Assault on organic standards. (View Point).

It took 12 years of hearings, hundreds of thousands of comments from the public, and the drafting of 600 pages of proposed standards to create the "USDA Organic" label.

Issued last October, it was a major achievement. Even its toughest critics agree that any food bearing the organic label must be produced far more naturally with far less impact on the environment, than conventional food. Among the requirements: no synthetic fertilizers, few chemical pesticides, no antibiotics or hormones, no irradiation or genetic engineering, no animal byproducts in animal feed, and access to the outdoors for all livestock.

No sooner did those tough standards go into effect, however, than various enterprises began to look for ways to cash in on the USDA Organic label without having to adhere to all the demanding rules. In October, The Country Hen, a Massachusetts egg producer, applied to its local organic certifier for permission to use the organic label. But to meet the rule that its chickens would be able to go outside, the producer indicated that it planned to put a few porches on its henhouses, which held thousands of layers. Did this promise fulfill the requirement for access to the outdoors? The local certifier said no. But on appeal, the USDA overruled the certifier and said The Country Hen could use the USDA's and the certifier's organic labels.

The certifier has since filed suit against the USDA, and Consumers Union has urged the USDA to change its ruling. In the meantime, Country Hen eggs are on the market with the organic labels.

In Georgia, some chicken producers wanted to use the organic label on their broilers. But they discovered that organic feed, which is what an organic chicken ...