Organic Foods Act a Lemon, Many Say

Dear Dr. Blonz: Whenever possible, I try to buy organically grown foods for myself and my family at a local farmer’s market. In the past few months there have been petitions at the market asking that we protest the USDA’s Organic Foods Production Act. This act, the petitions say, will allow the use of sewer sludge, irradiation and genetic engineering in foods labeled as organically grown. I know about irradiation and genetic engineering, but I was hoping you could explain how sewer sludge can legitimately end up in our food system under any conditions, let alone in organic foods. I sent in a letter of protest, and I am wondering how I could find out if the protests are making headway with the government.

--T.F.

Pasadena

Dear T.F.: Eight years ago, Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, a law that mandated the establishment of standards for the growing, processing, labeling, importing and certifying of organically grown food. The law created a National Organic Standard Board, which was to be an independent advisory board staffed by those with experience in organic agriculture. In December, the Department of Agriculture released its set of proposed rules and requested people to send in comments. The USDA got more than it bargained for.

On May 8, 1998, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced that approximately 200,000 mostly critical comments had been received and that the department would be making fundamental revisions to its rules.

The key problem with the rules was not so much what they said, but what they didn’t say. There were simply too many loopholes. For example, the rules failed to specifically prohibit a number of practices long considered taboo by organic farmers. The thrust of the objections was that the organic label could be applied to foods that had been irradiated, genetically engineered or grown with sewer sludge. But there were also objections to the potential for irresponsible use of antibiotics in organically raised livestock. Finally, there was the fact that the experts on the standards board were given no real power to guide the process.

Concerning sewer sludge, the waste from your home sewage system typically makes its way into your local sewage treatment plant. Sludge, also referred to as biosolids, is what remains after bacteria work on the sewage. If it were only human waste, the product would be composed of nutrients; just as manure and compost are added back to the soil, it would be reasonable to return these nutrients to the land. The problem is that sewage treatment plants also receive a wild card of household chemicals, industrial wastes, agricultural chemicals and storm runoff, which can wash gas, oil and other toxins off the streets and bring them into the system. Sludge is unacceptable because it can end up increasing the level of heavy metals and other toxic contaminants in the soil. Regardless of whether it has been used in conventional agriculture, the use of sludge had never before been allowed in organic food production.

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Dear Dr. Blonz: I am a vegan. Although I eat a varied diet of veggies, grains and legumes, beans are the biggest source of protein that I rely on. However, a friend told me that fiber hampers protein absorption. Is this true?

--R.S.

Pasadena

Dear R.S.: There can be a slight decrease in protein absorption on a high-fiber vegan diet, but it would only be an issue if you had a low protein intake to begin with. If your diet contains high-protein plant foods, such as soy and other legumes, along with nuts and seeds, it is doubtful that the effect would be sufficient to cause problems.

* Ed Blonz is the author of the “Your Personal Nutritionist” book series (Signet, 1996). Send questions to: “On Nutrition,” Ed Blonz, c/o Newspaper Enterprise Assn., 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016 or e-mail to ed@blonz.com. Personal replies cannot be provided.