Cob American Organic Standards Draft Available (Off Topic)

[Susan Tait]

Although off topic, many of you are interested in the American Organic
Standards. Thought I'd share this with you.
Sue Tait
suechef at bwn.net
|
|>COPA MEMBERS AND FRIENDS
|>
|>OTA HAS A DRAFT OF THEIR AMERICAN ORGANIC STANDARDS AVAILABLE FOR COMMENTS
|>AS REFERENCED BELOW. AS I UNDERSTAND IT, THESE STANDARDS ARE TO HELP
INFORM
|>THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADEQUATE USDA STANDARDS. PLEASE SEND THEM YOUR COMMENTS
|>IF YOU CAN.
|>
|>JIM DYER, COPA
|>
|>=====
|>
|>At 5:59 PM 6/4/99, Ebrnrosen at aol.com wrote:
|>>Organic Community invited to Comment on American Organic Standards Draft
|>>
|>>For Immediate Release
|>>Contact: Holly Givens, Organic Trade Association, Phone: 413/774-7511
|>>May 21, 1999
|>>
|>>Greenfield, MA—A draft of the American Organic Standards developed by the
|>>Organic Trade Association (OTA) will be available for comment June 1
|through
|>>June 30. Growers, manufacturers, brokers, distributors, certifiers,
|>>inspectors, retailers and others who produce, handle or sell organic
|>>products, as well as environmental, public interest and consumer groups
|are
|>>urged to read the standards at the Organic Trade Association web site
|>>(www.ota.com) and submit comments.
|>>
|>>Initiated by the OTA’s Certifiers Council and developed in cooperation
|with
|>>the Quality Assurance Committee of the Organic Trade Association, the
|>>American Organic Standards project is designed to update OTA’s organic
|>>industry guidelines and to build consensus in preparation for the release
|of
|>>federal organic regulations.  The draft standards have been compiled by
|Jim
|>>Riddle, Emily Brown-Rosen and Lynn Coody.
|>>
|>>(SNIP)
|>>Comments from within every sector of the organic community will be
|analyzed
|>>and used in subsequent drafts of the standards. The American Organic
|>>Standards second draft is slated to go through a second public comment
|period
|>>in August, and the final draft will be  completed by the end of October.
|>>Funding to complete the project is still needed. Businesses or
individuals
|>>interested in contributing to the project can make payments available to:
|>>Organic Excellence Fund, c/o Oregon Tilth, 1860 Hawthorne NE, Suite 200,
|>>Salem, OR 97303.
|>>
|>(SNIP)
|>>
|>>The AOS draft, all 120 pages,  is available in .pdf   format at the OTA
|>>website  (www.ota.com) There is also an on-line form for comments. As a
|>>writer working on this project I would like to invite all of you to read
|and
|>>give us your comments, as we are working to make this a consensus based
|set
|>>of standards. At this point it is already a useful comparative document,
|as
|>>it represents a compilation of existing standards, NOSB recommendations,
|OTA
|>>guidelines and previous comments to the USDA, with references to OFPA,
|CODEX,
|>>and  EU regulations, among others.
|>>We have identified  a number of areas where different approaches are in
|use,
|>>and have suggested some alternative options ( see the list on page 119).
|>>We are hoping this process will facilitate more dialog on some of the
|>>unresolved problem areas in organic standards, and provide a unified
|approach
|>>toward dealing with USDA when the next version of their rule is released.
|>>
|>>Sincerely,
|>>Emily Brown Rosen
|>>Technical Director
|>>Northeast Organic Farming Association of NJ
|>>33 Titus Mill Rd.
|>>Pennington, NJ 08534