The Bush administration abruptly reversed itself Wednesday and withdrew four changes in organic food standards that critics had said threatened to undermine public trust in the word "organic."
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced that "we are taking action to rescind" the four changes made to organic food regulations by National Organic Program administrators in April and reported in The Chronicle on Saturday.
Those changes, which the department called clarifications, had expanded the use of antibiotics in organic dairy cows and pesticides in crops, allowed livestock to eat nonorganic fishmeal and deregulated "organic" seafood, cosmetics and pet food.
The reversal was in response to a broad wave of outrage from organic farmers, the $11 billion organic food industry, its advocates and Republican and Democratic supporters in Congress. They objected both to the changes and to the fact that National Organic Program administrators made them in private without consulting their own advisory board or organic producers.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/27/MNGBT6SHM71.DTL