Lessons from Katrina...My View

Since some people couldn't see the forest for the trees, I've deleted the article and everything else (I've removed the trees). I just can't seem to get my point across clear enough.

Response from Senator Harkin

October 11, 2005

Ms. Dawn Ziemer

Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you. Organic agriculture is an important industry to the state of Iowa. Currently, Iowa has roughly 100,000 acres dedicated to this type of production. The number of producers making the transition into organic agriculture in Iowa is increasing rapidly, which also mirrors the national trend.

It is important to me that organic standards remain strong to ensure an even playing field across the entire organic industry. Earlier this year,the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that some of USDA's ruleswere inconsistent with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. This will require USDA to issue new rules for synthetic ingredients and feed requirements for dairy cattle. The organic community has differing opinions on how to respond to this case, which has caused some contention and concern across the industry. There was a legislative proposal that would respond to the Harvey case, but many in the organic community felt that there should be more time among stakeholders to reach a consensus. This proposal was not included in the fiscal year 2006 Senate agriculture appropriations bill. It is my hope that common ground can be reached on this issue within the organic community in the near future.

Your views on the Harvey case are helpful to me. The many letters, emails and phone calls I get from Iowans each day helps me keep track of what issues matter most to Iowa and often alert me to problems or issues that deserve closer attention. That helps me better do my job of serving Iowa.

I will continue to do whatever necessary to strengthen the organic industry and work to protect the National Organic Program. If you have any questions or concerns about this or any other matter, please don'thesitate to write or contact my office.

Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don't hesitate tolet me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.

Sincerely,

Tom Harkin
United States Senator

TH/

Please do not reply to this email. To contact me, please log on to mywebsite at http://harkin.senate.gov/.

Organic Standards at Risk of Compromise

I guess it boils down to our priorities. I ask myself, "do I want to have a few extra bucks in my pocket or would I rather know that I can really trust my food to be truly organic and healthy for me?" I don't think we value health very much in this country as it is. Just look at the ads for medication these days. We would rather take a pill and risk all the nasty side-effects than change our diet and exercise. Most of the diseases are preventable and even reversable with the proper nutrition, exercise, and nutritional/herbal therapies. Sometimes it does require some spiritual help as well but it sure beats having to take some crappy medication that is synthetic and often times does as much harm as good.

Why are we always looking for the profit-over-values in our society? Just look at our cars over the past few years. Either I've gotten smaller or they've gotten bigger. I keep hearing people say, "I need this huge, gas guzzling, behemoth vehicle because I have two kids." Like the back seat of a four-door passenger car doesn't have room for two children.

Then there are the oil and car companies, who I swear are in cohoots with each other. I just recently attended an alternative fuel expo in Cedar Rapids where people were talking about extremely fuel efficient gasoline engine cars that could get well over 80 miles per gallon. The technology for these extremely fuel efficient cars have been around for 30+ years.

MONEY'S KING BABY!

So, back to the subject. Sorry for the rambling but it all seems to fit somehow. I recently sent an e-mail petition to my senator and congressmen letting them know how I feel about the standards for organic certification. It makes me sad to know that they want to allow human sludge (you know how toxic people are with all their medications and stuff), genetically engineered (they honestly don't know the long term effects of this) and irradiation (which means using radiation on my food) and not put it on the label anywhere.

I have one question. DO THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE? Why don't they want us to know?

Read more about this at http://www.healthactioncenter.org/action/

The petition can be found on http://www.healthactioncenter.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=27854