Front page

Washington, DC – Moms Across America, Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and Beyond Pesticides today announced that the District of Columbia Superior Court has rejected General Mills’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the three nonprofits against the maker of Nature Valley granola bars. The ruling upholds the right of nonprofits to bring these types of complaints against corporations. It also reinforces the notion that consumers can reasonably expect a product labeled “100% Natural” to be free of herbicides.

Three nonprofit groups sued General Mills in August 2016, for misleading the public by labeling Nature Valley brand granola bars as “Made with 100% NATURAL whole grain OATS” after tests revealed the presence of the chemical herbicide glyphosate, an ingredient in Roundup and hundreds of other glyphosate-based herbicides. The suit was brought on behalf of the nonprofits’ members in Washington DC under the District of Columbia’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act.

“This is a huge win for consumers,” said OCA international director Ronnie Cummins. “In making this ruling, the judge reinforced the right of consumers to have reasonable expectations about what a company means by ‘natural.’ The ‘natural’ food industry is estimated at $90 billion a year. By slapping the word ‘natural’ on products that contain pesticides and other unnatural substances, corporations deceive consumers, and cut into the market share for authentically labeled healthy and certified organic products.’

Recently, the Washington Post exposed a couple of major certified organic brands that don’t strictly adhere to organic standards. The Post and others also recently reported on what one lawmaker, who serves on a key U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) committee, called  “uncertainty and dysfunction” at the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).

These reports are troubling on multiple levels, especially to consumers who rely on the USDA organic seal to help them avoid pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), synthetic ingredients and foods produced using methods that degenerate soil health and pollute the environment.

What can consumers do to ensure that the certified organic products they buy meet existing organic standards? And how do we, as consumers, fight back against efforts to weaken those standards?

The short answers: There are about 25,000 honest organic local and regional producers, vs. a handful of big brands, mostly national, who flout the rules. And if consumers want stronger, not weaker organic standards, we need to demand them.

As an organic consumer, you know from experience that eating organic is essential to keeping yourself and your family healthy. Organic isn’t perfect. But buying USDA Organic is the best way to avoid pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and synthetic ingredients.

But now, Congress and the Trump Administration’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are threatening to make changes to the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)—changes that could weaken organic standards beyond recognition.

Congress needs to hear from consumers—often, and in large numbers—that we want stronger, not weaker organic standards that support small, authentic producers.

Take Action! Tell Your Senators and Congress Members: Protect the Organic Foods Production Act, and let the National Organic Standards Board do its job!

After years of single-issue campaigning against America’s degenerate food and farming system, with real but limited success, it’s time for a change of strategy and tactics.

By connecting the dots between a range of heretofore separate issues and campaigns, by focusing on some of the major weaknesses or vulnerabilities of the system, we can speed up our transition to an organic and regenerative food and farming system before our health, environmental and climate crises turn into full-blown catastrophe. 

Surveys indicate that Americans are increasingly alarmed about deteriorating public health, and the pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and GMOs lurking in conventional food brands, restaurant fare and school cafeterias. We obviously can’t count on a corrupt Congress or a Trump/Pence administration to protect our food and our environment. So it’s time to step up our marketplace pressure, with boycotts, lawsuits, brand de-legitimization and direct action.

Our job is to escalate our food fights into what can only be described as a food revolution. Our health, environment and climate stability require that we turn away from our degenerate food, farming and land use system to one which is regenerative.

On July 7 (2017), California will add glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, to the state’s list of chemicals and substances known to cause cancer.
Before we dive into the weeds in terms of what the listing does and doesn’t mean, and may or may not lead to, let’s take a moment to recognize that this is a landmark decision in the ongoing battle against Monsanto’s flagship weedkiller.

It’s not everything we need, or everything we want—but California’s decision, upheld by the courts, represents a major step forward in a decades-long fight to expose the truth about Roundup and protect the public from its cancer-causing effects.

The full impact of the decision remains to be seen. How much glyphosate will need to be present before a product is required to carry a warning? How many foods will exceed the glyphosate residue limits set by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)?

Will Monsanto find a way to keep those warnings off all labels? Including foods and weedkillers?

Time will tell. And activists will need to remain vigilant.

But today, it’s celebration time.