#215 9 m a r 10
ORGANIC
Org a nic Consum er s A sso ci at ion
Rally for Organic Integrity in Anaheim
March 12, 2010 at the Anaheim Convention Center at 10 am.
Are you concerned about the rampant misbranding of so-called “organic”
personal care and cosmetics products?
Join the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) at the Anaheim, Califor-
nia Convention Center for a rally and press conference March 12 at Expo
West, the largest annual gathering of the natural and organic products
industry. Join us as we demand that all fraudulent “organic”
brands clean up their act or leave the organic personal care
aisle altogether!
The OCA’s Coming Clean Campaign has been work-
ing to clean up the natural and organic personal
care industry for the past six years. We believe that
organic bodycare standards should mirror organic
food standards. The word “organic” is not properly
regulated on personal care products (examples: soap
and bodywash, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, etc.) as
it is on food products, unless the product is certified
by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). Due to
this lax regulation, many personal care products have
the word “organic” in their brand name or otherwise on
their product label, but unless they are USDA certified, the
main cleansing ingredients and preservatives are usually made with
synthetic and petrochemical compounds. In November of 2009, OCA
launched a consumer boycott of all offending brands, and in January
2010 OCA filed a complaint with the NOP requesting an investigation into
this issue.
Giant shampoo bottles mocking fraudulent “organic” brands will greet
attendees at the trade show while OCA activists distribute Consumer
Warning leaflets. Speakers from genuinely certified organic companies
and OCA staff will give updates on the fight to clean up rampant label-
ing fraud in the body care and cosmetics sector. Join us as we expose the
organic imposters and recognize the ethical companies that are uphold-
ing organic integrity. Contact: Alexis Baden-Mayer
- alexis@organicconsumers.org or 202-744-0853
Protest at Whole Foods Meeting in Vancouver
Sustainable Supply Chain Coalition Delivers a Clear Message: Whole
Foods’ Business-as-Usual is Bad for People and Bad for the Planet
The international Sustainable Supply Chain Coalition, comprised of
environmental groups, food activist organizations and labor unions,
including the OCA, Sierra Club of Canada, and the Teamsters Union,
protested inside and outside the Whole Foods Market shareholder
meeting in Vancouver, BC on Monday March 8, 2010 to support four
shareholder resolutions and call for a change in Whole Foods Market’s
unsustainable practices.
The international coalition is calling on Whole Foods Market and its
major supplier United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) to sign the Sustain-
able Food Pledge and stop marketing conventional chemical, GMO, and
energy-intensive foods and products as “natural” or “almost organic;”
increase sales of certified organic products from 1/3 of current sales to
2/3 of sales within three years; and to pressure all of their so-called “nat-
ural” suppliers to sign a contract with an accredited organic certifier to
begin to make the transition to organic.
The pledge also calls on WFM and UNFI to practice what they preach in
terms of domestic Fair Trade, to recognize the rights of workers - from
farm workers in the fields, to food processing workers, truck driv-
ers, warehouse workers, and retail clerks - to organize themselves into
unions if they so choose. The Pledge also calls on WFM and UNFI to rec-
ognize the rights of all citizens to universal health care and to acknowl-
edge the fact that only a massive transition to organic food and farming
can sequester sufficient greenhouse gases to prevent climate catastro-
phe. www.is.gd/aIpEp
BY TES F o o d & C o n su m e r N e w s W e e k ly
w w w.org a n icconsum e r s.org
Procter & Gamble Agrees to
Reformulate Body Care Products
Due to Toxic Contaminant
On Friday March 12, 2009, the Organic Consumers Association, the
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and the Green Patriot Working Group
will announce the details of an agreement from Procter and
Gamble to reformulate 18 products from its top-selling
Herbal Essences brand to reduce levels of the carcino-
genic petrochemical 1,4-Dioxane.
In addition, OCA and allies will announce new results
from a continuing study that has tested over 150 con-
sumer products for the toxic chemical. This year,
20 laundry detergents were tested, including major
“natural” and conventional brands. Ironically, the
seven laundry detergent brands from P&G had by
far the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane overall. The inde-
pendent third-party laboratory, Exova, known for rig-
orous testing and chain-of-custody protocols, performed
all testing. Over the past two years, OCA research, litiga-
tion, and marketplace pressure have forced dozens of so-called
organic and natural brands to reformulate their health and beauty
products. organicconsumers.org/bodycare/
200,000+ Call for USDA to Ban GE Alfalfa
The contamination of non-GE and organic alfalfa hay and seed With
Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Alfalfa would likely devastate the organic
dairy and beef industry.
More than 200,000 people submitted comments to the USDA, critiquing
the substance and conclusions of its Draft Environmental Impact State-
ment (DEIS) on Genetically Engineered (GE) Alfalfa. Groups including
the OCA, the National Organic Coalition, Center for Food Safety (CFS),
Food & Water Watch, CREDO Action, and Food Democracy Now, mobi-
lized our communities to help generate the unprecedented number of
comments. organicconsumers.org/gelink.cfm
Mayor Newsom: “Let Them Eat Toxic Sludge!”
A “sludge dump” organized by San Francisco garden activists and the
OCA made national news last week. TV cameras from all the major net-
works filmed us as we took sewage sludge that the city had told garden-
ers was “organic compost” and dumped it on the steps of City Hall.
Sadly, Gavin Newsom, the man Organic Style Magazine called the
World’s Greenest Mayor, doesn’t seem to think there’s anything wrong
with using sewage sludge on food crops. organicconsumers.org/sludge.cfm
Quote of the Week
“Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an
invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We
are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested
largely by men we have never heard of. In almost every act of our lives,
whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or
our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number
of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of
the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.”
-Edward Bernays, Pioneer of Corporate PR and Propaganda
Written and edited by Alexis Baden-Mayer & Ronnie Cummins
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