When organic activist Alexis Baden Mayer of the Organic Consumers Association was arrested after leading a “spirited protest” against watering down organic standards last month, she wasn’t at a rally on the street or in a park. She was at a meeting of the National Organic Standards Board, a 15-member advisory board with statutory authority to review what substances are allowed and prohibited in organic agriculture — usually a relatively staid affair.
Organic foods and products are popular among consumers in the United States. It’s the fastest growing sector of U.S. agriculture, with nearly $35 billion in sales as of 2012, and growing at 15-20 percent per year.
This is why powerful lobby groups of non-organic food firms are trying to have USDA water down organic standards to let them classify their food as ‘organic’
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