed above until they bear no resemblance to anything sensible.

For centuries, in the field of law, the concept of what a “reasonable person” would do, think or say in a given situation has served as the yardstick used to measure certain behaviors or assumptions. For such a reasonable person, the term “organic”, as defined by the USDA, is virtually meaningless, for the definition has been fashioned by the lobbyists of special interest groups and completely without thought to the interests of consumers’ safety or health.

In the fields of food, beds and accessories and cleaning supplies, the American consumer cannot rely upon elected officials or bureaucrats to protect his interests, so he must do so himself. To that end, this article addresses positive and truthful organic product information.

Food
In the field of food, Eden Foods offers the following information . . . “The most serious degradation of national organic standards occurred in October, 2005. In a back room deal the Organic Trade Association lobbied Congress to legalize the adulteration of organic food with basically any toxic additive a manufacturer may want to use, including substances that do not need to appear on ingredient panels. More than 400,000 consumers contacted their government representatives asking them not to weaken organic standards in such a way, but agribusiness influences prevailed. As a result, food bearing the 'USDA Organic' seal no longer needs to be natural food.” (www.edenfoods.com/issues) For this reason, Eden refuses to carry the USDA “organic” seal. Of course, Eden follows a higher standard and provides truly organic products (by a reasonable person’s definition).

Sleep Products
When it comes to mattresses and bedding accessories, the story is similar to that of food. Unless the word “Certified” appears before the word “Organic” the product is probably not organic. And the word “natural” cannot be taken at face value, either. And “natural” latex is probably not natural by a reasonable person’s definition. The same nebulous quality applies to the word “green” in a product description as well. Just as Eden Foods has done in its industry, Organic Sleep Products, a website with a store in Oregon, has developed its own, higher-than-government standards for organic, natural or green products. Quoting from owner Brian Seed’s description of his standard, found on the OSP website:

“Cotton Standard: Not only "Certified" to have been grown under organic conditions, but I want to be sure that the people who "certify" the cotton know what they're doing! It doesn't stop there - they have to pay their pickers a fair wage, garnet (process into batting) their cotton on machines specific for organic cotton and don't clean their cotton with any chemical cleaners. When there's a color used, they have to use a natural fiber reaction to create the color - no dyes!

“Latex Standard: 100% pure – with one exception [see website for detailed information]. . . .  Modern science has learned how to actually REPLICATE the latex molecule, thus reproducing it in a lab chemically. Since the molecular structure is the same, anyone can say this is "natural" when it really came out of a test tube - not a tree! Most latex is actually 80% synthetic! To get the best latex, you have to go to the plantation, get it from the milk state . . . and then bake it. You can also add a little talc to smooth it out, but I don't . . . (too many people have allergies to talc).

“Wool: So, is there "organic wool"? Not really, but there's a way to get a good, pure wool without destroying the animals and the wool in the process. (It includes) No pesticides in the field where the sheep graze, no tattooing of the animals . . . the shearing room maintains a high cleanliness standard and only hand washing allowed . . . no "chemical carbonization" cleaning . . .”

So, here again, even in sleeping products, we see a broad spectrum of confusing definitions and issues pertaining to the labeling of something “organic”.

Cleaning Products
In this area of life, the term “organic” is significant and nebulous, too. However, there is a non-profit organization called the Natural Ingredient Resource Center (NIRC) that helps clarify the issue. Quoting from their website, http://www.naturalingredient.org/, “The Natural Ingredient Resource Center was founded to help consumers, manufacturers and retailers, focusing on natural personal care products for the home and family, to learn more about the natural ingredients in the products they buy, make or sell; to encourage and provide an opportunity for manufacturers of these products to voluntarily show that they support "truth in labeling" and to provide a resource for education about natural ingredients. The NIRC does not certify ingredients, products or police compliance.”

The NIRC website also contains a Members page where you can see which manufacturers subscribe to the NIRC pledge and use only natural ingredients, thereby protecting your health.

A company that advertises using only truly natural ingredients is Green Island Products - http://www.organiccleaning.com/. Green Island is a family-owned company, founded in 2001 and based on the Dutch island of Curacao in the Caribbean. Their website discusses the fact that vinegar, baking soda and other naturally-occurring cleaning substances were completely adequate and safe prior to World War II, when some natural ingredients became scarce and petroleum-based, laboratory-made products became the norm for cleaning solutions. Green Island offers a wide variety of personal care and household cleaning products, many made with locally-available ingredients from the Caribbean. Of course, the consumer still must pay attention. Green Island advises when one of their products may produce an adverse reaction; even though an element may be “natural”, it can still require care in its use.

Please visit these websites and their links, to find and patronize companies who actually rise to a higher standard of responsibility and a self-governing spirit. They are worthy of your business. M.L.