ACTION NEEDED to Stop the Weakening of Organic Food Production Law. 

Three quick phone calls is all that is needed.


 It is time to make your voice heard to protect the organic law!  Join 
consumers, organic companies, and trade groups from across the county to stop 
Congress from weakening the standards for organically labeled food. 


CALL your two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Representative NOW to co-sponsor a 
bill being introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Sam 
Farr (D-CA) TODAY to repeal a provision in appropriations legislation passed 
by Congress on February 13, 2003. The Leahy/Farr bill does not have a number 
yet because it is being introduced this afternoon. Members of Congress should 
be encouraged to sign-on and support the legislation even after the bill is 
introduced, as part of the process of building support for passage.

In its $397 billion Omnibus Appropriations Bill, Congress attached a 
last-minute rider allowing an exemption to the requirement that organic 
livestock be fed 100% organic feed. The language allows farmers to feed 
livestock conventional feed if organic feed is more than twice as expensive 
and still label the meat as organic.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the original co-sponsor of the 1990 Organic 
Foods Production Act, announced at the time that he would launch an effort to 
repeal the rider and restore the intent of the law. A repeal bill will be 
introduced today by Senator Leahy and Representative Sam Farr (D-CA), who are 
seeking co-sponsors in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The 
bill will stop the weakening of the organic label by repealing Section 771 of 
the Omnibus Appropriations Bill. 

Consumers and supporters of organic food are a powerful force behind a $10 
billion organic industry. They showed their influence in Washington, DC, when 
in 2000 a record number of people stopped a U.S. Department of Agriculture 
proposal to allow in organic production genetically engineered organisms, 
sewage sludge, and irradiation. 

Two websites provide additional information that can assist you further with 
this effort, http://www.ota.com/SUAaction.htm and 
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/issues/org_feed02-03.html.

To read the exact language of the rider, see 
http://www.ota.com/FeedLanguage.htm.

If you have any questions, please contact Jay Feldman 
([log in to unmask]) or Jessica Lunsford 
([log in to unmask]). 



Erin E. Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
[log in to unmask]
www.iowa.sierraclub.org

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