#USDA should protect #Organic Standards!

co.pol/healthcare/organic/USDA should protect Organic Standards!
petition:
. in September, the USDA announced changes to its
interpretation of the "sunset" provision
in the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. [OFPA]
. those changes overrode the powers of the
National Organic Standards Board
and are making it easier for food producers to
use synthetics in organic food production.

Previously, any exemptions from organic standards
were set to expire, or "sunset," on a specific date
-- unless they were reinstated by a "decisive"
two-thirds majority vote of the NOSB.
Now it's just the reverse:
a synthetic material can be permitted to remain
in an organic food indefinitely
unless a two-thirds majority votes to
remove it from the exempted list.

More than 100 synthetics will be up for sunset consideration in 2015.
I am writing to ask you to enforce the sunset provision of the OFPA
as it was originally intended .
In addition, I strongly urge USDA to use
a public and transparent process
for all major changes to organic standards
by publishing proposed changes in the Federal Register,
and by actively seeking public input and discussion.