Statement of Sen. Patrick Leahy, At News Conference With Secretary Glickman Unveiling Second Draft Of Comprehensive Organic Foods Regulations

March 07, 2000

[Below is the statement of Sen. Patrick Leahy, at a Tuesday afternoon news conference with U.S. Departmen t of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Dan Glickman, on the department's second draft of organic foods regulations. Leahy, a former chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, authored the "Organic Foods Production Act of 1990," a law that created the National Organic Standards Board, which, after a lengthy process, submitted draft guidelines to the USDA for first-ever federal rules on the production and labeling of organic foods. Leahy was critical of the department's first draft, which he and others believed deviated too far from the original intent of the 1990 law, by allowing for the use of irradiation, industrial sludge or genetically modified organisms in organically produced foods. The second set of draft regulations, stewarded at the department by former Leahy staffer Kathleen Merrigan, no longer allows for the use of those three processes. A more detailed summary follows.] When we sat down to write the "Organic Foods Production Act," we wanted to sow the seeds for an organic farming industry and system that would be the model for the world. Mr. Secretary, you have produced a world-class proposal, and I feel like a proud father.

This proposal will help our organic producers market their products overseas. It will protect U.S. consumers from imported products that do not meet our high standards. And it will help assure American families that the organic label means what it says and says what it means. Consumers have the right to know, and this is a case when consumers in fact are eager to know.

Organic farming is an increasingly significant sector for American agriculture, and the growth potential for exports of American organic products is almost limitless. American organic agriculture has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry with a growth rate that puts the NASDAQ to shame. But without standards, there are limits to consumer acceptance and to export potential. In the early days of e-commerce, consumers were reluctant to buy over the Internet. But when acceptable standards for protecting credit information became commonly used by online merchants, e-commerce began to take off. In the same way, this charter for American organic agriculture will turn the lights from yellow to green. [more]

This will help nourish the organic industry in my home state of Vermont by strengthening our ability to sell products in Canada and in other markets.

These sensible standards will help the organic industry continue to flourish. National standards will mean that farmers know the rules -- and that the confusing variety of organic seals, labels and logos will be replaced with easy-to-read and accurate labels.

Mr. Secretary, you have listened and you have led. The department received hundreds of thousands of comments, and you and Kathleen Merrigan clearly listened.

This second proposal is a top-to-bottom-rewrite of the first proposal. It now carefully respects the intent of the law enacted in 1990. No farmer can use any of the following and label their products "organic": 1) genetically modified organisms (GMOs); 2) products grown with industrial sludge; or, 3) irradiation.

But this proposal is much more than that. All the onerous fees that were to be placed on organic farmers have been properly removed. These fees were a potential straightjacket that could have crippled many small organic farmers.

A challenge still remains during the comment period to make sure that the program works very well for small farmers. This rule goes a very long way toward that goal.

This proposal rightly reflects the recommendations from the National Organic Standards Board, just as the law demands. The first proposal ignored those recommendations, this proposal embraces them. That is the way it should be.

And this proposal is open to further refinement, so that I, along other Vermonters, and everyone else, will have another opportunity for comment.

Mr. Secretary, you have produced a charter for American organic agriculture that will help this booming industry graduate from adolescence into maturity, and we thank you.

[click here for a summary of the revised organic foods regulations]